Who Needs Internet Librarians Anyway?
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

Hope Tillman, President, Special Libraries Association; Director of Libraries, Babson College; author of Internet Tools of the Profession

“All the information that we need is on the ‘Net and it’s all free. Why do we need librarians?” Our speaker disputes this thought with concrete examples of librarians and information specialists who are currently adding value to their organizations and providing critical services to their clienteles.
 

TRACK A • Content Management — Focus on Intranets & Portals
[Rooms C101-103]

Content management is one of the key activities of Internet librarians, whether it involves acquiring the content; integrating it into databases, intranets or portals; or organizing it using information architecture strategies, taxonomies, and other systems which make it accessible to clients and users. This 3-day stream of programs focuses on the tools, techniques, and experiences of those involved with content management.

Day one covers information architecture, tools and experiences by intranet librarians in the private, public and academic sectors.  Join these speakers for interesting stories and ideas, as well as the lessons they have learned.

Organized and moderated by Stephen Abram, IHS Micromedia

Making IA Real: An Overview of an Information Architecture Strategy
10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Chiara Fox, Information Architect, PeopleSoft, Inc.

Information architecture is the art and science of organizing information to ease users’ search for information. While this sounds straightforward enough, it is often difficult to know how to begin an information architecture project. Many sites are large, complex and contain vast amounts of information. How do you begin to organize it? What are the steps involved? This session looks at the major phases of a typical information architect strategy, including content analysis, user testing, and opinion leader interviews. It also looks at some IA deliverables, such as blueprints, wireframes and controlled vocabularies.

HealthyNJ: A Consumer Health Portal
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Micki McIntyre, HealthyNJ Librarian, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey

HealthyNJ is a project of the UMDNJ University Libraries. The Consumer Health Information Task Force, comprised of librarians from each of the four UMDNJ Campus Libraries, developed the content of this Web site to meet the healthcare information needs of consumers, particularly the citizens, policymakers, and healthcare professionals of New Jersey. HealthyNJ is divided into sections: Health & Wellness, Diseases & Conditions, Health in NJ, and the Reference Desk. What makes this site unique is the “Health in NJ” section and the different pages of state resources for each of the specific healthcare topics. This session focuses on the issues, challenges, and experiences in building the portal, especially the development and funding of this site, a cooperative venture with academia, big business and library organizations.

Building the Extranet: Being an Internal Consultant in Your Company
1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Trudy Katz, Vice President, Information Center, MasterCard International
Cassandra Targett, Special Editions Editor-in-Chief, Northern Light Technology, Inc.

Katz shares her experience and outlines the issues, challenges, and timeline involved with building e-Business News — an extranet for her organization. She discusses team development and “buy in” from the stakeholders. She talks about page development, content development and query development using a third-party vendor. And most importantly, Katz discusses the steps that led to being asked to be the internal consultant on this project.

State Librarians’ Development of New California Government Web Portal, “My California”
3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Patricia Zografos, Library Technology Specialist, 
Kristine Ogilvie, Senior Librarian, and 
John Jewell, Director, State Library Services, California State Library

When the Governor of California asked his staff to replace the current state home page with a new interactive page, librarians from the California State Library were recruited to do the content integration and organization of the governmental agencies’ material into a new site called “My California.” Working on a very short timeline, which had to coincide with the Governor’s State of the State message in January 2001, a core team of librarians, assisted by other librarians and consultants from the State Library, put together the information which became www.ca.gov. This session shares their experiences with other Web content developers.

From Library Web to Portal: Mapping Content, People and Purpose — Trying New Tools
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Terence K. Huwe, Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley
Lillian Woon Gassie, Senior Systems Librarian, Naval Postgraduate School

The first speaker talks about supporting a new research mandate which emphasizes electronic dissemination and virtual community building, and library management of all Web and Internet services. Huwe describes the evolution of library Web services into an academic portal that reaches faculty, students and other stakeholders, including organized labor and public policy makers. The session focuses on both the nuts and bolts of growing library-based portal solutions, and the political strategies that help librarians step into leadership roles as they face successive waves of technological change. The second speaker presents the technical aspects of building a portal using an open source, object-oriented Web development tool called Zope which enables the collaborative creation and management of dynamic portals. With Zope, one can easily build features such as site search, news, personalization, Web-logs and e-commerce. The session covers how Zope works and shows some impressive Web sites that have been built with it. It discusses the hidden costs of free, open source software, and what it takes to build a Zope-powered site.
 

Organized and moderated by Barbara Quint, Editor, Searcher Magazine

In this world of end users where more and more information professionals apply their skills and resources to working with clients who share our access to online information, no expertise has greater importance than the skills of a working searcher. Hands-on experience underlies all serious Web work. With even quality Web sites coming and going and changing content too quickly, staying on top of Web searching skills becomes more vital than ever. As the Virtual Library emerges from the Web mists, promising virtual collections to anyone with a connected computer, managing search sources and results equates with building a working library collection. Join us to keep your skills green and golden. 

Amphibious Research Skills: Strategies for Super Searching
10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services

Fee or free? Web or professional online services or hybrids? Search engines or the Invisible Web? Online searchers need to know how to evaluate all the information terrains, how to decide which resource to use where and why. Bates provides tips, tools, and technologies for choosing the most appropriate type of resource and pulling all the disparate types of material together.

Lies, Damned Lies and the Internet
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Marylaine Block, Librarian Without Walls

In this age of Internet nomads and mass acceptance of online information on the World Wide Web, what if new dangers emerge not from a lack of competence by database publishers or searchers, but from a malevolent competence? Dangers like deliberate deception, deliberate misinformation, and half-truths that can be used to divert a seeker from the real information being sought. How many ways can people find to use new technologies to support lies, deception, misdirection, spin control, propaganda, and all other forms of misinformation? Do any protections exist for online searchers? This presentation gives examples of this misinformation and advice on how to protect oneself from the dangers it poses.

Session B103

Revelations: All the Web Is Invisible Until One Finds What One Seeks
1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Marylaine Block, Librarian Without Walls
Vickie L. Kline, Head of Technical Services, York College of Pennsylvania

Searchers need both a framework for understanding where they should start looking and a knowledge of how search engines and other basic services solve problems. Block focuses on librarians and the current information landscape. Underlying the structure of any source selection and any search strategy is a mental framework of who produces information that might satisfy an information need and why. With the massive flow of Web data before us, we need to hone our knowledge of the source behind the source behind the source. Block helps us map the sub-structure of sourcing. Search engines, Web portals, and metasearchers have multiplied like rabbits in the past year. But do more choices mean better choices? Do any of these sites have what it takes to stay on top? Hear Kline’s tips for evaluating current search tools and exploring a few next-generation prototypes that might change your searching.

Session B104

Cool Web Tools: Who Uses What and Why
3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. 

Sheri Lanza, President, Global InfoResources Inc.
Debbie Hunt, Principal, Information Edge

Upgrade your collection of software, plug-ins, utilities, and add-ons. Identify the handy services to take the burden off your busy desktop. Advise your clients on how to improve their own searching. Our speakers discuss common problems identified by Web searchers and the software or services that enable working searchers to make the most of Web resources.

Hot Pursuit: Key Sources & Strategies of Dedicated Searchers
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. 

Carole Levitt, President, Internet for Lawyers
Risa Sacks, President, Risa Sacks Information Services

When the stakes are high and “failure is impossible,” what do the pros do? From locating people to finding assets for identifying official (and unofficial) company affiliations, the first speaker, a cybersleuth who “digs up dirt on people, places and companies, provides you with the best free sources on the visible Web and the best buys on the Invisible Web. The second speaker focuses on integrating telephone and online research. She talks about how to use the Internet and the intranets to prepare for telephone research and, conversely, how to use telephone research to supplement and validate Web-based research.

This three-day stream focuses on Web design, development, management, tools and techniques, as well as a full-day focus on usability and interface design. 

What works? What doesn’t? How do you use XML? What about accessibility? Join our speakers for real-world discussions, tips, and techniques as they share their experiences.

Moderated by Richard Geiger, San Francisco Chronicle

Britney Spears Does Physics: Lessons from the Collaborative Web Management Trenches
10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Cathy Nyhan, Electronic Services Manager and 
Karen Strauss, Manager, Outreach & Community Database Services, San Francisco Public Library

Buy-in. Territoriality. Personal style. Meetings from hell. The San Francisco Public Library has had to survive these, and more, to make the transition from a loosely-organized, bare-bones, text-only Web site managed by one person, to one that is a 24/7 graphical Web site collaboratively managed by assorted library staff. Presenters humorously, but with a practical bent, review the Library’s organic Web site development from inception to the present, including various organizational structures along the way. They share their experiences, suggestions and lessons learned regarding collaborative versus unilateral Web management models, the critical role guidelines play, and the possibility of retaining one’s sense of humor through it all.

Rebuilding a Library Web Site for the 21st Century
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Holly Yu, Library Web Specialist & User Services Librarian, JFK Memorial Library
Scott Breivold, Media Services Specialist and User Services Librarian,
Chad Kahl, Community College Outreach Librarian, and 
Stephen Sottong, Engineering and Computer Science Librarian , California State University Los Angeles

Members of the CSULA Web Development Team suggest ways to approach a library Web site redesign. They discuss their plans for taking a first-generation, static Web site into the 21st Century by: analyzing usage statistics and conducting usability studies; exploring database-driven and dynamic Web design; and utilizing Web accessibility tools. Learn how they plan to maximize information collected from these studies to create a new site that is more intuitive, easier to maintain, and ADA compliant.

XML for Libraries
1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Roy Tennant, Web & Services Design Manager, eScholarship Initiative, California Digital Library

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is arguably the most important technical development for libraries since the Web. XML is a relatively simple yet powerful method to encode anything from data to full-text in a way that can be easily transported and manipulated by software. Librarians are already using it to accomplish a variety of tasks using methods that are easily transferrable to other libraries. This session provides a brief introduction to XML and quickly moves on to how XML can be used to solve specific library problems and enables new opportunities.

Web Management: Scoping Web Projects & Using Statistics
3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Jeanene Landers-Steinberg, Web Director, SchwabLearning.org
Bill Pardue, Electronic Resources Specialist, Arlington Heights Memorial Library

After twelve years of “bricks and mortar” experience, Schwab Learning made a strategic decision to build a scaleable Web site to help parents of children with learning disabilities. This small, local San Francisco Bay Area center started this endeavor by learning more about the parents they wanted to serve. During the summer of 2000, Schwab Learning conducted user research that yielded hundreds of needs for the audience they wanted to reach. Our first speaker explains how SchwabLearning.org’s Web team prioritized these users’ needs to enable them to launch a robust Web site in six months. Traditional Web server statistics count the number of times a Web sites’ pages have been “sent” to viewers, but usually cannot tell how often the links to external Web sites (their Virtual Library) have been used. Using “redirection scripts” (in this case, written in PERL) you can tell when and how often each link has been used, as well as whether the user was inside or outside the library. The “raw data” can then be analyzed using tools such as Microsoft Access. The resulting information can then be used as input for determining “collection levels” for Web site selection. The second speaker discusses redirection scripts, Web site usage statistics, and covers “cleaning up” data to eliminate excessive click-through counts from search engines and making sure that usage information is collected without compromising patron privacy.

Webmasters’ Roundtable: Accessibility, CGI, & More
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Darlene Fichter, University of Saskatchewan Libraries
Roy Tennant, Web & Services Design Manager, eScholarship Initiative, California Digital Library
Greg Notess, Reference Librarian, Montana State University - Bozeman Library
Terry Brainerd Chadwick, President, InfoQuest! Information Services
Walt Howe, Delphi Internet Services Corp.

Early Web sites were widely accessible because they were primarily plain text. As Web sites have added enhanced features — images, sound, animation, scripting, etc. — they have become less accessible. To ensure Web access to everyone regardless of disability, many governments have mandated that publicly funded Web sites meet basic accessibility guidelines. This session describes what Web site accessibility is and why it is important; the benefits and costs of implementing accessibility features; the W3C and U.S. federal Web site accessibility guidelines and regulations; how to conduct a basic Web site accessibility audit; and how to design a Web site that meets basic accessibility standards.

Electronic resources are our stock in trade these days, whether it’s digital content, digital services, or digital training and e-learning. This three-day stream focuses on the strategies, services, contracting, and training that we’re dealing with in the current e-world and that which we will see more in the future.

Never before have we been presented with such an array of material types and options for creating and delivering innovative collections and services to our clients and patrons. Digital content and materials are appearing everywhere we look and the pressure to digitize our physical collections continues to mount. This track explores the whole question of digitizing resources and looks at the strategies and services various types of libraries are pursuing with digital collections.

Organized and moderated by Rebecca Jones, Dysart & Jones Associates

Digitizing the Library of Congress: Potential or Incredible Waste?
10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Roy Tennant, Web & Services Design Manager, eScholarship Initiative, California Digital Library
Rich Wiggins, Senior Information Technologist, Computer Laboratory, Michigan State University, and Author and Lecturer, Netfact.com

Many people assume that the entire monographic holdings of the Library of Congress will soon be available online. Tennant, in person, and Wiggins, via video, provide a thought-provoking debate on the possibility and desirability of making that a reality. Can we truly digitize millions of books? Should we? The issues discussed are not that different than those that face any library needing to make tough decisions about digitizing material. Come hear what these two friendly but feisty colleagues have to say about it.

Digital Bricks & Clicks for Information Services
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Eleanor Fye, Corporate Memory Program Manager, Microsoft Corp.

This session looks at the strategies, challenges and successes of initiating, managing and operating a virtual library.  It draws from many working applications and experiences and shares the lessons learned.

Digital Collections Online (DCO): Find the Resources You Need Fast!
1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Heidi N. Abbey, Digital Collections Librarian, University of Connecticut Libraries
Kathleen Labadorf, Undergraduate Services Librarian, University of Connecticut Libraries, Research & Information

With so many content-rich digital collections and digital libraries available online, how does a librarian locate online primary materials for users in an efficient way? This presentation will outline how two librarians used Microsoft Access, ColdFusion, HTML, and Dublin Core metadata standards to create Digital Collections Online (DCO) that offers access to hundreds of digital resources available on the Web today. The DCO is available at http://webapps.lib.uconn.edu/DigitalCollections/.

Session D104

Close Encounters of the Cooperative Kind: Politics & Policies for Successful Library Cooperation
3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

David Timm, Senior Information Processing Consultant, and 
Arne J. Arneson, Director, Teaching Learning Resources/University Library University of Wisconsin — Stevens Point
Robert J. Stack, Director, Portage County Public Library

Digital technologies can enable and enhance resource sharing, particularly in situations with natural ties. This presentation illustrates how a state-supported university library and a county public library developed a common bond to share technologies and resources, enhancing services to local users through the use of wireless networks, shared catalog platforms and servers, as well as locally-produced historical and other databases. It highlights the shared services and systems and leads the audience through a series of critical questions and decisions that involve navigating the maze of policies, cultures, and politics at the university system, local university, public library, vendor, and county levels. It features the following shared services and platforms: Shared Voyager Online Catalog, Wireless point-to-point network, and jointly developed local historical databases and community services such as a cemetery locator, obituary index, census index, and a local social and human services database.

The Information Center Model: A Brave New World Without Books
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Stephanie R. Davis, Librarian, School of Social Work, and 
Linda Weber, Education Librarian, Waite Phillips Hall, University of Southern California

What happens to a library when the books and journals are removed? In 1998, the University of Southern California Information Services Division closed the Education and Social Work libraries, merged books and journals into the main book stacks, and deployed each librarian to Information Centers in their respective schools. Each Center provides access to a rich array of online resources with the librarian available to assist their constituents. While there are advantages and disadvantages to this model, it is an option that deserves discussion by librarians serving an increasingly digital generation of users and as multi-branch library systems struggle with delivering more services with limited funding.

Barbara Quint, Editor, Searcher Magazine
Carol Ebbinghouse, Library Director, Western State University, College of Law
Jonathan Tasini, President, National Writers Union
George Plosker, Gale Group
Michael Traynor, Attorney, Cooley Godward LLP
James Barcelona, Senior VP and Corporate Counsel, ProQuest
Stephen Arnold, Arnold Information Technologies, and
Simon Bradstock, Director of Global Marketing Communications, Factiva

Southern California Online Users Group (SCOUG) Meets TONIGHT!
On June 25th, 2001, the US Supreme Court decided the Tasini case once and for all. Freelance authors retain copyright over electronic reproductions of their work. Any publishers who do not have written contractual authorization for electronic reproduction are copyright infringers, whether they use the material on their own Web sites or pass it on to commercial services. The damage extends to the database aggregators who collect and merge material from various publishers and the online search services they supply, both traditional and “Net Newbies.” 

What does this mean for information users and the information industry? Will the vast edifices of full-text online extending back two decades be torn apart as publishers and vendors strip out unauthorized materials? Will searchers have no way to assure clients that they have searched a title “cover-to-cover” by any definition of that phrase? Are immediate full fixes possible? Could damage costs decided by lower courts cripple publishers and vendors alike?

SCOUG, the official sponsor of the evening, brings together executives from the major database aggregators and search services to answer these questions and inform customers and users of just where we all go from here.