The eLibrary symposium
is an annual event hosted by the University of
British Columbia Library to promote awareness and discussion of the kinds
of opportunities presented by the evolution of a university-based research
library, as collections and services become more digital and
network-oriented.
This evolution opens up enormous opportunities for libraries to reinvent
themselves at the center of the research and teaching of the university.
In order to achieve this, however, libraries will need to develop and
deploy a wide variety of new services that lower the barriers to access
and exploitation of collections, serve the needs of specialized
communities and not just individuals, and integrate new models of
publication, annotation, communication and knowledge sharing into
the everyday activities of their clients.
This year's eLibrary symposium will be a special edition of the series,
focusing on the development of a research program that will help
university research libraries evolve, in collaboration with academic
colleagues, to take full advantage of the potential of digital storage,
communication and publication. It will consist of two days of
activities: day one is the public symposium consisting of speakers and
panels reflecting on these issues and presenting possible visions; day two
will be a workshop open to those wishing to actively participate in this
research program and will be used as an active planning session.
On day one, two prominent keynote speakers, Clifford Lynch and Douglas
E. Engelbart, will outline their visions of such a library. In
addition,
we invite proposals from members of the University community for 15-20
minute presentations outlining a vision of a university library in 10-20
years time and some description of research directions that must be
pursued to achieve that vision. These presentations will be organized in
panels of three or four participants, so the proposal should make clear
how discussion will be engaged.
Possible topic areas include:
- Collaborative document management and annotation
- Shared spaces and computer-mediated dialog management
- Knowledge management for individuals and communities
- Semantics of collaborative knowledge spaces
- New publication models
- Social epistemology
- Support of quantitative and qualitative research
- Domain-specific ontologies and services
- Novel user interfaces for search, access and exchange
- etc.
Proposals for panel presentations should be no more than 300 words and
should be submitted by email to lib-dig-sym@interchange.ubc.ca by noon,
October 11, 2002. Successful participants will be notified by October 15.
A demo space will also be made available for those wishing to showcase
existing research work or technology related to any aspect of this
activity. Space for demos will be allocated on a first-come first-served
basis. To reserve space send email to the above address describing the
nature of the demo, space and resources required (e.g. table, laptop) by
October 11, 2002.