Live from DC --- a big thanks to all who participated yesterday and an update on today's sessions

[Steve Coffman]

Kay and I would like to thank our guest presenters, Mary-Carol Lindbloom of
the Alliance Library System, Linda Wallace of Library Communications
Strategies, Ronna Nemer and Christine Mackie of the Bay Area Libraries
Project, and Bernie Sloan of the University of Illinois for your most
excellent presentations using this innovative new medium, and we would also
like to thank the over 250 of you from all over the world who attended one
or more of the Live from DC sessions yesterday.   We all had a great time
and I think we learned a lot as well.

Just a few notes on today's sessions ... Peggy Barber, former Executive
Director of ALA, and a partner with Linda Wallace in the new library
marketing firm, Library Communications Strategies, will be handling the
presentation on Marketing Virtual Reference Services at 4:00 pm EST   ... so
today's run down looks like this.

Remember you logon to each of these sessions at
http://www.lssi.com/virtual/livefromdc/ or you can come by the LSSI Booth
(1344)
and watch us do it live!   Remember, however, that many of our guest
speakers are not on site, they are logging on from all over the country.


10am EST Sunday, January 14th
North Carolina State University's Virtual Reference Service.  Karen Ciccone.
NCSU already has one of the first 24 hour reference desks in the country
(perhaps the world) and Karen will be explaining how NCSU is working to move
their reference services online.

12noon EST Sunday, January 14th
The Dark Side of the Web.  Barbara Quint, editor Searcher Magazine.  Barbara
will take a look at what virtual reference and the emergence of the Web may
mean for librarians and for the profession.  Who are the likely winners and
losers, and what will we have to do to hold on to our jobs and insure our
position in this brave new world?

2pm EST Sunday, January 14th
Traditional vs. Online Reference Services, What's the Difference?  Anne
Lipow, Library Solutions Institute and Press.   Anne Lipow, well-known
author and speaker on reference issues will take a close look at the
differences and similarities between doing reference at a traditional
reference desk and doing it online.  Anne has just finished the first
Virtual Reference Manual (a preliminary edition will be available at ALA) so
she has had a lot of opportunity to consider these issues over the past few
months.

4pm EST Sunday, January 14th
Marketing Virtual Reference Services.  Peggy Barber.  Repeat of Linda's
program on Saturday, marketing is one of the most critical issues for any
virtual reference service ... and you can't cover it enough.


Finally, we will be putting up complete transcripts of the meetings and the
slideshow presentations on the Live from DC site at
http://www.lssi.com/virtual/livefromdc/ within the next several days.
Thanks again for all of your participation, this is one of the things that
makes working in this field so exciting.

Yours,

SC


Steve Coffman
Product Development Manager
LSSI / Library Systems and Services LLC
www.lssi.com/virtual
stevec at lssi.com
1-800-638-8725 x265