Occupy Library 2020

Dr. Hannelore Vogt is the director of the Cologne Public Library, one of the biggest library systems in Germany. Before that she was head of the Würzburg City Library which has been the winner in the national library ranking (BIX) four times in row and was elected „Library of the Year“. 2015 Cologne City Library was elected “Library of the Year” as best library in Germany, in 2016 Hannelore Vogt was awarded with the Cologne Cultural Award as “Cultural Manager of the Year” and in 2019 she received the most prestigious individual library award in Germany – the Karl-Preusker-Medal - for her innovative work and her impact on the library world. She was a member of the IFLA Metropolitan Libraries Standing Committee, a longtime chair of the Advisory Board “Information and Library” of the Goethe Institute and worked as a Strategic Advisor and Reviewer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Global Libraries, Global Development). Apart from having a degree in Librarianship, she also has a PhD in Cultural Management in the field of library marketing. She is a consultant for library management worldwide and has many publications to her credit in the field of customer orientation, innovative services and library management.

With piercing irony, Dan Perjovschi comments on the absurdities and cynicisms of the “brave new world” in his daily drawings, thrown with a few strokes. Current topics from the world news are sharpened as well as general social phenomena or things that affect the artist personally. With his figures and scenarios, Perjovschi expansively populates the walls, floors, corridors or windows of the art institutions. His solo exhibitions include: “Unframed” Kiasma, Helsinki (2013); “Not over” MACRO, Rome (2011); “What Happen to US?” MoMA, New York (2007); “I am not Exotic I am Exhausted” Kunsthalle Basel (2007), “The Room Drawing” Tate Modern, London (2006) and “Naked Drawings” Ludwig Museum, Cologne (2005). Perjovschi has participated in numerous group shows and biennials such as the Jakarta Biennial (2015), the Sydney Biennial (2008), the Venice and the Moscow Biennial (2007), or the 9th Istanbul Biennial (2005). Perjovschi received the George Maciunas Prize (2004), and the Rosa Schapire Prize – Kunsthalle Hamburg (2016). At Wurtenbergiser Kunstverein he had a solo show (“Solid ground”) in 2006, and he participated in several group shows such as “On difference#1” (2005), “On Dithering” (2013), and “Tito’s Bunker” (2017). He lives and works in Sibiu and in Bucharest, Romania.

Asaf Bartov is a senior program officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit operating Wikipedia around the world. His work focuses on capacity building with emerging volunteer communities all over the world, with particular emphasis on India, sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, and eastern Europe. He is a longtime Wikipedia editor and activist for free knowledge, as well as a free software developer and a free culture activist. While his academic background is in Greek and Latin language and literature, he has a strong professional background in software development, and an abiding volunteer interest in digital libraries. He is the founder, chief technologist, and chief editor of Project Ben-Yehuda, an award-winning volunteer-run digital library of public domain Hebrew works. He is also a structured and linked data enthusiast, and previously served as an invited expert on the W3C's Library Linked Data Incubator Group. He frequently teaches introductory classes on Wikidata, the Wikimedia Foundation's linked open data project, and on querying Wikidata with the SPARQL language.

Loida Garcia-Febo is an international library consultant, researcher and expert on topics such as human rights, advocacy and services to multicultural populations. She is Past President of the American Library Association. Garcia-Febo has served communities as academic, public, school, and special librarian in Puerto Rico and New York. She has taught in 27 countries and has advocated on behalf of libraries at the United Nations, European Union Parliament, US Congress, New York City’s City Hall, New York State Senate and on streets and sidewalks of New York. She completed two terms on the IFLA Governing Board where she Chaired the Action for Development through Libraries Programme (ALP). At IFLA, she also co-founded IFLA New Professionals SIG, served in FAIFE and CPDWL, and is currently a member of the Management of Library Associations Section. Garcia-Febo is the recipient of the 2015 REFORMA Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement Award. She was named a Notable Member of ALA’s International Relations Round Table, and received the ALA Elizabeth Futas Catalyst for Change Award in 2010. Garcia-Febo holds a BA in Business Education and MLS from the University of Puerto Rico. She was born, raised and educated in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.