Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
College of Holy Cross, Hogan Campus Center, Worcester, MA
8:30 – Registration & Refreshments
9:30 – Program Begins
3:30 – Adjourn
Keynote Address:
Big Data: Big Deal? New Challenges for Scholars and Librarians by John Unsworth, Vice Provost, Library and Technology Services and Chief Information Officer, Brandeis University.
In this talk, Unsworth will review some recent efforts to make large amounts of textual data available for computational research in the humanities. Examples will touch on challenges in the areas of licensing and copyright, problems and gaps in the data itself, sample research projects that would use this kind or resource, current efforts to provide a virtual research environment in which to work with such materials, and sample research results that will help to suggest why it might be worth meeting the challenges posed by big data in the humanities. Along the way, it will become clear that there are important and in some ways novel roles for librarians at every stage of the process.
John Unsworth’s Slides for Big Data: Big Deal? (PDF, 1 M)
Panel Discussions:
Transforming Technical Services in the iLibrary by Alicia Morris, Head, Technical Services, Tisch Library, Tufts University and Roger Brisson, Head, Metadata & Cataloging, Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University.
Technical services staff today need an expanded set of competencies and skills to respond to swiftly changing demands and priorities. Three panelists from academic and public libraries will discuss their practical experience, challenges and strategies in supporting the new digital environment, retraining and motivating staff, changing workflows, and transforming their part of the organization.
Alicia Morris’ Slides for Transforming Technical Services in the iLibrary (PDF, 679 K)
Roger Brisson’s Slides for Transforming Technical Services in the iLibrary(PDF, 17.6 M)
ILS In The Cloud: Promise or Peril? by Bob Gerrity, Associate University Librarian, Systems & Information Technology, Boston College Libraries and Martha Rice Sanders, Knowledge Management Librarian, HELIN Consortium.
Cloud computing is a major trend in higher education and now also a significant option for the next generation of library management platforms. This session will cover the general benefits, pitfalls, realities and trade-offs involved when considering a move to library cloud computing.
Combined Slides for ILS in the Cloud: Promise or Peril? (PDF, 2.66 M)
Breakout Sessions:
Digital Repository Services with Fedora by Greg Colati, Director, University Archives & Special Collections, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut and Patrick Yott, Director, Library Technology Services, Northeastern University.
Northeastern University and the University of Connecticut have begun developing digital repositories based upon the Fedora (www.duraspace.org) repository framework. In this session the leaders of these two projects will discuss their goals and decision making process, as well as the implications and opportunities these projects will have on technical services librarians in their institutions.
Greg Colati’s Slides for Digital Repository Services with Fedora (PDF, 723 K)
Patrick Yott’s Slides for Digital Repository Services with Fedora (PDF, 439 K)
Dataverse and Data Management Plans by Mercè Crosas, Director, Product Development, Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS), Harvard University.
This talk will show how institutions can use the Dataverse Network software to provide a data repository for research data sets, with data citation support, re-formatting, metadata standards, versioning, good archival practices and more. In this way, the Dataverse enables a solution fully compliant with data management plans requirements.
Mercè Crosas’ Slides for Dataverse and Data Management Plans (PDF, 6 M)
That’s Why I Chose Overdrive! by Todd Gilman, Librarian, Literature in English, Comparative Literature, & Linguistics, Yale University Library and Mary Danko, Director, Hartland Public Library & President of the Board, Green Mountain Library Consortium.
OverDrive is, “a leading full-service digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, and other digital content.” OverDrive makes available more than 500,000 digital titles and has become popular for use by libraries. This session will present a view of OverDrive from both an academic and a public library perspective.
Mary Danko’s Slides for That’s Why I Chose Overdrive! (PDF, 160 K)
Todd Gilman did not use slides for his presentation
We Are All Systems Librarians: Putting Technical Services Skills to Work In Systems by Janice Christopher, Systems Librarian, University of Connecticut Libraries .
How can Technical Services librarians use our traditional competencies to benefit our systems (and, by extension, our systems staff)? What new competencies can help us use our tools in these new roles and at peak performance? How can Technical Services librarians and systems staff build and maintain good relationships, with the goal of improving both user experience and staff modules? Can we re-vision ourselves as systems librarians? In this session, opportunities abound – persistence and openness can help us navigate the realities and pitfalls.
Janice Christopher’s Slides for We Are All Systems Librarians (PDF, 1.2 M)
Schedule of the Day
Links within the Schedule of the Day may be broken. If available, links to additional materials are provided above.
New England Technical Services Librarians (NETSL) 