Event: JCDL 2006 (call for papers & registration)

JCDL Registration Now Open for Conference and Workshop

CALL FOR PAPERS & JCDL WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION

Workshop on "Digital Curation & Trusted Repositories: Seeking Success"
Workshop website: http://sils.unc.edu/events/2006jcdl/digitalcuration.html

To be held on Thursday, June 15th in conjunction with the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL 2006) June 11-15, 2006 - Chapel Hill, NC, USA (www.jcdl2006.org).

Preservation of access to digital assets stands as one of the grand challenges of the early 21st century. A decade of work in digital preservation and access has resulted in many projects, numerous metadata and encoding standards, open institutional repository platforms such as DSpace and Fedora and the OAIS Reference Model. The Research Libraries Group (RLG) and OCLC have described the attributes and responsibilities of such trusted repositories, and RLG and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) have drafted an audit checklist for certifying digital repositories as trustworthy (http://www.rlg.org/en/pdfs/rlgnara-
repositorieschecklist.pdf) . Guidelines, such as those provided by RLG and NARA, offer technical and managerial attributes for a trusted digital repository, but will adherence to such a checklist, by itself, ensure a successful digital repository, especially the institutional repositories emerging on university campuses today? What are the most promising approaches for implementing the attributes? What does “trust” really mean in the context of a contributor-based repository and will individuals or organizations contribute to a repository just because they trust that it will preserve digital assets over time? What incentives and assistance are needed? What is the role of the archivist vis-à-vis the digital life cycle and the stewardship of digital assets over time. What, indeed, constitutes a “successful” digital repository and how can we ascertain and measure such success?

This workshop will serve as a forum for discussion as to how the emerging principles of digital curation, "the active management and appraisal of data over the life-cycle of scholarly and scientific interest" (Digital Curation Center, http://www.dcc.ac.uk/about/), can work with technical and managerial models to produce not only trusted, but successful repositories that will house rich digital assets over the long-term.

*****Objectives*****

• Presentation of digital curation principles.
• Exploration of what constitutes success and excellence in digital curation and digital repository management.
• Discussion of how to identify and define criteria for success, including exploration of a shared lexicon for describing digital repository attributes.
• Examination of strategies for measuring and evaluating success criteria.
• Discussion of next steps, potential collaborations, and needed research in the application of digital curation to repository development.

*****Who Should Attend*****

• Digital repository developers and curators
• Digital archivists and electronic records managers
• Institutional repository developers
• Institutional administrators and policy developers
• Digital librarians
• Scholars engaged in research intended to benefit the above
• Researchers and administrators charged with preserving research data

*****Workshop Logistics*****

All interested parties are invited to submit a brief (3-4 pages) paper on any of the following topics:

• What constitutes success in a digital repository?
• How can we best measure the success of digital repositories?
• How is certification of digital repositories related to success?
• Beyond meeting certification guidelines, what does it mean to be a trusted repository and what role does trust play in repository success?
• How can the principles and activities of digital curation help repositories to be successful?

The submitted papers will be assessed for their relevance to the workshop and a limited number of papers will be selected for presentation. Emailed submissions in RTF, Microsoft Word, or PDF are welcome. Each position paper will be refereed and results emailed to authors. Selected papers will be distributed to attendees at the workshop and mounted as proceedings on the workshop website. Development of papers into journal articles will be explored at the workshop. All interested persons are invited to register for the workshop even if they do not submit a paper but papers are encouraged to focus discussion and increase participation.

In order to ensure that this workshop will not be cancelled, please submit your paper by April 15, 2006 and register for the workshop by April 15, 2006. JCDL registration page to be open by end of March.

******Submissions******

Submit papers electronically to Helen Tibbo: tibbo@ils.unc.edu

*****Important Dates*****

Deadline for paper submissions: April 14, 2006 Notification to authors: May 12, 2006 Final copy of papers: June 2, 2006 Authors should use the ACM SIG proceedings template (http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html).

*****Organizers/Program Committee*****

Philip Eppard, SUNY-Albany; Christopher Lee, UNC-Chapel Hill; Karen Markey, Univ. of Michigan; Soo Young Rieh, Univ. of Michigan; Helen Tibbo, UNC-Chapel Hill; Elizabeth Yakel, Univ. of Michigan.

Presentation at UB: Non-Traditional Career Paths for Librarians

Today I went to the University at Buffalo (UB) do to a lecture in the School of Informatics as part of a Speaker Series for 2005 -– 2006. My presentation was on "Non-Traditional Career Paths for Librarians." You can view the PowerPoint here (use Slide Show to see all of the content). I was fortunate to have lunch with four students, the Upstate SLA Chapter liaison to the student group at UB, one faculty member, and a member of the external relations team. The presentation was attended by more people than I would have imagined ("sold out") and the dean of the School of Informatics, David Penniman, introduced me.

So why me? I have not had a traditional library career at all. I have consistently intertwined library science with information technology. I've been a corporate librarian in a library that focused on competitive intelligence, worked for a start-up high-tech company, and -- for the last eight years -- had my own business. If you had asked me in library school what I would be doing, I wouldn't have even guessed this, but it is what do and what I enjoy!

What did I talk about?

I started of talking about my career. Here's the two-second overview:

• Began working in libraries in fifth grade and then continued to work in libraries through my undergraduate degree.


• Worked in radio (announcer and program/commercial scheduler) for four years. (We all deviate into other careers at some point.) Working in radio was fun, even if it didn'’t pay much. And it taught me a lot about speaking and thinking on my feet.


• Went to grad school to get my MLS and began working with computers.


• Worked professionally in IT and then switched to become a corporate librarian doing mostly competitive intelligence (CI).


• Worked in a combination of IT and library science for a while.


• Began work in scanning/digitization in 1990 (as part of my corporate library duties).


• Started Hurst Associates, Ltd. in 1998 and now do both competitive intelligence/business research and digitization planning. (Those two areas are not as dissimilar as you might think.)

Then I talked about the need for libraries to become more interactive and how that could lead to new jobs and also mentioned some of the non-traditional jobs that are available. BTW I mentioned the idea of working for companies that provide products to libraries or companies that provide information products to businesses. We often don't think of working for them, but that'’s a viable option (and they need us).

I mentioned Library 2.0 (L2) and saw a few people taking notes. I like mentioning L2 because it shows that the profession is looking to change. As I said, it is a move to become more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs -- and those are all good things. (And you don't have to like the label to like what it about.)

I talked about some of the skills they will need to develop. Unfortunately, some of those skills still are not taught in library school.

At some point, I talked about billable hours and covering expenses, which are important when you run your own business, as well as other business matters.

I mentioned an article in Searcher about resumes, but couldn't remember the title or when it was published. Well, it was in the July/August 2002 issue (which is a great issue). The article was "A Resume That Works." The article isn't on the Searcher web site, but would be available in a library or from one of the database services.

What questions did I get? Well, I got asked many questions, but only -- at the moment -- remember a few!

• What job to I see in the future for librarians that doesn't exist now? I said "information guide" which might mean that someone develops tools to guide people to information or actually works as a guide. I see this as being different that the intermediaries we have today and the ways people now find or connect to information.
  


• How do I estimate the cost of a client project?
  


• Is there a book or article about how to package information?


• What information (database) sources do I use?

The package information question is an interesting one. I'll look around to see what sources I can pass along, but really I learned by reading other people's work (especially reports from major consulting firms). I also learned from my corporate experience which taught to get to the answer quickly (also know as "answer up-front"), create executive summaries whenever possible, and keep the reports short (and the appendices long). I keep things factual and allow the client to develop his/her opinion, rather than me telling a client what this information means to his/her business.

BTW with my class this semester, I am using the paper "How to Write a White Paper -- – A White Paper on White Papers" by Michael A. Stelzner as a reference for their last assignment. The assignment is for them to write a position paper and hopefully this document by Stelzner will help them formulate something that is more business-like, less academic, and helps them "sell" their point of view.

What should I have mentioned?

• I should have mentioned the book The NextGen Librarian's Survival Guide, which may not be about being a non-traditional librarian, but would likely be of interest to students.


• I should have pointed them towards Meredith Farkas' posts about her job hunting experience. (Check the link and go back to her posts from summer 2005.) I think her insight is of value to any library science student.


• I should have mentioned that being an independent information professional is not for everyone. It takes discipline to work independently and a tolerance for risk (risk of failure). Some people find that they need real structure to their work. Fortunately, I have found that I can thrive working independently and I enjoy the flexibility.


• Having your own business can mean working all the time. I did kind of say that, but it is worth emphasizing. There are deadlines to meet and clients to please.


• I didn't tell them that I generally don't mention to business clients that I have an MLS. Business clients only want to know what skills I have to locate the information they need, if I understand their business/industry, and what I'’m going to deliver (and how much it will cost). I always frame the "how" in terms that they will understand and don't use library jargon. I've found that allows me to come across as a businessperson and an equal. The degree doesn't matter to them. Now, with my library clients, I do tell them that I have an MLS, because it matters to them and they see me as an equal (and I'll use library jargon with them).


• And...likely there are a ton of other things I should have said. Hopefully if the students have questions, they'll e-mail or IM me.

Believe it or not, I only spoke for 45 minutes and then likely fielded about 10 minutes of questions. I packed a lot in! Hopefully what I presented will help them see their options differently and maybe lead them down an unexpected -- but exciting -- career path.

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Addendum (4/5/2006): I mentioned the Talis report on Library 2.0 (Do libraries
matter? The rise of Library 2.0). Here is a link to that.

One of the students gave me her business card. We're in an era where even full-time students should have business cards, especially when going out on interviews or attending conferences. She was fortunate to have a roommate that could design a very professional-looking card for her. If you're a students and you want a business card, check your local copy center. Likely they can great a good business card for you at a low cost. Or check online...there are even some places where you can get business cards for free.

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Technorati Tags: library school, library-school, librarianship, librarians, lis

HigherEd BlogCon 2006

Although we think of digitization projects as "things" unto themselves, they need to integrate into other services and perhaps rely on other tools to reach (and impact) their audiences. With that in mind, you might want to follow HigherEd BlogCon 2006. HigherEd BlogCon 2006 is a "fully web-
based event focused on how new online communications technologies and social tools are changing Higher Education." This virtual event will run through April 28. The topics to be covered are:

• Teaching, April 3-7, 2006
  
• Library & info resources, April 10-14, 2006
  
• Admissions, alumni relations, and communications & marketing, April 17-21, 2006
  
• Websites & web development, April 24-28, 2006

Event: International Conference on Digital Libraries (ICDL 2006)

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS : International Conference on Digital Libraries (ICDL 2006)
December 5-8, 2006 – India Habitat Center, New Delhi, India
www.teriin.org/events/icdl

Dear Colleagues,

ICDL is a major international forum focusing on digital libraries and related issues. It aims to consolidate and expand concerted efforts to bridge the digital divide. ICDL2006 proposes to focus on Information Management for Global Access through the creation, adoption, implementation and utilization of DLs. It also intends to offer a common platform to put forth innovative ideas, discuss classical knowledge management and DL concepts in an open forum, and promote closer cooperation between experts and end-
users. About 40 renowned and experienced speakers from India and abroad will be sharing their experiences. For detail information about the conference please visit the website www.teriin.org/events/icdl

You are invited to submit your papers to the 2nd International Conference on Digital Libraries, to be held in New Delhi, India 5-8 December, 2006.
Contributions are invited for conference sessions, tutorials, poster presentations and workshops.

TOPICS :
The relevant topics include the following (but not limited to) :
· Planning, development, and management of digital libraries
· Online information management
· Content organization and knowledge management
· System scalability and interoperability
· Semantics, thesauri, and ontology
· Information storage and retrieval for global access
· Open archives initiatives
· User studies and system evaluation
· E-learning
· Multi-lingual information retrieval system and unicode
· Digital divide
· Digital preservation
· Standards in digital library design and development
· Dublin core and metadata standards
· DRM and copyrights issues
· Digital library services
· Digital library network and information sharing
· E-publishing
· Economic issues of DL and e-learning
· Tools and techniques for DL
· DL models and architectures


Paper Submission Information :

All papers must be original in contribution and authors are expected to transfer the copyright to TERI. Papers must be written in English and limited to 5000 words. Each paper should contain a list of about five keywords. The paper should also mention the topic under which it falls from the above list of topics or any other. Send your paper in MS Word (any version) format. For Detail submission details and author guidelines, please refer to the conference website. Full paper should be submitted electronically at (ICDL@teri.res.in) by 1 June, 2006.

Important Dates :

Intimation with interest to submit paper with extended abstract - 1 May 2006
Submission of full papers -1 June 2006
Notification of acceptance of paper with comments - 15 Aug 2006
Submission of the final paper after incorporating comments -15 September 2006
Early Bird Registration Deadline - 15 Oct 2006

Registration Information :
For details about the conference registration fee for all presenters and participants and other registration information, please refer to the conference website (www.teriin.org/events/icdl )

Sponsorship details, Products & Services Exhibitors and business sessions
For details visit conference website (www.teriin.org/events/icdl) or e-mail at icdl@teri.res.in

Speaking Mandarin

An article in the April 2006 Wired Magazine talks about the efforts to get more people in the world to speak Mandarin. Mandarin is the most popular first language on Earth, with 500 million more people speaking Mandarin than English. Now China (and others) are trying to get more people to speak or understand Mandarin. This, the magazine points out, is no different than past efforts to export French or English around the globe.

Here's the question:

As we look to make information available to more people, should be automatically be adding pages in other languages (like Spanish, French or Mandarin) or adding translation services that will automatically translate web page content?

Likely you'll answer the question with a "yes." Of course, saying that it should be done and then actually doing it are two different things! Doing it will require additional planning and perhaps more cost. Yet doing it would allow us to reach a wider audience.