Connection and Convergance: Second International Conference on Joint Use Libraries

Tuesday, 28 April 2009 5:48:13 p.m.

ANNOUNCEMENT AND FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS
CONNECTION AND CONVERGENCE: SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JOINT USE LIBRARIES
ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA 10-11 AUGUST 2010

Following the first international conference on joint use libraries* held in Manchester UK 19-21 June 2007, Auslib Conferences announces the second international conference and invites proposals for papers for it.

WHERE: Adelaide, South Australia. With a population of 1.2 million, Adelaide is rated within the world’s 100 most liveable cities. It provides access to tourist destinations such as the Australian Outback, Flinders Ranges, Ayers Rock and Kangaroo Island. South Australia contains the major wine producing areas of Australia. See www.southaustralia.com/ and www.australia.com/

With 60 joint use libraries, South Australia has Australia’s largest number. They include a variety in or close to metropolitan Adelaide.

WHEN: Tuesday 10 August and Wednesday 11 August 2010. There will be an optional full day study tour of joint use libraries on Monday 9 August 2010.

Note The 76th annual general conference of IFLA will be held in Brisbane, Queensland Saturday 14 to Thursday 19 August 2010. See www.ifla.org/IV/ifla76/index.htm.

Delegates attending Connection and Convergence and the IFLA conference would have the options of travelling to Brisbane directly from Adelaide (flight time 2 hours 15 minutes) or via Australia’s other large east coast cities of Melbourne or Sydney. Road travel options could include the world-ranked Great Ocean Road between Adelaide and Melbourne, or the coastal road between Melbourne and Sydney.

FOCUS Connection and Convergence will focus on the increasing numbers and varieties of joint use libraries being developed around the world. It will also aim to explore other developments connecting, converging and collocating academic, public, school and special libraries, and with nonlibrary agencies and services.
STRUCTURE The conference will comprise 30 or 45 minute papers, with a recorded question and answer panel session of the day’s speakers at the end of each day. The conference language will be English.

OUTCOMES The full proceedings will be supplied to all delegates soon after the conference as part of their registration fee. They will include full papers, transcripts of the panel sessions, and the conference recommendations. Delegates will also be supplied with speaker PowerPoints.

PROPOSALS FOR PAPERS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR SPEAKERS
Please send by 17 DECEMBER 2009 to info@auslib.com.au, or fax +61 (0)8 8278 4000 or mail Auslib Conferences, PO Box 622, Blackwood, South Australia 5051

1 Your name and position
2 75 words about yourself, with your email address
3 A title for your proposed paper
4 A 100-150 word summary of the paper.

If you have a suggestion for a speaker, please let us know.
Speakers will receive a 50% discount on the conference registration fee.

Dr Alan Bundy
Conference convener

* The proceedings of the first international conference on joint use libraries are available from Auslib Press, PO Box 622, Blackwood, South Australia. For details see www.auslib.com.au

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‘Digital discovery; strategies and solutions’

Tuesday, 28 April 2009 5:43:44 p.m.

An interesting review of the 2008 IATUL Conference by Ann Sainsbury,
Library Manager, University of Westminster.

IATUL Conference 2008, Auckland, 21-24 April 2008

In April, I was lucky enough to travel to New Zealand to participate in the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL) Annual Conference, which was held at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Arriving late, due to a typhoon in Hong Kong, I went straight into the conference which began at the AUT Marae (Meeting house). The Powhiri (Maori welcome) made me aware of how strong the Maori culture is in New Zealand, especially in libraries.

Go to source:
http://www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletter/44/18.pdf

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We Need Publishing Standards for Datasets and Data Tables

Tuesday, 28 April 2009 5:38:05 p.m.

Go to Google.com and search for “journals.” The first page of results is full of references to professional publishing websites such as OUP, PubMed, AMS et al. Just what one would expect.

Go to Google.com and search for “datasets. On the first page of results you'll find only two references to anything that might be professional – a link to the US Census website and a link to some data posted by researchers at the World Bank. (Interestingly, this World Bank site is not their famous World Development Indicators website). The other results are a mish-mash of poorly presented and poorly maintained pages from universities and other research bodies. None of these sites is presented in a professional manner and each has its share of broken links.

Research is all about gathering data. Academic papers, journal articles and monographs cannot be written without data. Before the Internet, data could not be made available easily, but now datasets are being posted on departmental websites in universities and research centres around the world. But can you find them? Will they be there tomorrow? Judging from the Google search, the answer is not positive.

Go to source: http://ocde.p4.siteinternet.com/publications/doifiles/publishing-standards-data-2009.pdf

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Library of the Future Debate

Tuesday, 28 April 2009 5:36:40 p.m.

What is the library of the future? This public question and answer debate discussed what information and library provision mean in these changing times; technology has had a huge effect on the behaviour of both information consumers and service providers. We asked what the library currently is and what do libraries need to do to support knowledge, innovation and society for the future.

These issues were examined from several different perspectives through a range of high profile speakers who presented their vision for the library of the future.

Go to source: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/campaigns/librariesofthefuture/debate.aspx

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Draft Roadmap for an e-infrastructure for Scientific Data

Tuesday, 28 April 2009 5:32:21 p.m.

PARSE.Insight (Permanent Access to the Records of Science in Europe)

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview and initial details of a number of specific components, both technical and non-technical, which would be needed to supplement existing and already planned infrastructures for science data. The infra-structure components presented here are aimed at bridging the gaps between islands of functionality, developed for particular purposes, often by other European projects, whether separated by discipline or time. Thus the infrastructure components are in-tended to play a general, unifying role in science data. While developed in the context of a European wide infrastructure, there would be great advantages for these types of infrastructure components to be available much more widely.

Go to Source: http://www.parse-insight.eu/downloads/Parseinsight_draft_roadmap_20090327.pdf

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Reality Bites: Periodicals Price Survey 2009

Tuesday, 28 April 2009 5:30:23 p.m.

In the face of the downturn, libraries and publishers brace for big cuts 

As waves of grim economic news wash over state and federal governments here and abroad, libraries of all types and sizes are bracing for budget cuts the likes of which have not been seen in three generations. Unlike most financial crises, this one is ubiquitous, with all but a handful of states in the red and getting redder. Globally, the meltdown is playing havoc with currencies, and the cost of journals priced in currencies other than the pound, the euro, or the U.S. dollar have skyrocketed. Severe losses in endowment revenue, which in the past insulated materials budgets to a degree, have left even larger and wealthier libraries facing cuts.

Go to source: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6651248.html

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