VRD 2005 Reference Conference: Call for Proposals

[VRD Conference]

* Please excuse any cross-postings *


CALL FOR PROPOSALS:
Papers and Presentations

The VRD 7th Annual Reference Conference
Recognizing the Success of Reference

November 14-15, 2005
San Francisco, CA


Proposals are invited for concurrent breakout session presentations at the
VRD 7th Annual Reference Conference on Monday and Tuesday, November 14-15,
2005. 

The VRD conference explores all aspects of reference service in a broad
range of contexts, including libraries and information centers,
government, business, education, and other industry sectors or
organizations. The theme of this year's conference, "Recognizing the
Success of Reference," examines the challenges, accomplishments, and
perhaps pitfalls of integrating digital reference into the traditional
reference environment. With technologies such as SMS, Podcasting, voice
over IP (VoIP), and more becoming increasingly mainstream, the potential
to provide instant, on-the-go reference is limitless.
Authors are encouraged to examine issues, identify practices, and propose
organizational and technological systems, standards, and procedures that
advance the state of reference librarianship as practiced in a variety of
environments and mediums. 

Presenters will receive free registration for the conference. Please note
that there is a two-person limit per presentation; in the case of two
presenters for one session, one presenter will receive free registration.

Deadlines:

 * Proposals will be accepted until June 6, 2005 (see proposal submission
   instructions below).

 * Selected presenters will be notified by July 15, 2005.

 * Final papers are due Friday, December 9, 2005 in order to be considered
   for inclusion in the VRD 2005 Conference print proceedings, to be
   published in 2006.

 * PowerPoint presentation slides, handouts, and other materials to be
   published in the VRD electronic proceedings will be due Friday,
   December
   9, 2005.

CONFERENCE THEMES:

Proposal themes may include, but are not limited to, the following topics
and categories:

Administrative Issues

  * Training solutions and models for service staff
  * Planning for technological evolution
  * Performance measures, evaluation approaches, and quality standards
  * Cooperative efforts with other organizations, such as museums and
    archives
  * Marketing services to potential users
  * Best practices
  * Planning for equipment and space
  * Reference outsourcing
  * Staff motivation and buy-in
  * Distance education issues
  * Copyright and. licensing issues for resources, such as pricing,
    legal ramifications, etc.

General Reference Issues

  * Special services for special needs users
  * Patron privacy
  * Emerging trends
  * Legal issues and liability
  * Archiving/tracking questions and answers/FAQs
  * Commercial and fee-based services
  * Case studies (experiences from different ways of providing
    reference service in all contexts)

Digital Reference

  * Evaluation of digital reference software
  * Reference via cell phone text messages (SMS) 
  * Standards for digital reference technology, including NISO
    standards
  * Policies and standards for consortia and cooperative reference
  * Training and education for staff
  * Models for funding/pricing
  * Policies and the law - liability, privacy, ethics, copyright,
    licensing
  * Question negotiation in the digital environment
  * Providing reference services for kids and teachers
  * Technology and tools, such as:
	o Workflow software (for question/answering)
	o Wireless technology
	o Question-answer archiving tools/knowledge bases
	o Web contact center software
	o Customer relationship management software
	o Networking/routing solutions
	o Voice over IP (VoIP)

Reference Resources

  * Search engines
  * Reference meta-sites
  * Collection development
  * Online and print resources 
  * Intermediary search services vs. end-user systems
  * Locally-mounted digital resources vs. remote resources
  * Evaluation of reference resources


PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

Proposals should include speaker's name, job title, institution, address,
phone, fax, e-mail, brief biographical information, and a topic related
abstract of 250-500 words. Proposals must be received by June 6, 2005.
Proposals can be submitted via the VRD 2005 Conference Web site within the
next two weeks.

Print and Electronic Proceedings

Presenters are encouraged to submit papers or related materials (e.g.,
handouts, copies of slides, etc.) for publication in the conference's
print and electronic proceedings. The print proceedings will be comprised
of peer-reviewed papers from the 2005 conference, and the content will
differ from material published in the online proceedings. For more
information, contact vrdconf at vrd.org.

For more information regarding the VRD 2005 Reference Conference, please
contact Blythe Bennett, vrdconf at vrd.org, (315) 443-5445. For hotel and
other information, please see the VRD 2005 Conference Web site at
http://www.vrd2005.org/. Please note that the VRD 2005 Conference Web site
is still in development, and will be available online by April 29, 2005.

DEADLINES:

Proposals Due: June 6, 2005

Notification of Acceptance: July 15, 2005

Final Papers Due for Print Proceedings Consideration: December 9, 2005

Presentations and Other Materials Due for Electronic Proceedings: December
9, 2005


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Virtual Reference Desk
Information Institute of Syracuse
621 Skytop Road, Suite 160
Syracuse, NY  13244-5290
phone: 315 443 3640  fax: 315 443 5448
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~