... the IT man in LibraryLand To that end I present some excerpts from a conference report for a conference that Supervisor Grand Chief K refused to allow me to attend!
The report is scribed by the lovely Svetlana.
Perhaps you can see why I'm so fond of her.
NAME: LIDA 2008: Libraries in the Digital Age 2008.
PLACE: Dubrovnik and Mljet, Croatia
Major topics: Reference in Digital Environments Education and Training in /for Digital Libraries
LIDA brings together researchers, educators, practitioners and developers from all over the world in a forum for personal exchanges, discussions and learning, made easier by being held in memorable locations.
On this particular occasion, there were 145 participants from all over the world (mostly Croatia and USA, but also Canada, Singapore, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, France, Greece, Austria, Sweden, Lithuania).
Now that you have all the important details (who, what, when, where and why), let me give you my side of the story.
...
Arrived in Dubrovnik on Monday 02 Jun 2008 at about noon, so I was fashionably late for conference opening ( which was pretty good since some people arrived two days later wondering around, maybe they were lost) and discovered the monastery where I was staying was a few steps from IUC, where everything was happening. Have to admit I was a little bit nervous about all the accommodation with nuns, but they were great. I had the whole first floor for myself, two bathrooms (I was using a different one every day just because I could), a little kitchen and fridge to store extra beers.
Well, no TV, radio or Internet but who cares? I was on a mission to find out what's new in the library world.
Day one was all like ’no one is talking to each other', no eye contact, etc. In my humble opinion, that was an oversight made by organizers, e.g., not introducing people properly.
...
Just let me show you the the most important place at the IUC , which is in the backyard with coffee breaks…
...
Day two had two great things and one that was not that great.
First good thing
Susan McGlamery and Lynn Silipigni Connaway presented a cooperative virtual reference QuestionPoint 24/7, which allows libraries to expand their reference services beyond the walls of the library and beyond normal working hours. The service includes 1,400 libraries in the United States and the United Kingdom. All these librarians are able to provide their users with assistance 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
The exciting part is that you may ask a question in Los Angeles and get an answer from a librarian in London. They are still working on policies and procedures, and they are also very keen to spread this service around the world. What I really liked is the enthusiasm they have for their project, about sharing knowledge and their work, in general. Pure inspiration.
Boring thing
Now, the “not so great“thing was the Greek presentation. Two guys, Aggelos and Giannis, talked about ‘using qualitative research methods for the improvement of collaborative information searching tools design’. Their pronunciation of English was really hard to understand, plus they used very ‘scientific’ expressions...boring. Too bad, they really tried.
Second good thing
This is something I enjoyed. Dr.Erich Renhart and Manfred Mayer from Vestigia Manuscript Research Centre in cooperation with University of Graz, Austria developed a little machine called ‘The Traveller’s Conservation Copy Stand’ which allows time efficient digitization of rare and sensitive material such as manuscripts, autographs, incunabula (an incunabulum is a book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe. These are very rare and valuable items).
With this kind of material careful handling and support is essential. This kind of collection CANNOT leave the buildings where they are stored, so the mobile copy stand was developed to address the need for digitizing materials from these kinds of collections, especially in eastern and southeast Europe. The price is around 7,000 euro.
Now before we go on, let me just remind you what this is all about. In short period of time, digital libraries have become a global phenomenon, and subject of research in number of fields like computer science, information science and library science. The future role of libraries and librarians in the process of digitization has been discussed for years.
The increasing amount of digital content available anywhere and anytime makes that discussion more relevant than ever. Who is going to be in charge of sorting out the “ocean“ of information? What kind of models will be needed to sustain the organization, maintenance, access and preservation of digital information over the long term?
The answer is that computer scientists and librarians will have to work hard together in finding solutions, and they have already started.
Project Gutenberg, Google Book Search, Windows Live Search Books, Internet Archive, Cornell University, The Library of Congress World Digital Library, The Digital Library at the University of Michigan, and CMU's Universal library are considered leaders in the field of digital archive creation and management.
Day three - the best part was the Poster session (as I have mentioned at the beginning: short graphic presentations on research studies, examples, or preliminary work presented in a special poster session)
...
The girls from Montréal really enjoyed the Adriatic Sea and I was proud of my country's beauty. That day we had an afternoon with the guest of honour Peter Ingwerson (Royal School of LIOS, Copenhagen, Denmark)
He talked about context – driven integrated framework for research on interactive IR, and if you think the title is complicated …you should have heard the guy. Nevertheless, he was on the panel for students who were PhD candidates and presented their projects, so they had very good, constructive and useful feedback.
In the evening people were networking at the banquette. We were exchanging ideas about wines, food, EU, and digital libraries of course.
Last day …
At this stage we were all a little bit worn out. This was the closing day LIDA 2008, and the only people hanging around were students trying to improve their projects by talking to professors.
Others just enjoyed the easy day.
All together, digitization is a process that is going to make a huge change in world of information, and we will be witnesses of the continuing growth.
We departed from Mljet looking forward to LIDA 2009, which is supposed to happen May 25 – 30, 2009 in Dubrovnik and Zadar with two major themes:
Heritage & digital libraries: digitization, preservation, access
Reflections : changes brought by and in digital libraries in the last decade
The End
PLACE: Dubrovnik and Mljet, Croatia
Major topics: Reference in Digital Environments Education and Training in /for Digital Libraries
LIDA brings together researchers, educators, practitioners and developers from all over the world in a forum for personal exchanges, discussions and learning, made easier by being held in memorable locations.
On this particular occasion, there were 145 participants from all over the world (mostly Croatia and USA, but also Canada, Singapore, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, France, Greece, Austria, Sweden, Lithuania).
Now that you have all the important details (who, what, when, where and why), let me give you my side of the story.
...
Arrived in Dubrovnik on Monday 02 Jun 2008 at about noon, so I was fashionably late for conference opening ( which was pretty good since some people arrived two days later wondering around, maybe they were lost) and discovered the monastery where I was staying was a few steps from IUC, where everything was happening. Have to admit I was a little bit nervous about all the accommodation with nuns, but they were great. I had the whole first floor for myself, two bathrooms (I was using a different one every day just because I could), a little kitchen and fridge to store extra beers.
Well, no TV, radio or Internet but who cares? I was on a mission to find out what's new in the library world.
Day one was all like ’no one is talking to each other', no eye contact, etc. In my humble opinion, that was an oversight made by organizers, e.g., not introducing people properly.
...
Just let me show you the the most important place at the IUC , which is in the backyard with coffee breaks…
...
Day two had two great things and one that was not that great.
First good thing
Susan McGlamery and Lynn Silipigni Connaway presented a cooperative virtual reference QuestionPoint 24/7, which allows libraries to expand their reference services beyond the walls of the library and beyond normal working hours. The service includes 1,400 libraries in the United States and the United Kingdom. All these librarians are able to provide their users with assistance 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
The exciting part is that you may ask a question in Los Angeles and get an answer from a librarian in London. They are still working on policies and procedures, and they are also very keen to spread this service around the world. What I really liked is the enthusiasm they have for their project, about sharing knowledge and their work, in general. Pure inspiration.
Boring thing
Now, the “not so great“thing was the Greek presentation. Two guys, Aggelos and Giannis, talked about ‘using qualitative research methods for the improvement of collaborative information searching tools design’. Their pronunciation of English was really hard to understand, plus they used very ‘scientific’ expressions...boring. Too bad, they really tried.
Second good thing
This is something I enjoyed. Dr.Erich Renhart and Manfred Mayer from Vestigia Manuscript Research Centre in cooperation with University of Graz, Austria developed a little machine called ‘The Traveller’s Conservation Copy Stand’ which allows time efficient digitization of rare and sensitive material such as manuscripts, autographs, incunabula (an incunabulum is a book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe. These are very rare and valuable items).
With this kind of material careful handling and support is essential. This kind of collection CANNOT leave the buildings where they are stored, so the mobile copy stand was developed to address the need for digitizing materials from these kinds of collections, especially in eastern and southeast Europe. The price is around 7,000 euro.
Now before we go on, let me just remind you what this is all about. In short period of time, digital libraries have become a global phenomenon, and subject of research in number of fields like computer science, information science and library science. The future role of libraries and librarians in the process of digitization has been discussed for years.
The increasing amount of digital content available anywhere and anytime makes that discussion more relevant than ever. Who is going to be in charge of sorting out the “ocean“ of information? What kind of models will be needed to sustain the organization, maintenance, access and preservation of digital information over the long term?
The answer is that computer scientists and librarians will have to work hard together in finding solutions, and they have already started.
Project Gutenberg, Google Book Search, Windows Live Search Books, Internet Archive, Cornell University, The Library of Congress World Digital Library, The Digital Library at the University of Michigan, and CMU's Universal library are considered leaders in the field of digital archive creation and management.
Day three - the best part was the Poster session (as I have mentioned at the beginning: short graphic presentations on research studies, examples, or preliminary work presented in a special poster session)
...
Day four - meeting at Port Gruž and transfer to Mljet
Just kidding….we had this boat
After arrival in Mljet, finally had a good swim. The coast is full of sea urchins, which are supposed to be a sign of clear water.
The girls from Montréal really enjoyed the Adriatic Sea and I was proud of my country's beauty. That day we had an afternoon with the guest of honour Peter Ingwerson (Royal School of LIOS, Copenhagen, Denmark)
He talked about context – driven integrated framework for research on interactive IR, and if you think the title is complicated …you should have heard the guy. Nevertheless, he was on the panel for students who were PhD candidates and presented their projects, so they had very good, constructive and useful feedback.
In the evening people were networking at the banquette. We were exchanging ideas about wines, food, EU, and digital libraries of course.
Last day …
At this stage we were all a little bit worn out. This was the closing day LIDA 2008, and the only people hanging around were students trying to improve their projects by talking to professors.
Others just enjoyed the easy day.
All together, digitization is a process that is going to make a huge change in world of information, and we will be witnesses of the continuing growth.
We departed from Mljet looking forward to LIDA 2009, which is supposed to happen May 25 – 30, 2009 in Dubrovnik and Zadar with two major themes:
Heritage & digital libraries: digitization, preservation, access
Reflections : changes brought by and in digital libraries in the last decade
The End
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