LITA National Forum, October 7-10, 2004

[Rob Carlson]

(Cross-posted; apologies in advance for any duplication)

Plan now to attend the LITA National Forum at the Sheraton West Port
Lakeside Chalet.  Registration and hotel reservations can now be made by
visiting http://www.lita.org/forum04 and following the appropriate
links.

"10 Years of Connectivity:  Libraries, the World Wide Web, and the Next
Decade" is the Forum theme.  Two keynote speakers are confirmed at this
time:  Dr. Robert Rydell, Professor of History at Montana State
University - Bozeman and noted expert on world's fairs, will discuss
technological developments that debuted at the 1904 world's fair in
St. Louis.  Susan Dumais, Senior Researcher, Adaptive Systems &
Interaction Group, Microsoft Research and noted expert on algorithms and
interfaces for improved information retrieval, will discuss "Stuff
I've Seen:  A System for Personal Information Retrieval and
Re-Use," an innovative project that uses indexing and contextual cues
to facilitate the retrieval of information.

Thirty concurrent sessions will provide a wealth of practical
information.  Topics include portals, OAI-PMH harvesters, GIS systems,
knowledge management tools, digital libraries, federated searching, open
source systems, ecommerce, wireless systems in libraries, digital asset
management, accessibility, and WikiWikiWebs, among others.  Back again
this year are Sunday-morning poster sessions, on topics ranging from
eBooks to topic maps to email reference.

Three half-day preconference sessions are also planned.  On Thursday
afternoon, "Developing a Culture of Assessment in Library Information
Technology Services" will be presented.  Friday morning will see two
sessions presented side-by-side, "What's In It For Me? Evaluating and
Reporting the Effectiveness of Electronic Information Services in a
Multi-Library Environment" and "Dancing Cheek to Cheek: One
Library's Tale of Content Management Systems and Collaborations with
"Outside" IT."

Registration is limited to 500.  For complete details, visit
http://www.lita.org/forum04.  LITA is a division of the American
Library Association.