This is my QQML story, a story that grew into a QQML family story. More than 10 years ago I met colleagues and good friends and every year the conference is like a
family reunion for me.
I feel a real family atmosphere at the QQML conference. Why? Attendants are librarians, managers, professors, directors, etc. with two words: library lovers. People who work in or for libraries in the wider sense of the word. I attended my first QQML conference in Limerick in May 2012. I have just become
director of the university library and during coffee and lunch breaks everyone is talking to each other. Some also approached me and started talking to me. I was a bit shy at first. I had no experience as a director, just over two decades experience as a librarian. Some immediately said that I could contact them at any
time with any questions or assistance. It was very positive and I was very happy to have these conversations. I am still grateful for any professional and expert opinion.
A year after Limerick, I gave my first talk at the QQML conference in Rome 2013. The head of the section was Teresa (Welsh). I was so nervous, trembling so much, but she was so helpful, so kind and I made it through. My first talk at the international conference! I presented research and results of my master’s thesis. After that there was no longer any obstacle for me to be and come to the QQML conference. Years after my first talk, I even presented research and results of my PhD. Since then, I have my presentation every year (with the exception of 2021). Also in Istanbul in May 2014. Two months before the conference, the doctor diagnosed me with cancer. I was given a second round of chemotherapy and I stubbornly insisted on going to the
conference In Istanbul. I was bold, wearing a crocheted cap. From my own experience at home and work, when people find out your diagnosis, they want to run away, they can’t look at your eyes, they don’t want to meet you again. They are scared. But at the QQML conference they approached me, talked like normal people should talk to each other, no matter if you are sick or not. Some of them promise to pray for me. I feel warm and I’m still grateful to them. That’s why I consider the QQML conference to be like a family reunion for me. Every year when I get to the conference, I know I’m fine. I’ve had some ups and downs over the years, but who hasn’t? Right?
To conclude: to come and be at the QQML conference makes me rich not only on the professional level but also on the personal level. Come and see for yourself! You won’t regret it.

In 2002, I began my research activities in the areas of statistics, quality assessment and impact assessment of the university libraries. In this context, I took part for the first time in the Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference in May 2009, Chania, Crete, Greece.

This experience was so enriching that I chose the international QQML conferences as my favourites. The practice I have experienced over the years of attending these events has helped me to acquire skills, achieve greater fulfilment, build professional knowledge and establish partnerships and friendships. I am very grateful to Dr Anthi Katsirikou and Dr Christos H. Skiadas and the whole organising committee for making this conference open to all countries of the world and welcoming.If you share the ideals I’ve mentioned, please join us at the next international QQML conference!

It is a privilege to share my story related to the excellent International QQML Conference. I should begin from my very first participation, out of five. Chania, May, 2009, was the first one I participated and shared the paper: Infopragmatics: An Efficient Method for Information Retrieval, which later became a book, published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing (28 diciembre 2010), ISBN-13 : 978-3843380201.
As I became passionate, due to the success of the acceptance of my contribution within a high quality panelists and audience, I did colaborate in the QQML Conference held in Turkey, May, 2014. This time the manuscript, totally connected to the previous one, was: Linguistic storm: an essential information retrieval tool to update researchers. And, again, it was welcome and I had the convenience to know more colleagues, whose presentations, ideas, suggestions and dialogues, inside and outside of the conferences, set a luminous path to work on. Some of them are now my friends. I also received the opportunity to lead the chair on a table. Later on, I concurred with the paper Inducing Academic Data Bases Direct Use Over Popular Search Engines, QQML Conference held in London. This time, I had a coautor, an engineer specialised in programming. It was a great back up. The following attendance was in Florence, with the document: Scaffolding Google: a set of training cards, which represents a continuum thread that comprehends my profesional project of life. By this time, I received the particular leading support of
my great institution, UNAM, specifically the General Directorate of Libraries, whose director, enhanced the advantages of the project to a wider audience, and turned it on as part of the Organizational Development Plan.
The last participation was in company of five more colleagues, all of them highly specilised in information technology. Now we have a permanent seminar. The text that we presented together was: Frontier Informational Structure: an efficient alternative to evolve towards assertive bibliographic research. This contribution presents not just theoretical contributions, but applied know-how to assisst the academic community, from high school level to Ph. D.graduates of our National Universtity. I gladly want to express my highest gratitude to Dr. Katsirikou, Dr. Skiadas, as well as to the whole organizing committee and staff.

I attended the first QQML conference in 2009 and I had the opportunity to organize panels, workshops, present papers and a keynote over the years, as well as contribute in its advisory structure. The unique contribution of QQML is the diversity of the participants and topics it pulls together. If you want to learn what is going on in libraries across the globe, beyond IFLA, this is the one event where discussions on the value and impact of libraries in different geographic contexts occurs covering a multitude of longitude and latitude coordinates. You will meet colleagues from countries you have only seen on the map and learn about the experience of librarians outside the well-documented, typical, Anglo-american context. This is where a graduate student from Pakistan attending a French university approached me to ask permission to translate and implement LibQUAL+ in Urdu for his dissertation! And, this is the event where Nisa Bakkalbasi and I presented on the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic translation of LibQUAL+. Anthi [Katsirikou] and her organizing committee has made a unique contribution to the profession by giving an opportunity to many librarians across the globe to join and share their diverse experiences and explore their common values.

Ten years ago, I attended and presented at the first QQML conference in Chania, Crete, and from that first time, it became my favorite conference. I have attended each QQML conference since then and have had the honor of serving on the Advisory Committee and International Scientific Committee. Thank you, Anthi and Christos! QQML has allowed me to make friends with librarians, academics, and students from more than 60 countries around the world. QQML has enriched my scholarship and professional career and provided opportunities for LIS students and recent graduates to present research. Each conference I learn new things I can use in my teaching and research and QQML remains my favorite conference. You are invited to download any of the QQML images in the album at facebook.

QQML has given me the opportunity to present school library research and chair sessions in both school librarianship and Information literacy at an international conference. I am very grateful and have enjoyed meeting library practitioners and academics among others from around the globe. I have presented and chaired sessions at four QQML conferences; Chania 2010, Rome 2013, Paris 2015 and this week Chania 2018. I am looking forward to this special event – the 10 year anniversary of QQML. We have come full circle and many of the people who have become “QQML regulars” are making their way back to Chania as I write this. Thank you Dr. Anthi Katsirikou, Christos H. Skiadas, Chair of ISAST, and the entire organizing Committee for making this conference inclusive and welcoming. Practitioners at every level are encouraged
to submit their research with the understanding that publication is a possibility – professional development at its best!