ALA in Chicago

I wish I could go to these. My main source of comfort is knowing that there will likely be similar presentations done at events I will be able to go to, perhaps even online. Near the end of last month I "attended" an pre-conference event on RDA in Canada, so you never really know.

Another source of comfort: presentations with wonderful-sounding descriptions don't always turn out to be as useful as they seemed like they would be.

You Got Me, Do You Like Me? Evaluating Next Generation Catalogs
RUSA RSS
Co-sponsored by the RUSA MARS Local Systems &Services Committee; LITA Next Generation Catalog User Group.

McCormick Place West W-190a
Sunday, July 12, 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Congratulations, you have acquired (or may soon acquire) a Next Generation, Web 2.0 catalog—now what? Hear from a panel of academic and public information professionals who have been evaluating their open source and off-the-shelf next-gen catalogs. Topics will include usability testing, ongoing assessment, vendor collaboration, and user expectations in the transition to next-gen products.

Speakers: Cody Hanson, Technology Librarian, University of Minnesota; Ross Shanley-Roberts, Special Projects Technologist, Miami University Libraries; and Eli Neiburger, Associate Director of IT and Product Development, Ann Arbor District Library.


Resuscitating the Catalog: Next-Generation Strategies for Keeping the Catalog Relevant
ALCTS CMDS
Co-sponsored by RUSA RSS Catalog Use Committee; LITA Next Generation Catalog Interest Group; PLA Cataloging Needs of Public Libraries Committee

McCormick Place West W-179
Monday, July 13, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

In today's complex information environment, users have come to expect evaluative information and interactive capabilities when searching for information resources. A panel of experts will address various aspects of providing links to external information in library catalogs, implementing user-contributed functionality, and using computational data to support bibliographic control.

Speakers: David Flaxbart, Head Librarian, Chemistry Library, Univ. of Texas at Austin; Renee Register, Global Product Manager, OCLC; Beth Jefferson, President, BiblioCommons; Ellen Safley, Senior Associate Director for Public Services and Collections, University of Texas, Dallas.