[MNASIS-L] Wisconsin Conference: WiLSWorld 2008

[Janet Arth]

Registration is now open for WiLSWorld 2008.  It will take place here 
in Madison, Wisconsin on July 23-24.  We have a great lineup of 
plenary and breakout speakers.  There's something for everyone.  See 
more information and register here: http://www.wils.wisc.edu/events/wworld08/.

Roy Tennant is our opening day keynote.  Roy is a Senior Program 
Officer for OCLC Programs and Research. He is the owner of the 
Web4Lib and XML4Lib electronic discussions, and the creator and 
editor of Current Cites, a current awareness newsletter published 
every month since 1990. His books include Managing the Digital 
Library (2004), XML in Libraries (2002), Practical HTML: A Self-Paced 
Tutorial (1996), and Crossing the Internet Threshold: An 
Instructional Handbook (1993).

John Blyberg will be our first-day afternoon plenary speaker.  John 
is currently the Head of Technology and Digital Initiatives at Darien 
Library in Connecticut. He was formerly the System Administrator and 
Lead Developer for the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) in 
Michigan.  At AADL, John was responsible for rebuilding the IT 
infrastructure and numerous software development products such as a 
custom session management system, RFID circulation client, WiFi 
registration system, and point-of-sale (POS) software. He is most 
well-known for his work on AADL's award winning website and social 
OPAC (SOPAC).

R David Lankes will be delivering the second day keynote.  David 
Lankes is director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, and an 
associate professor in Syracuse University's School of Information 
Studies. Lankes has always been interested in combining theory and 
practice to create active research projects that make a difference. 
Past projects include the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and 
Technology, the Gateway to Education Materials, AskERIC and the 
Virtual Reference Desk. Lankes' more recent work involves how 
participatory concepts can reshape libraries and credibility. This 
work expands his ongoing work to understand the integration of human 
expertise in information systems.

Among the breakouts are:

--Conversations with Roy Tennant and David Lankes
--"Open Source Library Automation" by Joshua Ferraro of LibLime, a 
company that assists with Koha implementations
--"WorldCat Local at the University of Washington"
--Aeon (special collections management)  and Ares (reserves 
management) from Atlas Systems, Inc.
--"Leveraging the WorldCat Grid" by Roy Tennant.  The WorldCat Grid 
is a set of application program interfaces (APIs) that access a 
number of OCLC-based services.
--Using Second Life to offer library support to courses at 
UW-Oshkosh, by Debbi Duncan
--"Public Access: We Lobbied For It, Now Let's Make It Work"  Julie 
Schneider, UW-Madison.  A discussion of the UW-Madison Scholarly 
Communication and Publishing Committee's work to engage researchers 
in broad discussions of public access to information.

There will be an opening-day reception and a second-day breakfast, 
both included in the registration fee.

Join us for a useful and educational conference.  You'll also get a 
chance to schmooze with your colleagues and have some fun!