Plenary Session

09:00 - 10:00
Keynote:
The Magic of the Internet
Clare Hart, President and Chief Executive Officer, Factiva
It is hard to imagine the world, especially the information world without the Internet and World Wide Web.  It is becoming ubiquitous, affecting how we live, work, communicate, learn and play.  Hart reflects on the Net’s development, her organization’s strategies, and looks into the future to give us her view of the changing Internet landscape.

 

TRACK D • DIGITAL DEVELOPMENTS

The morning focuses on the latest efforts by national libraries to provide online services to better serve their huge and diverse client bases. The afternoon describes some real world digital applications. Speakers share their information technology strategies, their progress to date and their plans for the future.
 
 

Session D-1

10:15 - 11:00
The Nordic Electronic Research Library
Sigrún Hannesdóttir, Nordinfo, Finland
The Nordic Electronic Research Library is a concept that NORDINFO, the Nordic Council for Scientific Information, uses as an umbrella for its activities. This concept is based on national developments within the research library sector in each of the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The purpose of the Nordic electronic library is to make scientific and technical information easily available in all the Nordic regions, independent of subject area and location of the users. The aim is that users in the Nordic region have an easy access to electronic library resources across national boundaries. This session explores the national developments of the electronic research library and how the concept is carried out in each of the five countries, as well as NORDINFO’s role in the developments.
 

11:00 - 11:30
Coffee Break—In the Exhibition Hall
 
 

Session D-2

11:30 - 12:30
National Digital Libraries: Perspectives from Russia and Scotland
Fred Guy, National Library of Scotland, UK
Vladimir Firsov, National Library of Russia, Russia
The Russian State Library (RSL), the second largest library in the world, has been brought into a close working association with the National Library of Scotland under the TACIS funded project to select and install a modern library automation system in the RSL. Guy compares the histories of library automation in the respective libraries, identifying both successes and failures, looks at the current state of digital developments, and shares the lessons learned. Firsov looks at the formal statute of national digital libraries, criteria of materials included, organisation questions, and the future of digital projects at the National Library of Russia.
 

12:30 - 14:00
Lunch Break
 
 

Session D-3

14:00 - 14:45
The Digitization Programme of the United Nations
Nathalie Leroy, United Nations, USA
The United Nations recently initiated a Digitization programme for all documents produced for its major organs: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and Trusteeship Council. Covering 1946 to 1992, the documents will be scanned and OCRed from microform and paper in the six official languages of the UN (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian). Following 1992 the UN documents were available electronically. The presentation considers the various problems encountered and solved along the way in the digitization process as well as the lessons learned.
 
 

Session D-4

15:00 - 15:45
Maps, Images & Digital Content: Case Studies
Hugh Buchanan, University of Edinburgh, UK
Simon Tanner, University of Hertfordshire, UK
Michael Hiley, De Montfort University, UK
EDINA Digimap is a Web based service for UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), providing online access to Ordnance Survey map datasets. Buchanan discusses the stakeholders, the map datasets available, the users, copyright restrictions, technical requirements, impact and future prospects, as well as lessons learned. Tanner considers content creation including different Web image formats, protecting copyright in Web content, and the practical application of watermarking. Hiley uses practical examples to point out the exciting possibilities of new image banks and the major adaptations that must be made by editors and Internet librarians.
 
 

Session D-5

16:00 - 16:45
The Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib)
Catherine Edwards, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK
This session illustrates real live examples of hybrid libraries that have seamlessly integrated a wide range of traditional and new library resources to meet needs of disparate groups, disciplines, technical and political infrastructures. Come and see the latest accomplishments.
 

16:45 - 18:00
A Chance to Visit the Exhibition
 

11:00 - 11:30
Coffee Break—In the Exhibition Hall
 
 

Session E-2

11:30 - 12:30
The Collaborative Hybrid Library: An Academic Web Site
Sandra Reed, London College of Fashion, UK
The ipage is a new site — a collaborative project, produced by staff from the 5 constituent Colleges of the London Institute, and serving staff and students Institute wide. Starting almost from scratch, and working to tight project milestones, the team established user needs, evaluated similar resources, looked at design issues, including design for disability, learned new software — and put the site together. The next stage was to cascade skills, establish management and maintenance principles, and publicise and promote the site. This case study provides insights and tips that will be of interest to other librarians developing and managing a web site.
 

12:30 - 14:00
Lunch Break
 
 

Session E-3

14:00 - 14:45
Actionable Data: Gathering Decision Making Information
Patricia Morris and Elaina Norlin, University of Arizona, USA
Most libraries are buying more specialized and costly electronic (full text, digital and multimedia) resources and making them available on the Web. In order to justify the expenditures, they are looking for ways to gather decision-making information for assessing customer needs, evaluating and using new electronic resources. Using real life examples, this presentation introduces the concept of “actionable data,” looks at how librarians and information professionals can use this technique for quicker, more reliable and easy to interpret results and still remain customer focussed; demonstrates how and when to combine qualitative and quantitative research to eliminate ambiguous findings; and shows how to get more buy in and participation from administrators and decision makers while you are conducting the research.
 
 

Session E-4

15:00 - 15:45
Learning From Our Users: Usability Testing of WebPacs & Web Sites
Karen Diller, Nicole Campbell, Sharon Walbridge, and Janet Chisman, Washington State University, USA
Library Web-based OPACs (WebPacs) are becoming the primary gateway to resources available through the library just as library Web sites are becoming the primary gateway to information about library services, resources and policies. The quality of the design, organisation and content of these WebPacs and Web sites determines the ease with which patrons and staff are able to locate needed information. This session describes how one library evaluated the interface design of its WebPacs and library web sites. It covers the general principles and examples of the five simple, time efficient and low cost test methods used by the WSU library, the planning involved in conducting each test, the analysis and implementation of the test results.
 
 

Session E-5

16:00 - 16:45
Designing Better Electronic Services through Web Site Traffic Analysis
Frank Cervone, DePaul University, USA
One of the major issues in Web site design is determining how people use the system. While it is possible to gather focus groups to study selected users, there are still vast numbers of users whose usage patterns cannot be discovered through direct inquiry. Using tools to process Web server access logs, a site can develop a system for tracking how users actually traverse a site. This can point to new directions in Web site structure and design. In this session, the basics of the Web site logs and their analysis tools are discussed followed by a look at some examples of how analysis of the logs from a site can give an indication of how people are actually using the site.
 

16:45 - 18:00
A Chance to Visit the Exhibition
 

12:15 - 14:00
Lunch Break

 
 

TRACK G • INTEGRATING SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY

One of the major challenges to libraries involves not only selecting the best automation systems and the right technologies, but also making a variety of systems and services work together. In this track speakers address the issues involved with integrating new technologies into the library’s computing environment and presents case studies.
 
 

Session G-1

14:00 - 14:45
Project Management & Library Systems Implementation
Ann Cleary, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland
Charlotte Rowe, Rapport Project, MIS Office, Ireland
For those involved in or planning a new system implementation, this session offers an analysis and case studies of two implementations of the Innopac system in Ireland. Speakers examine the Rapport Project from the standpoint of the Central Team and an individual site. The Rapport Project is a strategic national initiative to create a shared infrastructure for Institutes of Technology in the twenty-first century. The usefulness of a project charter as a project management tool to determine expectations, responsibilities and identify deliverables from suppliers, customers/libraries, other Institute staff and services is examined. Two case studies are highlighted — Dundalk Institute of Technology and Sligo Institute of Technology — and presenters share their experiences during systems migration and implementation, the skills required and lessons learned.
 
 

Session G-2

15:00 - 15:45
The Role of Library Automation in Creating Digital Libraries
Vinod Chachra, President, VTLS & clients, USA
Bernard Levrat, Professeur d’informatique á la Faculté des Sciences, Université de Genéve, Directeur de RERO, réseau des bibliothéques romandes et tessinoises, Président de la Commission “Campus Virtuel Suisse”, and Membre du Comité de VSnet, Switzerland
Antionette Lemaire, Systems Librarian, Université catolique de Louvain, Belgium
Libraries planning automation today are looking for an integrated solution that helps manage their traditional materials like books, journals and maps; allows the creation and delivery of their newly digitized local content; and provides global access to content of interest to their users. These new solutions are based on three technologies — Z39.50, digitization and Unicode. Our speakers discuss these topics from different viewpoints — a library involved in a large digitization program, a library involved in installing a Z39.50 based system for access and a library vendor developing and delivering these systems.
 
 

Session G-3

16:00 - 16:45
Cooperative Online Resource Catalogue (CORC)
Sharon Bosarge, Product Marketing, OCLC, USA
CORC is a leading-edge, Web-based system that helps libraries provide well-guided access to Web resources using new, automated tools and library cooperation. Over 140 libraries have joined OCLC in an effort to build a database of high quality, library selected Web resource descriptions, and a new system for the creation, location, and maintenance of the associated metadata. This session discusses CORC’s features and benefits, and shares several case studies based on actual library usage of CORC.
 

16:45 - 18:00
A Chance to Visit the Exhibition