Information Literacy Network 2007
Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
December 8-9, 2007
What does the perfect library conference look like? Form an all-star task force of enthusiastic and dedicated librarians to spearhead the conference, invite Librarian.net guru Jessamyn West as your keynote speaker, pick a hot topic, and invite an international cast of information professionals hungry for further education in the field, and you’ve got the 1st Annual Conference of the Information Literacy Network (ILN) 2007. Held in state-of-the-art facilities at Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the two-day conference juiced working information professionals in the Arabian Gulf region for a “Library 2.0” future.
Jane Whiteside, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise University, kicked off the inaugural event as Master of Ceremonies, with a warm welcome. Dean Pat Wand, Director of the Zayed University Library greeted attendees to the affair, as well, with a warm welcome and brought the conference immediately into focus, with her calm, measured tone. For attendees reeling from the spin-cycle of international travel (like myself), her gentle introduction was most welcome. She reminded us that “…life was easier when you just thumbed through a card catalog…”, but that the basic passion we all share for librarianship does not change with the rapid change in information technology facing the profession.
Isabelle Eula, Chairman of the ILN, and Director of the Carnegie-Mellon University-Qatar Library, delivered a helpful history of the group, formed just two years ago, recounting the, well, sacrifices the team has made to arrive at conference day, and introduced the keynote speaker.
With the conviction of a televangelist, Jessamyn spoke about Library “2.0” with a great empathy for the information-have-nots. Her commitment to those on the far side of the information divide, helped information professionals in attendance understand that we must remember who our patrons are, go to them, and not wait for them to come to us (in brick-and-mortar buildings). Sprinkled with some very amusing anecdotes, her lecture to an audience of ~ 200 reminded us that it can be a rather lonely place pioneering new technology in our home institutions, that we should demand more findability from our vendors, accept that some things don’t work, and consider open source (freeware) options in techno-solutions. She has graciously decided to share her Power Point slides with ILN at their website (probably posted in the next week) at: http://www.informationliteracynetwork.net/conference/about.html Jessamyn’s ability to rally the troops, in kicking off a very important event, was both admirable and inspirational.
Like other conferences (see my gushings over last summer’s SLA 2007 Denver conference at http://lsobibliotech.blogspot.com/2007/10/connecting-people-and-information.html), networking was the best part of the gig. Not for personal gain, but for the pleasure of meeting others who share a common passion the conference was a win-win. Arabian Advanced Systems, SWETS, EduTech, TechKnowledge, University of Wollongong in Dubai, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise University, and Zayed University invested well in sponsoring the event held at the Al Ruwayyah campus, in Academic City. Want the perfect conference…why not consider Information Literacy Network 2008. I can’t wait….
