OCLC Symposium at ALA Annual 2008

Heidi has been kind enough to prompt me.
The topic for the OCLC Symposium this year is "The Mashed Up Library."

We're still finalizing the details--so don't take the description below as the final final. But the idea we're exploring here is--mash-ups are not so much about technology (while interesting) as they are the idea of taking something traditional, twisting it, combining it, and making it fresh again.

Here's the semi-official blurb:

"Developing new library services can now mean mixing data and functionality from several sources into “mash-ups” to provide a unique and powerful user experience. Some librarians have discovered how to use Web applications to adapt or create new services. Others are investigating this trend and looking for further guidance. Still others have found creative ways to deliver traditional programs to new populations. "

The keynote will be Michael Schrage, author of Shared Minds—The New Technologies of Collaboration and columnist for CIO and MIT’s Technology Review.

Then we'll also have a panel of three librarians who have developed their own mash-ups:

*Susan Gibbons, Associate Dean, Public Services & Collection Development, University of Rochester (NY) River Campus Libraries
*David Lee King, Digital Branch & Services Manager, Topeka & Shawnee County (KS) Public Library
*Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran, Librarian, University of Minnesota Rochester.

So come one, come all. It's at the Marriott Anaheim, Platinum Ballroom 1-5. Register now, for all your OCLC events. If you're not coming to conference, I am sure there will be enough tweets that you'll get the gist of it.

What cool mash-ups do you have going at your library? Or that you WANT to have going at your library?

Starts in half an hour!

See you there...with paper in hand. Apparently because the hotel designers did not think you'd need internet access, they also did not think you'd need to plug in. I saw absolutely ZERO power outlets, although I didn't case the joint completely.

FYI, and sorry about this...

OCLC Symposium: Privacy in a Networked World

The actual title is "Is the Library Open?" and it promises to be a very engaging session, as always. What I discovered, upon making my arrival in the room, is that there is no Internet. No wired, no wireless, no mobile phone (except Verizon), and no blackberry service. I had small heart palpitations, we checked with the hotel and it's physically not possible. A connection was not to be had, for any price. Wanted to warn you now. Plan to post after...as will I.

So we will be very private at this Symposium! It is being held from 1:30 to 4:30 at the Grand Hyatt Washington, Independence Ballroom A. Which you get to by going to going to the Metro Center stop on the blue line, walking in the front door and taking 3 escalators down. So we are down somewhere close to the earth's mantle or something! But deep enough that wifi signals are not getting through.

The speakers are eager to hear what you have to say, and I know they've got the clickers set up for audience feedback again. Seems like I always leave with my head stuffed full of new ideas!

OCLC Symposium in Washington, DC

As we have done for many years, OCLC will be hosting a Symposium at ALA Annual in DC. It will be June 22, 1:30 – 4:30 pm, at the Grand Hyatt Washington, Independence Ballroom A and registration is here. The topic of this one is related to our forthcoming report Sharing, Privacy and Trust in the Age of the Networked Community.

Title: Is the Library Open?

Hear from three experts on the issues of information privacy law, copyright, digital communication, intellectual property and patron privacy rights in relation to library policies.

The speakers are:
· Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and professor of privacy law at Georgetown University Law Center. "EPIC is a public interest research center in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values. EPIC publishes an award-winning e-mail and online newsletter on civil liberties in the information age – the EPIC Alert."

· Siva Vaidhyanathan, a cultural historian, media scholar and an associate professor of culture and communication at New York University. He blogs at Sivacracy.net. A journalist before he became a professor, he has written several books (including The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash Between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System) as well as for many periodicals. And he's been on The Daily Show, but you can't see that clip on YouTube anymore because of the Viacom copyright claim.

· Mary Minow, a library law consultant with LibraryLaw.com, coauthor of The Library’s Legal Answer Book and a public librarian for 10 years. She is the coauthor with Tomas Lipinski of The Library's Legal Answer Book (ALA Editions: 2003). She blogs at LibraryLaw.Blog and says this about herself, "I studied library law, that is the combined study of First Amendment, Copyright, Local Government Law, Disability Law, Negotiations etc. Now what I care about is sharing the most practical parts of the law that I learned, the good, the bad and the ugly, with my former colleagues, the librarians of the world."

YouTubing

Just as "Google"became a verb, so has "YouTube", I think. Just google the phrase "let's youtube." (Isn't that a sentence that would make a grammar purist wince?)

So, we've YouTubed. Our media production manager, Rich, took the many hours of film from the Symposium at ALA MidWinter (many because there was more than one camera) and edited it all down to just under three minutes, and loaded it to YouTube. I am biased of course but I think it's good. And I think OCLC is the first library-related company to have a video on YouTube...

Social Networking & Privacy Video Clips

As part of the work we've done on our next report, we had three discussion groups convened to ask young people questions about their use of social networking sites (like Facebook) and issues relating to privacy.

The first session was done at my hair salon, Rafiel's Signature Studio (hmmm, thought there was a web site, but I can't find it). The second and third were at Mcmaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The sessions were filmed and our in-house media wiz, Rich Skopin, took the raw film and turned it into five segments we used at the Symposium last month. We've put the segments up on the web, and you can watch them--they're all short. Scroll half way down this page for the links. (Below them you'll see the links for the podcasts from the Symposium)

Why my hair salon you might be wondering? During one appointment, I was chatting with Emily about what I was doing at work, and I asked her, so, do you use MySpace? Oh yes, she said, and so does everyone else here. Ah-ha! Instant focus group! Actually not all the staff is on MySpace--Raphael, the owner is not.

The McMaster groups were undergraduates in one and graduates in the other...and if you listen, you'll hear many references to MSN which seems to be more popular in Canada than in the US.

One of the evaluations that we got from the Symposium suggested we should "provide examples from a greater cross-section of society. Soundbites are all from very well-spoken young people." I think you'll agree that the young people are all very well-spoken, thoughtful and not unaware of the risks and issues related to using social media--but, I wonder if this commenter didn't realize that the staff of Rafiel's has high school educations and trade diplomas as compared to, say, the grad students working on their second or third degrees. Proof that being well-spoken is not a de facto by-product of advanced education.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the clips--and keep checking back to the report web site because we'll be adding more stuff as it's ready.