tech connections 5 post conference press release

[Margaret Delaney]

MARK MINASI ROCKS THE LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY WORLD
"Retiring State Librarian Sings for His Breakfast"


Columbus, Ohio - The Tech Connections Conference - Ohio’s premier library
technology conference - rocked the Columbus, Ohio Fawcett Center - The Ohio
State University on June 7 and 8, 2004. In its fifth year, this conference
is coordinated by Ohio Valley Area Libraries (OVAL) Regional Library System
and sponsored by Ohio’s seven chartered Regional Library Systems – CAMLS,
GCLC, MOLO, NOLA, NORWELD, OVAL and SOLO.

This year’s conference, "tech connections 5: secure and defend...the WILD
side of technology", provided more than 135 participants, representing over
100 academic, public, school, and special libraries and other agencies
serving 57 Ohio counties plus one county in each of Kentucky and West
Virginia, with over 30 technology and management training sessions from
which to choose. Many Ohio Library staff provided quality training sessions
including "The Future IS RFID" with Cleveland Heights-University Heights
Public Library's Steve Wood and "Collaborative Software" with Lakewood
Public Library's Ed Rossman. Other popular sessions included "Ethical
Hacking" facilitated by international instructor Jack Koziol of InfoSec
Institute, "Technology Planning: A Roadmap for the Future" facilitated by
Oregon’s own Chris Jowaisas of the U.S. Library Program through the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, and "E-Policy Essentials: A Practical How-To for
Developing What Works...and avoiding what doesn't" facilitated by Christian
Selch, Administrator for Statewide IT Policy, Office of Information
Technology, State of Ohio" along with "Meeting Patron Expectations with Next
Generation Web Sites" and "Security Issues for Management" facilitated by
nationally known speakers H. Frank Cervone, Assistant University Librarian
for Information Technology at Northwestern University and Marshall Breeding,
Library Technology Officer, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt
University, respectively.

Best-selling author, popular technology columnist, commentator, and
all-around alpha geek Mark Minasi rocked the crowd with sessions on
"Securing Your Microsoft Network: A Dozen Tips" and "Server 2003 — In
Depth!" Participant comments included "Bring back Mark Minasi every year!",
"Great content, fast pace" and "Mark Minasi - what can we say, except
MORE!". In addition, Columbus’ own John Millican of the Maryland-based SANS
Institute facilitated a very popular session on "The SANS Top 20 Internet
Security Vulnerabilities".

Retiring State Librarian Michael Lucas provided an unforgettable experience
during the conference opening session. Lucas surprised the conference
participants with a verse from Phil Ochs’ 1968 song "Outside of a Small
Circle of Friends". In closing, Lucas emphasized, "Our power will be
strongest if we continue to have technology as a servant, not as a master.
If you got into this library business because you like books or technology,
you got into it for the wrong reason. If you got into this library business
because you like people, you got into it for the right reason. The library
business is the people business." Point your browser to
http://www.rls.lib.oh.us/tc5/Lucas_TC5_speech_060704.pdf for a full
transcript of the Lucas speech.

If you would like to be informed about next year’s conference as details
become available, please send your contact information in an e-mail to OVAL
Continuing Education Coordinator Margaret L. Delaney at
mailto:ceoval at oplin.org. For further details about this year’s conference,
visit http://www.rls.lib.oh.us/tc5/. We look forward to seeing you at tech
connections 6!

Since 1999, the tech connections conference has been a collaborative
endeavor between Ohio’s Regional Library Systems - CAMLS, GCLC, MOLO, NOLA,
NORWELD, OVAL, SOLO. This year’s tech connections conference was nicely
enhanced for conference participants thanks to the receipt of a Library
Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the Institute of Museum and
Library Services through the State Library of Ohio. For the 2004 tech
connections 5 event, we thank these co-sponsors: ALAO, OHIONET, OPLIN,
O'REILLY and State Library of Ohio.

OVAL provides the library community of Southern and Appalachian Ohio with
effective and innovative professional and technical training, support
services, leadership, and cooperative opportunities through collaborative
efforts among the members and other service providers. For further
information about OVAL, contact Executive Director Marion J. Cochran at
mailto:diroval at oplin.org or 1-800-759-1537 x2.

-- END --


Margaret L. Delaney, Continuing Education Coordinator
Ohio Valley Area Libraries Regional Library System (OVAL)
252 West Thirteenth Street, Wellston, OH 45692
740-384-2103 x 2 ~ 740-384-2106 fax
http://www.oval.lib.oh.us ~ mailto:ceoval at oplin.org