PROGRAMME

Towards a future library and information landscape

Wednesday 7th January 2009. Law Faculty, West Road, Cambridge

9.30 – 11.00

Plenary Session

The future of the library/information landscape in the context of the Research Library [PPT]
Anne Poulson, RLUK

The future of the library/information landscape in the Cambridge context [PPT]
Peter Fox, University Librarian

Launch of Arcadia Fellowship programme [PPT] & science@cambridge. [PPT]
John Naughton, Academic Adviser to the arcadia@cambridge Programme and Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology at the Open University;  & Yvonne Nobis, Head of Science Information Services, University of Cambridge.

Tea /Coffee

Parallel session 1

1A. Future-proofing: for all that tomorrow might hold

The speakers for this session will cover such diverse topics as entrepreneurship, keeping up with digital developments and using semantic technologies to enhance case  based learning. Our speakers are:

The best way to predict the future is to create it
Yvonne Murphy, Librarian of the Northern Ireland Political Collection & Director of Development at the Linen Hall Library Belfast

Learning 2.0 play: strategies for library staff development in the age of disruptive digital technologies [PPT]
Non Scantlebury, Head of Research and Innovation within The Open University Library

The Ensemble Project: using semantic technologies to enhance case  based learning in higher education [PPT]
Dr. Patrick Carmichael, Head of Evaluation, Centre for  Applied Research in Educational Technologies at the University of  Cambridge

1B. The metadata landscape for the future

RDA: Past, Present, Future [PPT]

"RDA: Resource Description and Access" is the name of the new cataloguing code, developed as a replacement for AACR2. It is also designed for delivery within the context of a new online tool. This presentation will look back at why a new cataloguing code was considered essential, review the current state of its development, and anticipate what's to come in the next 12-18 months.
Hugh Taylor, CILIP Representative, Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA and Head, Collection Development and Description, Cambridge University Library

Just for the record: Bibliographic data – where we were, where we are, where we're going [PPT]
Huw Jones, Systems Librarian, libraries@cambridge, University Library

Developments in library use and library systems make the standard of our bibliographic data increasingly important. It is the means by which our collections are accessed, maintained and controlled. As we enter a world of increasingly sophisticated ways of searching, managing and holding bibliographic data, we need to examine the effects of the structure and quality of our catalogues on the service we provide. This talk will examine past and current strands in bibliographic data management in Cambridge, and possibilities for the future.

Linking the library's data to the rest of the world....... [PPT]
Richard Wallis, Technology Evangelist, Talis

Libraries can no longer live in splendid isolation, they are competing with global giants and other online University resources for the attention of their users. The library metadata standards, which are important for the maintenance of our catalogues, are mostly impenetrable to those wanting to link to our resources and only of limited use when libraries want to link to the rest of the world. How will they need to evolve if the catalogue is to become a core part of an inter-linked world where much of the data is not under library control, and does this spell the end of cataloguing as we know it?

Lunch

Parallel Session 2

2A. Landscape with Polar Bears: Special Collections and Digitisation

Please Sir, I want some more…..
Professor David McKitterick, Librarian Trinity College

It has been said recently that with the increasing resources available electronically in the humanities, universities can expect to see better undergraduate work, and poorer postgraduate and research work. How far is this true, and how do special collections fit into such a view?

Creating and Targeting Educational Resources for Digitisation Projects [PPT]
Mel Rouse, Scott Polar Research Institute

The photographic negatives at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge are among the richest resources in the world for the study of polar environments. For the past eighteen months the Freeze Frame project has been working to capture and preserve 20,000 historic images in digital form. The end product of the project will be an online database of freely available visual and textual resources to support learning, teaching and research into topics relating to the history of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and science. Through a series of interpretative web pages and e-learning resources the project will provide access to hidden collections for all educational levels. This presentation will give an update on the project and talk about the creation of online educational packages for digitisation projects.

Large scale collaborative digitisation: the 19th century political pamphlets project [PPT]
Grant Young, Project Manager, 19th Century Pamphlets Online Digitisation Project, University of Southampton (based at Bristol), & Digitisation and Digital Preservation Specialist, Cambridge University Library Digitisation Officer, Cambridge University Library

19th Century Pamphlets Online is digitising a million pages of political pamphlets drawn from the special collections of seven UK research libraries. Grant, who is the project manager and has recently joined the University Library as Digitisation and Digital Preservation Specialist, will outline the interesting features of the project and the key lessons it has learned.

2B. Joining the dots: coordinating library user education for learning and beyond

The emphasis in this session will be on how we can collaborate more effectively as librarians to deliver information about and training for the skills Cambridge undergraduates and graduates need to support their work.

Through the Looking-Glass: Co-ordinating User education at  Oxford University. [PPT]
Judy Reading, User-Education Co-ordinator at Oxford University Library Services

Promoting study skills and good academic practice. [PPT]
Professor Graham Virgo, Faculty of Law & Senior Tutor, Downing College

Snapshot 2008: Feedback for the future [PPT]
Cambridge Librarians

Plenary Session 2

The information and technology road ahead: how the library could/will place itself in this future information landscape [PPT]
John Naughton, Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology and Director of the Relevant Knowledge programme at the Open University 

Over two decades ago Howard Rheingold asked "Where is the Library of Congress when it's on your desktop?"  The question, which seemed fanciful at the time, has now become rather pressing.  Once upon a time, students and scholars had to come to the library if they wanted to avail of library services.  For some scholars, that will continue to be true, and their needs will have to be met by academic libraries.  But for many users, online access to virtually everything, from anywhere, will become the norm.  At the same time, scholarly work-flows and academic publishing are changing. What's the role of the academic library in this emerging media ecosystem?

And, equally important, what's the role of librarians?  In this lecture I discuss some of the challenges facing the profession, and relate it to those confronting other professions as they face up to the implications of a comprehensively networked world.

Reception to be held in foyer at the Law Faculty