Thursday and Friday, October 16 & 17, 2003
Dowling College, Oakdale, NY

Information surrounds us today like in no other time in recorded history. Data, email, and the web, bathe us with information spilling out from our desktops via dialup and high speed connections and raining on us from wireless links to our 802.11-equipped laptops, PDAs and ubiquitous cell phones. This is the 21^st century environment you will experience when you attend the LILRC 12^th Annual Conference on Libraries and the Future - The Information Commons: Delivering Library Service in a Virtual World on October 16-17, 2003 at Dowling College in Oakdale, Long Island.

Continuing the Conference’s long tradition of providing programming for current and potential library leaders, we began planning for this year’s conference last November.  Committee Chair Francie Davis knew she would be on sabbatical from her position as Dowling’s Reference Librarian for most of spring and asked me to co-chair.  Before she left on that Sabbatical we had all but finalized the many details on the keynote and session speakers.  None of us could imagine the tragedy that would befall her and her family as the private plane her husband James was flying crashed, killing him, Francie, and their daughter Amanda.  They were all on tour in North Carolina for Amanda’s new book "Wonder When You'll Miss Me."  Our conference Committee immediately knew the answer to that question was “now, and forever, Francie” and declared this year’s conference to be held in the memory of our fallen chairperson.  Francie will indeed be missed.

Hosted by Dowling College, the conference promises to continue the tradition of providing stimulating and thought provoking speakers and discussion.  Focusing on the information continuum and how it will be affecting the way libraries serve their communities in the future, your conference team has really pulled out the stops to make this a truly fitting memorial to Francie Davis.

Our preeminent speakers will examine the impact of the digital age on our libraries, as we explore building the library as the intellectual commons, serving patrons in the information continuum, and diversity in patron population and its impact on delivering service.  As this is our 12^th in a series of conferences started in 1991, and bearing in mind that Yogi Berra quote “the future ain’t what it used to be,” we will also be looking at where we are, where we are going, and what was predicted in the past.

The conference will be held Thursday evening October 16th and Friday October 17th, at Dowling College in Oakdale, New York on the south shore of Long Island.   Established by the Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC) in 1991, our conference provides special opportunities for discussion, creative thought and networking that is not present at other library meetings.  The conference has become an exciting and forward-looking highlight of the Long Island library world with over 100 attendees from all types of libraries: public, academic, school, and special coming from all over Long Island and New York City - the fifth highest rated economic region in the country serving a population of 3 million people, with 19 colleges and universities, 200+ independent public/private school districts and 104 autonomous public libraries.

The conference will jump start with award winning radio show host Amy Goodman’s stimulating revelations of the "Lack of an Independent Media" on Thursday evening.  On Friday, our speakers will look at access to non book items from the users’ point of view; address digital reference services; discuss delivering children and young adult services virtually; and stimulate us with informal discussions during breaks. Current library school students will top off the day with our third annual poster session of their research papers*.

Registration Information: $50 for Thursday only, $75 for Friday only, $95 for entire conference.

(*Matriculated library school master’s and doctoral students with accepted poster sessions will be invited to participate in the Friday conference program as our guests, and may attend the Thursday evening dinner for $30; non-presenting matriculated library school master’s and doctoral students may register at the reduced rate of $50 for the full conference.)

Conference Schedule

Thursday October 16th, 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Cocktails & Dinner

Speaker:
Amy Goodman, WBAI News Director and award winning radio show host of the Pacifica Network’s Democracy Now, has been awarded some of mainstream journalism's highest honors: The Robert F. Kennedy Award, the George Polk Award and the Overseas Press Club Award. Amy is sure to delight us with discussion of the “Lack of an Independent Media.”

Friday October 17th, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Registration with Continental Breakfast
Welcome
Morning Session

Luncheon
Afternoon Session

Speakers:
S. Michael Malinconico, EBSCO Professor of Library Science, University of Alabama, School of Library and Information Studies, as our keynote speaker will overview conference topics and talk about the past, present and  future of libraries and library service.
Diane Berry, Automation Consultant, Mid-York Library System.
Howard Besser, Associate Professor, UCLA, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, will address providing intellectual access to non book items from the users’ point of view.
Colleen Cool, Associate Professor, Queens College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, will talk about "How to deliver children and young adult services virtually."

Viennese Table: 3rd Annual Poster Session: Local Library School Students

So mark your calendars for the LILRC Dowling Conference.  Save the dates (October 16th and October 17th), register early, come, and participate.  It’s going to be an exciting conference you won’t want to miss!

Charles Rubenstein, Chair
LILRC Annual Conference Committee

           Information Commons Links (by Howard Blesser)
           Information Commons (IC): A Selected Bibliography (prepared by Patricia Gaspari-Bridges and Dorothy Pearson, in pdf format)
           The Information Commons: Selected Bibliography (prepared by Nancy Kranich)
           Information Commons - Select Bibliography (prepared by David Murray)