LIVING DIGITAL: The Future of Information and the Role of the Library

[Cindy Hepfer <hslcindy@buffalo.edu>]

This ALA MidWinter symposium is filling up, but there is still 
time to register for the remaining spaces (Apologies for 
cross-posting.)

Website for the symposium and link to registration can be found 
at: 
<http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/confevents/upcoming/ala/living.cfm>

Cindy Hepfer
HSLcindy@buffalo.edu

========

LIVING DIGITAL: The Future of Information and the Role of the Library
Thursday, January 14, 2010 (8:30am-4:30pm)
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Rooms 252 A/B
Boston, Massachusetts

SPONSOR

ALCTS and the symposium planners wish to thank Sun Microsystems 
for its generous support of Living Digital.

SCHEDULE

8:30-8:40  	Welcome and introduction
8:40-9:20  	Margaret Ashida
9:20-10:00  	Kevin Guthrie
10:00-10:20 	Break
10:20 -11:00  	Panel presentations: Ann, John, Tom, Jenny
11:00-12:00  	Brainstorming session
12:00-1:45  	Lunch on your own
1:50-2:50 	Breakout group lightening report-outs with panelist reactions
2:50-3:10 	Break
3:10-3:50  	John Palfrey
3:50-4:20  	John Wilkin
4:20-4:30  	Conclusion


PRESENTATION TITLES AND ABSTRACTS

Plenary speakers:

Margaret Ashida
Going Global in the Knowledge Economy

The 21st century's globalized economy is a knowledge economy, 
powered by technologies that many of our kids take for granted 
but which most of our parents never imagined.  Generational 
differences have added a new dimension to the "digital divide" 
and new challenges in attracting and preparing talent to step 
into information-related professions.  An education well-grounded 
in STEM - a multidisciplinary approach to science, technology, 
engineering and mathematics - creates informed and literate 
citizens, let alone technically competent problem-solvers and 
innovators in the workforce.  Yet the pipeline is weak.  This 
talk will describe a growing movement among diverse stakeholders 
to address this critical workforce issue through a collaborative, 
systemic focus on STEM education.  Recruitment approaches for 
addressing generational differences in job and career 
expectations will be shared.  An underlying concept of 
"glocalization" will be discussed as fundamental to 
transformations necessary to meet the challenges of the third 
millennium.

Kevin M. Guthrie
When Books are Bytes, What Adds Value?

As content goes digital, the local infrastructure developed and 
optimized over a century to store and provide access to books and 
journals becomes less valuable. Putting aside preservation, when 
an article becomes available electronically, one might argue that 
the physical infrastructure to store the print version of that 
article has no value at all. Perhaps that is less true today for 
books, because of the current limitation of reading long-form 
content digitally, but that too is changing rapidly and is 
nearing a tipping point. If one imagines a future when nearly all 
content is in digital form, the role of the library shifts from 
being one primarily managing physical infrastructure and 
inventory efficiently and effectively, and one oriented toward 
providing services. The speaker will explore a number of examples 
of companies that have experienced this kind of shift and how 
they have responded. He will also share some of the initial 
findings of a recent faculty survey exploring changing attitudes 
about the library in this digital age.

John Palfrey
Born Digital

Many young people -- especially those in schools, colleges, and 
universities -- relate to information, one another, and 
institutions very differently than their parents and 
grandparents. This session will focus on topics such as changing 
norms in access to knowledge, copyright, and the impact of the 
proposed Google Books Search Settlement. This talk will consider 
the potentially transformative implications of these changes for 
all libraries, schools, and the publishing industry

John Wilkin
Thinking and Acting Globally to Better Serve Local Needs in the Michigan
Digital Library

Digital library activities continue to mature.  The best of breed 
are moving from being insular and narrowly local efforts that 
have thrown up walls to cooperation to being broadly cooperative 
efforts that take advantage of deeply shared resources, 
modularity, and openness.  Part of that maturation process is 
moving from seeing digital resource issues as "common" problems 
to being "shared" problems.  The presentation will highlight 
University of Michigan digital library efforts (and particularly 
HathiTrust) to discuss this move to shared efforts, as well as 
the way this trend makes it possible for an institution to build 
global systems and services that are cognizant of local community 
needs.  Working in a shared space and acting globally ensures a 
more efficient use of scarce resources and better supports our 
need to serve local needs.

Panelists:

Collection development in an all-digital age
Tom Corbett

Collection development for an all digital library shouldn't just 
mimic the same processes and procedures we've used in the past to 
develop our print resources. The value and even relevance of a 
local "in-house" collection should be questioned.  It's also 
important to look beyond text and consider elevating the 
importance of providing access to datasets and other non-text 
resources that best support our school curriculum and/or 
community interests.  In short, as librarians we need to think 
about how our collection development policies and efforts impact 
our inevitable shift from the role of gatekeeper to facilitator 
in an all-digital future.

Leveling Up at the Library
Jenny Levine

Gaming at the library isn't new, but the impact it can now have 
on patrons, staff, and the community is. Whether it's gaming 
services that enhance social interactions, encourage 
intergenerational learning, create opportunities for civic 
engagement, incorporate strategies into instructional learning, 
or permeate the library with the "gamer ethos" for success-driven 
failure, gaming offers incredibly rich and varied possibilities 
for libraries. Learn how your library can "level up" with gamers 
and harness the benefits of gaming for everyone.

Is there an app for that?  Digital natives and the information commons
Ann Wolpert

New technology has brought with it new tools to enrich and expand 
the core library services of learning, discovery and research. 
Reaching out to "digital natives" through an information commons 
is a useful approach to focusing library services on this 
generation of learners, explorers, - and educators.  The 
challenge for libraries is to provide an environment in which 
digital natives, regardless of their individual skills and 
experience, can gain access to the resources and services that 
that will help them become full, ethical, informed participants 
in the online communities in which they live.

John Yemma
Tailoring news to the Web: How the Christian Science Monitor embraces the
hyperlink

In March of 2009, the 100-year-old Christian Science Monitor 
shifted to a Web-first strategy, discontinuing its daily print 
newspaper and putting the bulk of its journalistic resources 
against its website, CSMonitor.com. (The Monitor also launched a 
print weekly magazine, an email Daily News Update, and other 
platforms.) Now that reporters, editors, photographers, and 
graphics artists are working directly on the Web, they are in a 
constant feedback loop with their audience and are learning how 
to pursue an acquisition-retention-conversion strategy using best 
practices with search engine optimization and hyperlinking to 
deeper content. Whether the Monitor is a model for other news 
organizations or not as a business, this Web-first type of 
journalism is a profound cultural shift that most of the world of 
journalism will sooner or later make. John Yemma, editor of the 
Monitor, will detail the early lessons from this real-time 
laboratory for Web-first news located in Boston's Back Bay.

BRAINSTORMING SESSION TOPICS

 	Determining collections for a paperless library
 	Designing an information commons for a generation of digital natives
 	Incorporating gaming into library services
 	Delivering information to consumers in a virtual environment

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Margaret Ashida joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in April, 
2009 as the project director for the Empire State STEM Education 
Initiative, supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates 
Foundation.  Previously an executive at IBM, her experience 
includes leadership in global diversity and workforce programs, 
global equal opportunity, enterprise-wide performance management, 
workforce management strategy and execution, university relations 
and recruiting, collaborative innovation, e-business 
transformation, marketing operations, customer support 
operations, financial planning and pricing, and operational 
analysis.  She began her career at the Xerox Corporation, moving 
to ROLM coincident with its acquisition by IBM.

Margaret is the Chair of the Board of Directors of LEAP (Leadership
Education for Asian Pacifics Inc.) and a graduate of LEAP's Leadership
Development Program.  She was recognized with a Corporate Leadership Award
at the OCA 2005 National Meeting for her career achievements and work on
behalf of the Asian community.  Margaret also served as a Trustee of the
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology from 2003-2009, is a past
co-chair of the National Center for Women and IT (NCWIT) Workforce
Alliance, and is a past chair of the MentorNet Advisory Board.

Margaret holds a B.A. from the University of Rochester.   She is an
honorary member of the University's Trustees' Council, a charter member of
the George Eastman Circle, and currently serves on the Libraries Advisory
Council.  She also holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of
Business.

Tom Corbett has been a professional librarian for over twenty 
years, since graduating from the University of Missouri with a 
degree in Library and Information Science in the mid-eighties. 
He has worn many hats in the field, as a University Archivist, 
Director of Adult Services, Head of Cataloging, Systems 
Administrator, Assistant Director of a library network and last, 
but not least, as Executive Director of the Fisher-Watkins 
Library at Cushing Academy.  Tom's assignment at Cushing Academy 
is to complete the transformation of the library from one that 
relied primarily on printed resources to one that relies 
primarily on digital resources.  He believes this shift in focus 
and priorities will help strengthen the library's role on campus 
without sacrificing the library's ongoing commitment to promoting 
and nurturing a love of reading.

Kevin M. Guthrie is the president of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit 
organization focused on helping the academic community use 
digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to 
advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. ITHAKA is the 
organizational home for JSTOR and Portico. Ithaka S+R, the 
strategy and research arm of ITHAKA, helps not-for-profit 
initiatives and organizations develop sustainable business models 
and conducts research and analysis on the impact of digital media 
on scholarly communications and the academic enterprise.

In addition to being the founding president of JSTOR, Kevin 
previously started his own software development company and was a 
research associate at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where he 
authored The New-York Historical Society:  Lessons from One 
Nonprofit's Long Struggle for Survival (Jossey Bass). He holds a 
BSE in Civil Engineering from Princeton University and a Masters 
in Business Administration from Columbia University.

Jenny Levine is the Internet Development Specialist and Strategy 
Guide at the American Library Association, where she works in the 
Information Technology department. As part of her job, she blogs, 
creates wikis, bugs her colleagues to instant message, tests 
podcasting and vodcasting, teaches RSS, posts pictures on Flickr, 
responds to members on Twitter, and does similar work with other 
emerging technologies and tools in general. In 2007, she 
organized the first ALA TechSource gaming, Learning, and 
Libraries Symposium, as well as the successful follow-up in 2008. 
She also helps coordinate ALA's annual National Gaming Day 
initiative. She led the development of a professional online 
network for ALA members called ALA Connect that launched in April 
2009.

In addition, Levine is the author of The Shifted Librarian blog 
(http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/), a site that helps librarians 
understand the coming impact of ubiquitous, mobile, always-on 
internet (and hence ubiquitous, always-on information) on our 
profession. She wrote the September/October 2006 issue of 
"Library Technology Reports," titled Gaming and Libraries: 
Intersection of Services and is an avid proponent of gaming 
services in libraries. LTR published her follow-up issues, Gaming 
and Libraries Update: Broadening the Intersections, in April 
2008, and Gaming & Libraries: Learning Lessons from the 
Intersections in July 2009.

John Palfrey is Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and Vice Dean 
for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School. He 
is the co-author of "Born Digital: Understanding the First 
Generation of Digital Natives" (Basic Books, 2008) and "Access 
Denied: The Practice and Politics of Internet Filtering" (MIT 
Press, 2008). His research and teaching is focused on Internet 
law, intellectual property, and international law. He practiced 
intellectual property and corporate law at the law firm of Ropes 
& Gray. He is a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for 
Internet & Society at Harvard University. Outside of Harvard Law 
School, he is a Venture Executive at Highland Capital Partners 
and serves on the board of several technology companies and 
non-profits. John served as a special assistant at the US EPA 
during the Clinton Administration. He is a graduate of Harvard 
College, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard Law School. He 
writes a blog at http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/.

John P. Wilkin is the Associate University Librarian for Library 
Information Technology (LIT) and is the Executive Director of 
HathiTrust. The Library Information Technology (LIT) Division 
supports the Library's online catalog and related technologies, 
provides the infrastructure to both digitize and access digital 
library collections, supports the Library's web presence, and 
provides frameworks and systems to coordinate Library technology 
activities (e.g., authentication and authorization). Reporting 
units include Core Services, Digital Library Production Service, 
Library Systems, and Web Services.

John previously served as the Head of the Digital Library 
Production Service at the University of Michigan, a position he 
held from its inception in 1996. DLPS was originally conceived as 
a federated organization, drawing on resources from the 
University of Michigan's major information and technology 
organizations, including the University of Michigan Library. 
Although this particular aspect of DLPS has changed, now with all 
of the department's activities situated within the University 
Library, and nearly all of its funding on the Library's base 
budget, DLPS continues to have strong campus and national 
relations. Among the units in the DLPS is the University of 
Michigan's Humanities Text Initiative, an organization 
responsible for SGML document creation and online systems that 
Wilkin founded in 1994.

John earned graduate degrees in English from the University of 
Virginia ('80) and Library Science from the University of 
Tennessee at Knoxville ('86). In 1988 he assumed responsibility 
for the University of Michigan's English and American language 
and literature collection development, as well as library 
research support for English faculty and graduate students. Soon 
after, he implemented a campus-wide service for the analysis of 
electronic text and encoding text in SGML. In 1992, he began work 
at the University of Virginia as the Systems Librarian for 
Information Services, where he shaped the Library's plan for 
establishing a group of electronic centers, led and provided 
technical support for those centers, and consulted for the 
University's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities 
(IATH) in textual issues.

As Director of Libraries, Ann J. Wolpert is responsible for the 
MIT Libraries and MIT Press. The MIT Libraries consist of five 
major collections, a number of smaller branch libraries in 
specialized subject areas, a fee-for-services group, and the 
Institute Archives. The Institute Archives and Special 
Collections preserve the historical records of MIT and the 
personal papers of many faculty members. The MIT Press publishes 
about 200 new books and more than 40 journals each year in fields 
related to or reliant upon science and technology. The Press is 
widely recognized for its innovative graphic design and 
electronic publishing initiatives.

The Director's Institute responsibilities include membership on 
the Committee on Copyright and Patents, the Council on 
Educational Technology, the Deans' Committee, and the Academic 
Council. She chairs the Management Board of the MIT Press and the 
Board of Directors of Technology Review, Inc.

John Yemma is the editor of The Christian Science Monitor, a 
global, multimedia news organization that specializes in 
thoughtful, humane reporting that helps readers understand the 
world.

In the past year, under John's editorial direction, the 
100-year-old Monitor became the first major US-based newspaper to 
drop its daily print publication and shift to a Web-first format 
that includes a continuously updated website, CSMonitor.com, a 
weekly print magazine, and a daily email news briefing.  The aim 
of the strategy is to provide news to readers in formats that 
accommodate their current tastes and habits and to develop a 
sustainable new-media business that supports Monitor journalism 
in its second century. In the first six months of this shift, the 
Monitor has seen its Web traffic increase by 25 percent and its 
weekly (formerly daily) print circulation grow by 57 percent. In 
addition, the Monitor has introduced a subscription, 
email-delivered, PDF news summary Monday-through-Friday, and is 
launching Kindle, Nook, and other e-reader publications.

John rejoined the Monitor in the summer of 2008 after 20 years at 
the Boston Globe, where most recently he was in charge of the 
Globe's multimedia news operation. He also served as foreign 
editor, Sunday editor, political editor, and had several stints 
writing about foreign affairs, science, education, and ideas and 
culture. In an earlier nine-year period at the Monitor, John 
worked as a reporter in the Washington bureau, a correspondent in 
the Middle East, business editor, and economics columnist.

John currently writes the "Editor's View" column for the 
Monitor's Daily News Briefing, the "Open Source" column for the 
Monitor print weekly, and needs to do more blogging, Tweeting, 
and experimentation with video and other multimedia. In March 
2009, Portfolio Magazine named him one of the "25 tech 
influentials" in the United States. Besides the Globe and the 
Monitor, John has worked for the Dallas Morning News, UPI, and 
the San Antonio Express-News. He is a 1974 graduate of the 
University of Texas, was a Reuter Fellow at Oxford University in 
1994 and a Sulzberger Fellow at Columbia University in 2008.

****