Going to ALA’s Annual Conference? We’d Like to Talk to You :)

In preparing for a next-gen OPAC proposal, Megan Macken & myself are looking for resources to tap.

If you’re going to this year’s annual ALA conference in Washington, DC, we’d like you to check out any sessions that would shed some more light on next-gen OPACs & their users. There is one program in particular that would be of interest -

1. Saturday (June 23rd), 1:30-2:30

Transforming Your Library, and Your Library’s Future, with Technology
ALA GOVERNANCE
Track: Transformation & Innovations
Technology can transform your library and its services, as it is transforming the lives of your patrons. From do-it-now technology improvements to next-generation implementations, from software to SOPACs, from in-your-face competition to over-the-horizon transformations, three accomplished experts will instruct, enlighten and challenge you to use technology to make your library more relevant to your patrons — today and tomorrow.
Speakers: Alan Kirk Gray, co-Chair, Darien (CT) Library; John Blyberg, co-Chair, Ann Arbor District Library, MI; Lori Ayre, The Galecia Group; Casey Bisson, Plymouth State University, NY; Roy Tennant, California Digital Library

Also, the Digital Information & Technologies track seems very next-gen oriented.

There are also sessions like “Building the Next Generation Public Library Web Site with Drupal” that do not fall under the afore mentioned track but seem possibly pertinent.

Finally, I’m willing to throw in a little incentive. Last year’s ALA conference was in New Orleans. I attended & shot quite a few pictures. I’ll print, frame, & send you a digital print of the Piazza D’Italia.

Please e-mail Bryan Loar at webmaster [at] arlisnap.org, if you are interested.

Thanks