[Web4lib] The Ultimate Debate-- Who Controls the Future of Search?

[Yu, Holly]

Please excuse cross-posting. 

 

You are cordially invited to an ALA conference session The Ultimate Debate--
Who Controls the Future of Search? sponsored by the LITA Internet Resources
Interest Group (IRIG).  Be it resolved that the future of search will occur
without library influence. Will libraries continue their vital role in the
evolution of search, or will we be left in the dust by Google and their ilk?
You won't want to miss this provocative debate on the future of library
influence on search technology. Come and be a part of this ultimate debate. 

 

Moderator: Roy Tennant.  
Speakers/Debaters: Stephen Abram and Joe Janes   

 

Time: 1:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 24, 2006

Location: Morial Convention Center - Rm 388-390

 

Debate Questions 

*        Will search services offered by large commercial companies such as
Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! replace the need for libraries?

 

*        Should libraries cooperate with commercial companies by giving them
our metadata and/or content? (Open WorldCat, Google Scholar, Google Book
Search, etc). 



*        What qualities would Google Scholar, Microsoft Live Academic, or
similar free commercial search services need to have before libraries
abandon the creation of their own metasearch services? Or has that point
already been reached? 

 

*        Will libraries incorporate some of the better dot-com search
technologies into their own search products, such as their catalogs? For
example: better interface design, relevance ranking, alternate spelling
suggestions, faceted browsing, etc. 

 

*        Will our users' increasing familiarity and comfort with large
central search services like Google and Open WorldCat render local library
catalogs obsolete? 

 

*        What is your worst nightmare and your finest vision for the future
of library search services, and what is your level of confidence in
achieving either? 

In addition, audience members will be invited to pose their own debate
questions. 

 

OLE_LINK3OLE_LINK2Roy Tennant is User Services Architect for the California
Digital Library. He is the owner of the Web4Lib and XML4Lib electronic
discussions, and the creator and editor of Current Cites, a current
awareness newsletter published every month since 1990.  His books include
Managing the Digital Library and XML in Libraries (2002) and he has written
a monthly column on digital libraries for Library Journal since 1997. In
2003 he received the LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Excellence in
Communication for Continuing Education. In his spare time he runs rivers
with his wife and 13-year-old twin girls.

 

Stephen Abram, MLS, is Vice President Innovation for SirsiDynix.  He is the
president elect of SLA as well as the past-President of the Canadian Library
Association and the Ontario Library Association.   He was Publisher
Electronic Information at Thomson after managing several corporate
libraries. Stephen was listed by Library Journal as one of the first Movers
and Shakers, the top 50 people influencing the future of libraries. He has
received numerous honors and speaks over 100 times a year internationally.
His columns and articles appear in Information Outlook and Multimedia and
Internet @ Schools, OneSource, Feliciter, Access, as well writing for
Library Journal.

 

Joseph Janes is Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academics at the
Information School of the University of Washington.  A frequent speaker in
the US and abroad, he was the Founding Director of the Internet Public
Library and the co-author of eight books on librarianship, technology, and
their relationship, including Introduction to Reference Work in the Digital
Age and writes the "Internet Librarian" column for American Libraries
magazine.  He is the 2006 recipient of the Isadore Gilbert Mudge award from
the American Library Association for distinguished contributions to
reference librarianship.  He holds the M.L.S. and Ph.D. from Syracuse
University, and has taught at the University of Michigan, the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the State University of New York at Albany as
well as at Syracuse and Washington.  

 

 

______________________________

Library Web Administrator / Reference Librarian

University Library

California State University, Los Angeles
5151 State University Dr. 

Los Angeles, CA 90032

Tel: (323) 343-4993

Fax: (323) 343-5600

Email: hyu3 at calstatela.edu