Call for Papers

[Pat Ensor]

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Following is a prospectus for a book arising out of the recent LITA/
LAMA National Conference to be published by ALA Editions
in 1997, and dedicated to the pioneering work of the late Paul Evan
Peters. Proposals are being solicited now, for work to be completed
by mid-February, 1997. If you are interested in contributing to this
project, contact Pat Ensor (PLEnsor at uh.edu) as soon as possible for
further discussion.

As LITA/LAMA Conference Publications Committee member Gladysann Wells 
notes, "We are looking for the best minds, doing the thinking about 
how technology is changing our institutions and 
the way we interrelate to do our work and run our society. We are 
looking for vision, future articles that do not require a great deal of 
editorial assistance. We want to produce something that looks into the 
21st century and how we will all be changing to accomplish our work 
given the transformation of our society."

Working Title: TRANSFORMING INFORMATION INSTITUTIONS: TECHNOLOGY,
LEADERSHIP AND VISION IN THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT

Prospectus:  The Information Age is largely a computer-mediated
environment, one that has affected almost all social institutions.  While
libraries, museums, archives, and other information-rich areas of the
social fabric debate whether the technologies are positive or negative, no
one argues that society is being increasingly "wired," that access to all
this data has made "content" a valuable commodity, and that new
institutions, laws and information methodologies are transforming society.

	The increasing effect of the Internet on organizational operations
alone has challenged information resource managers to re-think the basics
of an organization's infrastructure.  The rapid pace of technological
change has overturned many traditional organizational responses, sometimes
antiquating cherished beliefs and institutions almost overnight.  The
ability of the computer to simulate not only present processes but also to
model alternatives has created, especially in those institutions devoted
to information transfer, new paradigms of operations and an unsettled
future.

	But whatever the brave new digital world brings, rest assured that
"ideas" are on the social fast track, that we are only beginning to
perceive the changes that the electronic frontier will create in such
important areas as the protection of intellectual property, censorship,
and the political process.

	At a recent meeting of two divisions of the American Library
Association, an organization that has a history of keeping the public
informed about information issues, the technology-oriented Library and
Information Technology Association (LITA) joined with the
management-oriented Library Administration and Management Association
(LAMA) to examine the impact that the various technologies are having on
information organizations.  That conference (held October 12-16, 1996 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was entitled: TRANSFORMING LIBRARIES: A NATIONAL
CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION ON LEADERSHIP AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE INFORMATION
AGE.  It provided the basic thrust of this book and the spirit of inquiry
into those transformations impacting our increasingly electronic
information suprastructure and the information welfare of the general
public.      --Milton T. Wolf
	       Pat Ensor
	       Mary Augusta Thomas

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Pat Ensor (ple)     PLEnsor at uh.edu
Head, Information Services, University of Houston Libraries
Editor, Cybrarian's Manual
Co-Editor, Public-Access Computer Systems Review
Book Review Editor, Telecommunications Electronic Reviews
Voice: (713)743-9762  Fax: (713)743-9778
Houston, TX 77204-2091