The library is dead. Long live the library!

The New England Chapter of ASIS&T presents…

The library is dead. Long live the library! The rebirth of libraries in the 21st century

Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 9am – 4pm

MIT Media Lab – Bartos Theater, Cambridge, MA

Library closures, slashed budgets, user apathy – everything’s online, right? It’s a story many of us have heard too often or experienced ourselves, especially with the recent downturn in the economy. But many libraries are re-inventing themselves, offering new services and transforming into very different entities while still at heart performing the same role they always have – helping communities connect with information.

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Don’t Close the Books on Libraries Rally

Please read below the call to action for the Massachusetts Library Association. If you can spare the time, our neighbors to the south could use our help fighting the good fight. Helen

To the library community –

Even if you’re not a librarian in Massachusetts, you’re invited to join the rally. Let’s get those numbers up to show them we mean business!

Rick Taplin
President, New England Library Association

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Don't Close the Books on Libraries Rally

Please read below the call to action for the Massachusetts Library Association. If you can spare the time, our neighbors to the south could use our help fighting the good fight. Helen

To the library community –
Even if you’re not a librarian in Massachusetts, you’re invited to join the rally. Let’s get those numbers up to show them we mean business!
Rick Taplin
President, New England Library Association

Read more

Registration for PLA’s 13th National Conference is Now Open

Registration for PLA 2010, the 13th National Conference of the Public Library Association (PLA), is now open. To register and request housing for PLA 2010, or to download registration and housing forms, visit www.placonference.org. A special early bird rate is available for PLA members and members of the Oregon Library Association who register by Dec. 16, 2009. All other advance registrations must be received by Feb. 19, 2010.

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Registration for PLA's 13th National Conference is Now Open

Registration for PLA 2010, the 13th National Conference of the Public Library Association (PLA), is now open. To register and request housing for PLA 2010, or to download registration and housing forms, visit www.placonference.org. A special early bird rate is available for PLA members and members of the Oregon Library Association who register by Dec. 16, 2009. All other advance registrations must be received by Feb. 19, 2010.
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2010 ALA Midwinter & RUSA Genealogy Event in Boston

The annual American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting will be held January 15-19, 2010 in Boston.

On Friday, January 15, ALA’s Reference and Users Services Association (RUSA) will host an all-day genealogy workshop at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In addition to presenting basic genealogy research techniques, New England-specific resources will also be presented. The event includes lunch, sponsored by ProQuest, and a tour of the beautiful NEHGS facility.

All of the event details are located here: http://rusa.ala.org/blog/2009/10/09/mw10-genealogyinst1/

Important note: you do not have to register for the Midwinter Meeting in order to attend this genealogy event, and you do not have to be an ALA member. Even library patrons are welcome to attend. Registration instructions are at www.ala.org/midwinter.

2010 ALA Midwinter & RUSA Genealogy Event in Boston

The annual American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting will be held January 15-19, 2010 in Boston.
On Friday, January 15, ALA’s Reference and Users Services Association (RUSA) will host an all-day genealogy workshop at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In addition to presenting basic genealogy research techniques, New England-specific resources will also be presented. The event includes lunch, sponsored by ProQuest, and a tour of the beautiful NEHGS facility.
All of the event details are located here: http://rusa.ala.org/blog/2009/10/09/mw10-genealogyinst1/
Important note: you do not have to register for the Midwinter Meeting in order to attend this genealogy event, and you do not have to be an ALA member. Even library patrons are welcome to attend. Registration instructions are at www.ala.org/midwinter.

Call for Speakers: NERCOMP Shifting Models of Discovery & Access Day-long Workshop

NERCOMP Shifting Models of Information Discovery and Access SIG
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA February 1, 2010
Deadline for proposals: October 20, 2009

SESSION DESCRIPTION

Libraries continue to migrate from out-of-the-box interfaces that search single collections to new products that promise, in various ways, to do a better job connecting people with the information they desire. OPACs are applying layers of lipstick, going open source, or fading away altogether, supplanted by new types of discovery tools. Federated search is mounting a comeback. Next-gen discovery tools promise to deliver the fabled single search box. Massive digitization projects are opening up the contents of books for discovery and–sometimes–retrieval. At the same time, proprietary, centralized projects like Google Books and OCLC’s WorldCat Local are developing alongside less centralized, more open initiatives like the Open Content Alliance, eXtensible Catalog project, VuFind, and LibraryFind.

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