As promised, we are beginning to publish videos from the event on our website.  Please be sure to check out the videos page available here to take a look at them.  We plan on adding audio and video from every presentation made at the event, so please be sure to take a look again later for further updates.

Also, be sure to check on this blog or its RSS feed throughout 2008 as we begin to prepare for the next E-Info!

Thanks to everyone who attended E-Info 2007 this past week!  Streaming video of all of the presentations given should be available in early January of 2008.  In the meantime, be sure to check out our flickr set of images from the event.

Thanks again for your attendance, we look forward to seeing you again next year!

11:40: Scott seems to have a very large presence online, you might want to check out his site, Board Games With Scott, as well as his podcast, On Board Games.

11:35: Scott Nicholson has started his presentation about gaming in libraries. He’s mentioned his blog a few times, which you can find here.

11:28: Some of the links that Jill provided at the conclusion of her presentation:

www.hurstassociates.com
www.digitization101.com
www.enetworking101.com

10:52: Here’s the Wikipedia entry for OAIS that Jill referred to. And yes, we all do use Wikipedia! As a side note, did you know that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was born and raised in Huntsville?

10:32: Jill Hurst-Wahl is now speaking, telling the audience about trends in e-Repositories. Some of the ideas of digital archives include news making concepts such as Google Books, which attempt to create a “digital backup” of knowledge.

9:20: Barbara Tierney has kicked off our second and final day with her presentation. All of her material is available online through the UNC website if you would like to take a look.

5:25: Two of the major topics that Amanda Etches-Johnson is speaking about are Learning 2.0 and Five Weeks to a Social Library. Be sure to take a look at both resources if you are not familiar with them already. One of the highlights of these include the fact that they are Creative Commons Copyrighted.

Another site that Amanda mentions that many other speakers have also discussed is that of del.ico.us, which is a social bookmarking site that allows users to share bookmarked sites. It’s worth a look if it isn’t a site you aren’t already aware of.

4:35: Rolf Goedhart is now speaking to us about the SuperTeaching product and how it can apply to classroom environments.

3:47: Elizabeth Unger has taken the stage and is speaking about social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook and why they are useful to libraries. One platform she has mentioned that isn’t as news making as those sites is Anglosphere. If you are interested in the platform, you can check it out here.

3:37: If you are interested in the idea of the “First Year Wiki” that Jeff mentioned in his presentation, there is an informative article about the subject viewable here from McMaster Daily News.

2:58: An interesting tidbit that both Jeff and Stephen have shared with us is how many libraries are utilizing Second Life to propel their libraries where students are. If you’ve not heard of the service, you may want to check it out here. If you aren’t aware, it’s a free online experience not very much unlike Massively Multiplayer Online games such as World of Warcraft.

2:50: Jeff Trzeciak is speaking to us about the need for specific librarians to track certain areas of information and technology. Two interesting examples are libraries who have hired blog librarians and immersive technology (video game) librarians.

As a side note, all of these presentations will be available on our main site as video feeds in the near future.

2:27: Click here to see the YouTube video that Stephen presented at the conclusion of his presentation.

12:53: Stephen Abram is speaking about how libraries have to go social in order to keep up. One interesting bit of information he has spoken about is how it has been found that Wikipedia is about just as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica. Check back to this post later on for a link to the wonderful YouTube video he presented.

12:25: President Williams is about to take the stage and make his opening comments. Our presentation hall is nearly filled up with attendees already. Soon after that, Stephen Abrams is to make his opening keynote speech.

(This would only be perfect if our good friend Chad from the UNC Library was also in attendance.)

12:15: We’re almost ready to go for the first day of E-Info! Our speakers have all flown in over the past few days and have been getting their presentations ready this morning. We’ll be providing live updates throughout the Symposium today, so be sure to check back with us on this page.

If you’ll be visiting us during the Symposium next week, be sure to familiarize yourself with the area. Huntsville has plenty to offer, from great places to eat, to great places to visit such as the Huntsville Botanical Gardens or the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

Below is a map of the part of the UAH campus that the event will be held within. Maps giving directions to local attractions will also be handed out at the event.

Our upcoming Symposium is just around the corner!  If you’ve not made plans or reservations, it may be a good idea to do so now.  You can read some more from our Chair, Stephen Abram at his blog.

We are pleased to announce the preliminary schedule for our event. Please note that this is tentative, and that some details may change closer to the event. You can also download this in PDF format.

December 6 – Transformation: Leadership & Learning

12:30-12:45, Welcome – Dr. David B. Williams, President, UAHuntsville

12:45-2:00, E-Info Global Overview & Program Introduction
Theme Setting Keynote
Stephen Abram, VP, Innovation, SirsiDynix & Conference Chair

2:00 – 2:15, Break

2:15-3:00,Transformation Leadership: Process & Change
Jeff Trzeciak, McMaster University

3-3:15, Break

3:15-4, Social Tools on a Shoe String
Elizabeth Unger, Kansas State University

4-4:15, Break

4:15-5, SuperTeaching
B. J. Dohrman, IBI Global

5:15-6:00, Five Weeks to a Social Library
Amanda Etches-Johnson, McMaster University

6-8, Reception

December 7 – Transformation: New Worlds & New Directions

8-8:45, Continental Breakfast

9:00-10, Barbara Tierney

10-10:15, Break

10:15-11:00, Trends in Repositories

11:00-11:15, Break

11:15-12:00, Gaming Trends in Academic Libraries

12-12:15, Break

12:15-1, Transformation Leadership: Direction & Dynamics of Change
Rick Luce, Emory University

1-1:15, Closing Comments

One of our annual events at the UAH Library is upcoming this Thursday afternoon and evening, our Fall Frolic.  This year, a LAN Party will follow the main Fall Frolic activities in which UAH students and staff alike plan to participate in various video games and other activities.

We hope to try a few features at our Fall Frolic / LAN Party that may be implemented at the Symposium this December.  One of which is live video.  If you are unable to attend our event this coming Thursday, please be sure to check out the live video feed on the LAN Party website.

Dr. David Williams took the helm as president of The University of Alabama in Huntsville on Monday, spending his first hours meeting with his office staff and getting his Macintosh computer connected to his Madison Hall office.

He drove around campus during the weekend after arriving in Huntsville Saturday morning. He remarked about the beauty of the campus, which he finds important because this is the “home away from home” for students who choose to attend UAH.

See the entire article at the UAH news website >>

The Library at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is pleased to host the Second Annual E-Info Global Symposium: Information Delivery & E-Access in Academic Libraries.  This Symposium is organized by librarians for librarians!   And I was thrilled when Dr. Wilson Luquire asked me to be involved.  To chair a reasonably young and new conference allows one to throw off the legacy thinking of the past and focus solely on the BIG questions of the future.

I immediately enrolled Jane Dysart whose extensive conference design experience and network of great speakers has proved invaluable.  We have planned the Symposium to focus on leading edge (dare we say bleeding or bruising edge?) topics that we think are critical to the long term success of libraries in IHE’s.  I look forward to seeing many leading edge academic library thinkers at the E-Info Global Symposium on stage and in the audience.

Huntsville is a wonderful location to think, reflect and be challenged to invent the future of academic libraries.  We have challenged ourselves to find the best and most innovative thinkers to challenge us in our strategies.

• What are the best strategies for information and learning commons?
• How should the academic library be organized in this Millennium?
• What will be the impact of e-learning (indeed foundation changes in learning) on our services, programs and products?
• How do we increase the capacity of our staff to learn new way and technologies?  Can we help them adapt quickly to necessary changes?
• What role will the new social technology tools play in education, research and libraries?
• and more. . .

Join us for what promises to be another incredible E-Info Global Symposium, complete with education, special events and most of all, the best in networking opportunities.  We promise an engaging, interactive, and chock full of learning event.

You want to be there – in Huntsville – December 6th – 7th, 2007, or you will miss another great Conference!  Please join us.

We look forward to seeing you in Huntsville!
Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLA
Conference Chair