Alane Wilson, Senior Library Market Consultant at OCLC

The OCLC Environmental Scan was published in early 2004 and provided a high level view of significant issues and trends impacting libraries and OCLC.
OCLC's latest report, Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources was released two years after the Scan, and provides a different perspective on many of the trends and issues identified by presenting data collected in a Harris Interactive survey of 3,348 "information consumers" in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"The findings indicate that information consumers view libraries as places to borrow print books, but they are unaware of the rich electronic content they can access through libraries.

"The findings and responses from the online survey afford OCLC and library staff an opportunity to learn more about:

• Library use
• Awareness and use of library electronic resources
• The Internet search engine, the library and the librarian
• Free vs. for-fee information
• The "Library" brand

Alane Wilson will present findings from the report, as well as the implications of changing user behaviors and expectations especially among young people, and ways in which we might consider transforming and further enhancing our existing library services.

Speaker Bio  
   

Linda Watson, Director of the Health Sciences Libraries at the University of Minnesota

The challenges of a changing scholarly communications landscape are felt by librarians and their users alike, as well as by publishers. What are the latest “flash points” and what progress has been made in understanding and addressing the challenges? And what roles are librarians playing in the process?

Speaker Bio
  

Betsy L. Humphreys, Deputy Director, National Library of Medicine

To use a military analogy, in the 21st century health sciences libraries are exposed to threats and opportunities on both flanks. On the one side, genomic science, emerging electronic health records, new forms of information transfer. On the other side, increasingly activated patients, persistent health disparities, intellectual property constraints, public policy debates. A large multidisciplinary group of outside experts, including many MLA leaders, is currently engaged in helping NLM to define an appropriate strategic path for the next decade. The new NLM Long Range Plan, which will inevitably have an impact on health sciences libraries in general, is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2006. This talk will review its major recommendations and related NLM activities.

 
Speaker Bio
  

Jean Shipman, Director of the Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences and Associate University Librarian, VCU Libraries at Virginia Commonwealth University

Speaker Bio