Charter

The International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries (TPDL) is a self-organized body whose main mission is to promote research and development in the area of digital libraries.

Digital libraries are becoming a critical component of the emerging “distributed knowledge environments” which can provide access to virtually all areas of human knowledge. As such, the field of digital library research and technology encompasses information creation, acquisition, access, processing, distribution, evaluation, and preservation, not only on digital library subjects, but also on museums, archives and other digital data collections. Major applications of this research and technology include education, science, engineering, commerce, medicine and the arts. A major aim of TPDL is to provide a forum for bringing together researchers and users in the field of digital libraries, and to ensure that the proper focus is given to all of the different research aspects.

The structure of TPDL is based on three major constituencies, which collectively will overview the organization and management of the series of TPDL conferences, normally held on a yearly basis in September. The constituencies are:

  • The Executive Board and the Steering Committee
  • the General Chair(s) and the Organizing Committee
  • the Program Chair(s) and the Program Committee.
  • Steering Committee Membership and Leadership

The Steering Committee members are:

  • the General Chair(s) and the Program Chair(s) of the previous conferences;
  • a representative of the ACM/IEEE JCDL Steering Committee;
  • any other expert who is a prominent member of the TPDL community, not being a General Chair or Program Chair, on which the Steering Committee members are in agreement.

The Honorary Chair of the ECDL/TPDL conferences Constantino Thanos participates permanently to the Steering Committee.

The representative of the ACM/IEEE JCDL Steering Committee is nominated from the ACM/IEEE JCDL Steering Committee for three years. Members of the Steering Committee can propose that a named expert should be invited to be a member of the SC. The proposal shall be discussed at the SC Meeting and will be accepted if a majority of the SC Members present at the meeting agrees.

The Steering Committee members are the General Chair(s) and the Program Chair(s) of the previous conferences, as well as the elected members. In order to remain a Steering Committee member the member has to attend the TPDL conferences, allowing at most two absences in a row, i.e. if a member will not attend the third Conference, (s)he will lose membership. The Steering Committee elects an Executive Board with three members: the Steering Committee Chair, the Deputy Steering Committee Chair, and the Secretary. They are elected for three years by and from the Steering Committee members. At the end of the three years term the members of the Executive Board cannot be re-elected immediately for the same positions. If a member of the Executive Board resigns before his/her term is over the Executive Board can appoint a member for the rest of the three years period.

Job Descriptions

The Executive Board

The Executive Board is chaired by the Steering Committee Chair. The Executive Board has as a main responsibility to solicit proposals for future conference and to seek advice from the Steering Committee, if needed. The Executive Board is responsible for the arrangement of the annual Steering Committee Meeting, and additional meetings if needed due to exceptional circumstances. The Executive Board shall keep track of the membership of the Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee

The main purpose of the Steering Committee is to ensure the continuity and the quality of TPDL. More specifically, the Steering Committee should:

  • plan future TPDL conferences;
  • evaluate how well each conference has achieved the objectives and the mission of TPDL;
  • collect feedback about TPDL for the purpose of improving the conference over time;
  • work together with the Executive Board to solicit proposals for future conferences and select the venue of future TPDL conferences, in response to the submitted proposals;
  • approve the General Chair(s) and the Program Chair(s) for each TPDL conference, as indicated in the selected proposal;
  • assist in the appointment of positions in the Organizing and Program Committees
    create an experience record from earlier conferences to be handed to the new organizers;
    contact and coordinate with relevant conferences.

The Steering Committee has the final authority on every aspect related to the organization and management of TPDL. The Steering Committee will change the Reference Documents when needed.

As a general rule the Steering Committee will meet once a year, in connection with the TPDL conference, unless some exceptional circumstances will require more frequent meetings. The Agenda for the annual Steering Committee Meeting shall be distributed to the Steering Committee at least two weeks before the Steering Committee meeting.