Category: Events

Participatory librarianship and the whole “Library as Conversation” idea is certainly catching on. I’ve put together a list of presentations I’ve either given or are planned for 2007 at: http://iis.syr.edu/projects/PNOpen/2007Tour/

In case you’re curious, here’s what’s coming up:

“Participatory Librarianship” South Central Regional Library Council Library: Place Service or Both Series, Ithaca, NY March 16

“The Library as Conversation” The Regione Toscana- Servizi Bibliografici, Florence, Italy April 12

“Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation” Amigos Member Conference, Dallas, TX. May 2

“Participatory Networks” Nylink Annual Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY. May 9

“Collecting Conversations in a Massive Scale World” ALCTS National Conference, Washington, D.C. June 22

“Future of Information Search and Retrieval” ALA Panel, Washington D.C. June 25

On February 15, 2006 at 6 p.m. SL (9 EST) the ALA Washington Office will hold it’s first event in Second Life, a 3-D virtual world. R. David Lankes from Syracuse University will give a presentation on a paper commissioned by the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) entitled “Participatory Networks: Libraries as Conversation”. OITP commissioned this paper from the Information Institute at Syracuse in an effort to provide an understanding of intersection of libraries and Web 2.0. This lecture will be an opportunity for everyone to hear what web 2.0 is and how they can use this new technology to engage their patrons.

The ALA Washington Office is pleased to be able to reach out to members, librarians and library supporters via this new communications medium. Represented by avatars, librarians from around the world will be able to view this presentation from the comfort of their homes or offices. The presentation will be held at the Info Island Amphitheater. Please let OITP’s Mark Bard (AKA Galen Noltenius in SL) know if you need a teleport to the amphitheater.

To create a free Second Life account to view this event, please go to http://www.secondlife.com

David’s paper can be found at http://iis.syr.edu/projects/PNOpen/

For more information on the ALA Washington Office in Second Life, please consult an earlier blog entry here.

For those interested, here is a list of presentations I have coming up.

• November 9: Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC “Massive Scale Librarianship“
• January 16: ALISE, Seattle, WA “Information seeking behaviors: Habits of practice of K-12 educators and learners“
• January 30: Information Online Conference, Sydney, AU “Changing Face of Service“
• February 2: Information Online Satellite Event, Sydney, AU “Using Virtual Reference to Rule the World“
• April 17-18: Connecticut Library Association’s Annual Conference, New Hartford, CT Speaking on IMLS Study on the Library Workforce in the 21st Century
• May 2: Amigos Conference, Dallas TX Speaking on Participatory Librarians

Lankes will present at the 2006 Charleston Conference. Here is the title and abstract:

Massive Scale Librarianship

There are two types of discontinuities faced by a field: those you expect, and those that you don’t. The Internet was an unexpected event in librarianship. Few could look at the early days of telnet, gopher, and even the web and truly appreciate its impact on libraries. Yet even so, library science has adapted. Not always elegantly, not always completely, but adapted. Unlike the Internet that had a largely unexpected impact, very large scale computing is an obvious coming challenge. We know computing power, storage and bandwidth are going to increase. Knowing this, it is incumbent upon the library and information science field to consider what is a world like where you can walk around with the entire contents of the Internet in your pocket.

Lankes will present a lecture at Pratt’s School of Information and Library Science September 18th 2006 at 5:30. Here’s the title and Abstract:

The Social Internet: A New Community Role for Libraries?

Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, Blogger these web services have begun to redefine how communities form and work on the web. What lessons can libraries learn from these services to improve their own websites? How can libraries extend their efforts to provide community gathering places to the web? This presentation will discuss how libraries can not only improve their own web services, but help shape the whole concept of communities on the web. This presentation will be based on an ALA’s Office of Information & Technology Policy and Syracuse University’s Information Institute of Syracuse project on the social Internet.

Lankes will present a day long workshop in Toronto as part of the OCULA Spring Workshop on Reference in Academic Libraries:

http://www.thepartnership.ca/cgi-bin/site/showPage.cgi?page=education/ei05/lankes_elmborg_ocula.html

Abstract:

On day one join David Lankes as he looks at current issues and themes in digital or virtual reference. Libraries are taking reference to the web and this is creating challenges for librarians in terms of new skills, staffing requirements, and budget demands. This workshop will cover the basics of virtual reference, virtual reference tools, current trends and a little crystal ball gazing into the virtual reference future.

Lankes has been invited to give a lecture as part of the Lazerow Lecture series at the Pratt School of Information and Library Science on April 28, 5:30-6:30. The lecture series is supported by ISI Thomson. Here is the title and abstract.

Reference: An Island of Chaos in a Sea of Order

Much of librarianship is about bringing order to the wilds of the information environment. Books, articles, media and documents are wrestled to the ground, branded with a classification and corralled onto a shelf (either virtually or physically). Reference started its existence as a bridge from a patron’s unordered view to a structured collection. However, as the amount of disordered information available to the average user has far outstripped cataloged collection, reference’s unique inductive nature has come to the fore. Reference has become a creative author and tool creator in the library. This lecture will explore the unique nature of reference in libraries, and examine the potential of reference to secure libraries place in the 21st century.