[Sigdl-l] ASIST 2002 SIG-DL Sponsored Sessions

[Pascal V. Calarco]

Hi folks --

Today is the deadline for submitting camera-ready copy for the accepted 
panel sessions and contributed papers for ASIST 2002, and so I thought 
I'd bring you up to date on the sessions SIG-DL will be sponsoring at 
this year's meeting.

Here are some brief descriptions of this year's SIG-DL-sponsored and 
co-sponsored sessions for the annual meeting in November. I think you'll 
agree that this is going to be a content-rich meeting for those 
interested in digital libraries!

1. "Virtual Reference Services: Exploring the Open Source Options"
Virtual reference services, particularly in academic libraries, are 
coming to be regarded as essential. LSSI and LivePerson are among the 
well-established commercial vendors of virtual reference systems. 
However, interesting open source efforts offer libraries the power to 
customize their virtual reference services to best meet their 
institution's needs better than many commercial packages can. This 
session provides an overview of three open-source packages, discusses 
how they are being used, and examines their role in providing academic 
reference services. Presenting at this session will be Jody 
Condit-Fagan, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Sam Stormont, 
Temple University Libraries; and Rob Casson, Miami University.

2. "Open Sourcing the Digital Library: Open Source Digital Library Tools 
& Infrastructure"
Although generalized architectures for digital libraries are still being 
defined, we now have a good understanding of the components that support 
the services of a digital library. Many of these components are or are 
based on open source software - and for good reason. This session 
details the different areas of a digital library architecture, and 
demonstrates how open source software is an important component in the 
digital library. Several open source or community source projects with 
be detailed in depth, and the panelists will discuss successes and 
challenges in utilizing open source software in library settings. This 
session features presentations by Jeremy Frumkin, University of Arizona 
Libraries; Brenda Bailey-Hainer, Colorado State Library; and Thornton 
Staples, University of Virginia Library.

3. "E-books Rebound"
The e-books sessions have been packing attendees in to standing room 
only, and this session, cosponsored with SIGs PUB, LAN, & STI promises 
more of the same. OCLC's netLibrary acquisition and digital preservation 
activities will be presented by Nita Dean, Director of OCLC Public 
Relations. Chris Forbes from scientific e-books publisher Knovel will 
present that company's innovative series of products, and Dr. Heting Chu 
will present research findings on an e-book user study conducted at Long 
Island University.

4. "Digital Libraries Supporting Distance Education"
Use of online courseware in supporting distributed and distance learning 
in higher education is maturing in terms of both technology and 
organizational readiness. However, faculty and institutions are 
concerned with receiving equal credit for creating and delivering online 
courses. For both, peer review is important, while faculty have 
additional concern over workload and promotion and tenure 
considerations. Standards, interoperability, and collaboration will 
increase the legitimacy of their efforts. This session will present the 
work of three initiatives that are developing standards for courseware 
repositories, interoperability between courseware products, and 
collaborative efforts to produce and share courseware for member 
institutions and others. This session features Tim Terrell, Virginia 
Community College System, presenting on the MERLOT Project; Phillip 
Long, MIT, pressenting on the OKI Project; and Ed Walker, IMS Global 
Learning Consortium, to present on their distance learning 
infrastructure efforts.

5. "National Science Digital Libraries"
Cosponsored with SIG STI, this session will provide an update on NSDL 
activities.

6. "Foundations of Digital Libraries: Organizational & Management Issues"
Panelists in this session will discuss the strategies that they have 
used to meet the organizational and management needs of their digital 
library projects. For example, DSpace, a joint project of MIT Libraries 
and the Hewlett-Packard Company, is being developed to provide stable 
long-term storage needed to house digital works produced by MIT faculty, 
researchers, centers and labs, in a variety of format. Its 
representative will discuss the projects efforts to collaborate with a 
corporation and to create a viable business plan for the project. The 
Library of Virginia's Digital Library Program is an internationally 
recognized effort to preserve, digitize, and provide access to 
significant archival and library collections, with a focus on materials 
from Virginia. Additional panelists from other major digital library 
projects will discuss their efforts to coordinate and manage these 
programs from an organizational perspective.

There are two more sessions we are still looking into the status of on 
the changing roles of information professionals in the digital era (one 
submitted by SIG MGT, and one submitted by SIG USE, both co-sponsored 
with SIG DL). This meeting definitely will have a strong showing for 
digital library interests!

- pascal

Pascal V. Calarco
Chair-elect, Special Interest Group on Digital Libraries, ASIST

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Pascal V. Calarco, MLIS, AHIP
Head, Library Information Systems
Assistant Professor
VCU Libraries
Virginia Commonwealth University
PO Box 842033
Richmond, VA 23284-2033
USA
http://www.library.vcu.edu/
tel.: 804-828-0032 fax: 804-828-0151
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