Monday, May 9
Registration begins at 8:00am in the Sea Crest lobby.
Coffee and pastries will be served near the Registration Desk until 11:00am.
The Digital Commonwealth Track
The Digital Commonwealth: Building a Statewide Portal for Digital Resources
Imagine a web portal where users could easily search and retrieve the digital holdings of Massachusetts-based cultural heritage institutions? That’s The Digital Commonwealth! The Boston Public Library and Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System in conjunction with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners are working on a statewide digital initiative that would make it easy for institutions to coordinate to make their digital resources available to a wider audience. The initiative also contains the Commonwealth Repository which would assist institutions with the creation and storage of digital resources that would then be accessible through the portal. Come to this day long track of Digital Commonwealth-related programs and get involved with this exciting initiative!
9:00am – 9:45am
What is the Digital Commonwealth and What Has it Been Up To?
Hear an update and overview about The Digital Commonwealth, a statewide initiative fostering collaboration between institutions and their digital resources. Members of The Digital Commonwealth’s Working Group will discuss the work done so far, as well as exciting plans for the coming year. Find out what Massachusetts is doing on the digital frontier.
10:00am – 11:15am
The Changing Place of Libraries in a Digital World
Massive storage, fast networks and clever automated processes have combined to create a new environment in which our citizens pose questions and pursue answers. Public libraries, broadcast media and academic disciplines diverged substantially during the twentieth century, with each of these three communities suffering insofar as they were isolated from the other two. In the 21st century, we have the tools to integrate not only information but those communities served by public libraries, broadcast media and formal academic disciplines. What opportunities and challenges do we face? What sorts of world do we wish to help forge for our constituents, present and future?
Speaker: Gregory Crane is the Professor of Classics at Tufts University. His interests are twofold. On the one hand, he has published on a wide range of ancient Greek authors (including articles on Greek drama and Hellenistic poetry and a book on the Odyssey). Much of his recent energy has been devoted to Thucydides; his second Thucydides book (The Ancient Simplicity: Thucydides and the Limits of Political Realism) was published by the University of California Press in 1998. He is currently conducting preliminary research for a planned book on Cicero.
At the same time, he has a long-standing interest in the relationship between the humanities and rapidly developing digital technology. Since 1985 he has been engaged in planning and development of the Perseus Project, which he directs as the Editor-in-Chief. Besides supervising the Perseus Project as a whole, he has been primarily responsible for the development of the morphological analysis system which provides many of the links within the Perseus database. He is currently directing a $2,700,000 grant from the Digital Library Initiative to study general problems of digital libraries in the humanities.
11:15am – 12:15pm
Digital Copyright in the 21st Century
Speaker: Drew Epstein is a principal in the firm of Barker, Epstein & Loscocco, a full-service law firm in Boston. In addition to general business law and litigation, Drew’s practice focuses on copyright, trademark, contracts and litigation. He is an accomplished trial attorney with over twenty-five years of successful jury and non-jury trial and appellate court experience in both Massachusetts and Federal courts. He is a former president and a present member of the Board of Directors of the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University, an influential photographic arts organization. Drew has also been a regular contributor of law journal articles on copyright law, contract law and legal and business issues for photographers and artists for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, a joint project of the Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations. Drew is a member of the Massachusetts Bar, various Federal Courts, the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the Graphic Artists Guild. Drew graduated from Boston University School of Law in 1972.
12:15pm - 1:30pm
Café Style Buffet Lunch served in the Dining Room. Prepaid ticket required.
1:30pm – 2:30pm
Multimedia Digital Projects at Vanderbilt University
Marshall Breeding, Library Technology Officer at Vanderbilt University will review that library’s recent accomplishments with digital projects based on video, sound and images. The Vanderbilt Television News Archive, a unique resource housing over 40,000 hours of off-air national news programming has undergone a major transformation in the last three years by migrating from videotape to digital formats. Vanderbilt has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities to support this transition. Breeding will describe the background of the Archive and the digital video technologies involved. The libraries at Vanderbilt have also been involved in digital projects involving digital audio for an oral history project and a number of image-based collections.
Speaker: Marshall Breeding is the Library Technology Officer for the Jean and Alexander Heard Library at Vanderbilt University where he leads special projects and initiatives related to technology. Some of the projects he has been involved with recently include designing the architecture of Heard Library technical infrastructure and providing administration and technical development for the Vanderbilt Television News Archive. He is the author of the “Systems Librarian” column for Computers in Libraries published by Information Today.
2:30pm -3:30pm
Resource Rich and Asset Poor? – Not Anymore! Digitizing Our Way to the Ocean Floor
Learn about an exciting digital data project at The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. WHOI’s image resources, such as photographs of the sea floor, strange creatures, scientists at work, plus original art work, illustrations and animations have been organized into a single point of access. This presentation will review the project’s development, organizational plan and technological aspects that allow WHOI to bring the treasures of the ocean floor to the user with one click.
Speaker: Melissa Lamont, Visual Resources Manager, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
3:45 pm – 4:45 pm
Connecticut History Online
Connecticut State Librarian, Ken Wiggin, will share the building blocks of the exciting Connecticut History Online Project. He will discuss how the project was formed, and the issues and challenges it has faced. Ken will also stress the collaborative process which is a hallmark of the project, the educational components of CHO, and the challenge of sustainability.
Speaker: Kendall Wiggin, Connecticut State Librarian. A graduate of the Simmons Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Kendall Wiggin has served as Connecticut State Librarian since October 1998. As the Chief administrative officer of the State Library, he directs the development and administration of library programs and services including: Administrative Services, Information Services, Library Development, Public Records, State Archives and the Museum of Connecticut History. Since coming to Connecticut, Mr. Wiggin has worked closely with the Association of Connecticut Library Boards, Connecticut Library Association, Friends of Connecticut Libraries and others to advance library service to the citizens of Connecticut. Library and Museum hours at the State Library have been extended, iCONN, the Connecticut Digital Library has become a reality, the first ever historic documents preservation fund has been established, a new off-site storage facility has opened providing much needed storage space for the State Library’s archival collections, and greatkidsCT, a website for Connecticut’s parents is up and running.
Monday, May 9
Registration begins at 8:00am in the Sea Crest lobby.
Coffee and pastries will be served near the Registration Desk until 11:00am.
9:00am – 12:00 pm
Leadership Diversity: Making Library Organizations More Successful—Are You Feeling Energetic?
This presentation and interactive session will focus on the complexity of managing diversity in all types of library organizations. The importance of managerial commitment, the allocation of resources, and the need for leadership at all levels are crucial to organizational success. The research on leadership diversity shows that the organizations which have made the most consistent investment in diversity have also been identified as more successful organizations overall. Diversity is a complex issue and has been identified as a priority in library and information services. Success varies across all types of libraries and diversity-related activities in public libraries often go unreported.
Speaker: Dr. Mark Winston is Associate Professor at Rutgers University, School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies. Since assuming his position at Rutgers in 1998, he has taught courses in leadership, management, reference and knowledge structures. He has also served as Assistant University Librarian at Valdosta State University (GA), Visiting Program Officer at the Association of Research Libraries, and Coordinator of Instruction and Business and Undergraduate Services Librarian at the University of Arizona. Dr. Winston has edited two books for Haworth Press, Leadership in the Library and Information Professions: Theory and Practice (2001), and Managing Multiculturalism and Diversity in the Library: Principles and Issues for Administrators (1999). He has published and presented extensively on leadership and management issues, as well as on diversity and multiculturalism in library and information services. He has served as a consultant and trainer for college, university, and public libraries, information technology and publishing companies, the U.S. Department of Education, the New Jersey State Library, among other organizations.
LUNCH: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Café Style Buffet Lunch served in the Dining Room. Prepaid ticket required.
1:30pm – 4:30pm
An Afternoon with the Authors Guest
Spend an afternoon with four published authors whose work runs the gamut of styles and genres. Find out about their current and future projects. Learn about their relationships with libraries. Listen to readings from their work.
Speakers:
Peter Abrahams is the author of fifteen novels, including The Tutor, A Perfect Crime, and his latest, Their Wildest Dreams. His novel Lights Out was an Edgar finalist for best novel in 1994 and The Fan was made into a movie. The L.A. Times called his writing “elegant by any literary standard.” His next book, Oblivion, will be published in April 2005 by William Morrow. He is also writing a series of young adult mysteries (the Echo Falls mysteries). The first one, Down the Rabbit Hole, comes out in April 2005 (Laura Geringer Books/HarperCollins). Peter lives on Cape Cod. He’s married, with four children.
Steve Almond, is the author of the acclaimed story collection My Life in Heavy Metal. In his latest work, Candyfreak, Almond travels across the country in search of the greatest remaining regional candy manufacturers. He is a regular commentator on the NPR affiliate WBUR in Boston, teaches creative writing at Boston College, and has eaten at least one piece of candy every single day of his entire life.
Karin Lowachee was born in Guyana, South America and grew up in Ontario, Canada. She received an Honours BA in Creative Writing and English from York University in Toronto and taught adult education in the sub-Arctic community of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut for nine months. Her first book Warchild won the 2001 Warner Aspect First Novel Contest and was published in 2002. It also won the 2004 Gefen Award for Best Translated Science Fiction book in Israel. Her second novel Burndrive was published in 2003 and debuted at #7 on the Locus Bestseller List. Karin was twice nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and her third novel Cagebird was released in April 2005. Her books so far explore the effects of war and trauma on young people.
Nancy Thayer is the author of thirteen novels, including Custody, Between Husbands and Friends, Belonging, An Act of Love, Three Women at the Water’s Edge, and Everlasting. Her work has been translated into nearly a dozen languages. Her first novel, Stepping, was made into a 13-part series for BBC Radio and her ghost novel Spirit Lost has been optioned and produced as a movie by United Image Entertainment. She is the recent author of The Hot Flash Club for Random House/Ballantine and the upcoming December title, The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again.
5:00pm Wine in the Hospitality Suite
6:30pm-7:00pm Cocktails in the Surf Lounge
Dinner in the Sea Crest Dining Room
Guest Speaker: David Rakoff
7:00pm-9:00pm
Prepaid Ticket required.
MLA welcomes David Rakoff, humorist, essayist, author and contributor to Public Radio’s “This American Life.” Wherever he is, David Rakoff is a fish out of water. Whether impersonating Sigmund Freud in a department store window during the holidays, climbing an icy mountain in cheap loafers, or playing an evil modeling agent on a daytime soap opera, Rakoff doesn’t fit in. Still, he continually finds himself in the far-flung hinterlands of our culture, notebook or microphone in hand, hoping to conjure that dyed-in-the-wool New York condescension.
And Rakoff tries to be nasty; he knows nothing succeeds like a cheap sneer, but he can’t quite help noticing that these are actual human beings he is writing about. In his attempts not to pull any punches, the most damaging blows, more often than not, land squarely on his own jaw – hilariously satirizing the writer, not the subject. And therein lies David Rakoff’s burgeoning appeal. The wry and the heartfelt join in his prose to resurrect that most neglected of literary virtues: wit.
David Rakoff’s first book, Fraud can best be described as hilarious, often bittersweet essays on contemporary culture. His second collection of essays, entitled Don’t Get Too Comfortable, will be published in the fall of 2005. A regular on Public Radio’s “This American Life,” Rakoff is also a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine, a correspondent for Outside magazine, and a writer for GQ, Salon.com, Conde Nast Traveler, and Wired, among others. Rakoff has worked in theater with David and Amy Sedaris, as director of their play Stitches and has acted in the Obie award-winning One Woman Shoe. His television appearances include Cosby and As the World Turns.
9:30pm – 11:00pm Karaoke!
There is a librarian and MLA Conference Committee member who can bring the house down with a heartfelt rendition of Mr. Roboto by Styx. Are you a fan of karaoke? Perhaps you’re one of those people who like to watch, but would never dream of taking part. One Conference Co-Chair suggests, “It’s all in the song. Choose a song that everyone knows but hasn’t heard in a long time. And be prepared. You’ll want to make sure you can hit those high notes!” Join in the fun as MLA presents an evening of karaoke!
9:00pm – 11:00pm Special Movie Screening!
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