The University Library and the BayNet Library Association present a panel discussion on User contributed content in library catalogs as part of the Research for the Real World Symposium at Golden Gate University.

WHEN: Tuesday Oct 20, 2009, 5:30-8:30
WHERE: Golden Gate University, 536 Mission St. (between 1st and 2nd), San Francisco. The panel discussion will be held in the University Library, room 1373. The University library is on the 1st (street level) floor, immediately to the right as you walk in the building.

This event came about as a result of the discussion that took place at a similar panel discussion last March about implementing Web 2.0 technologies in libraries. Many at that event expressed an interest in exploring the pros and cons as well as any measurable efficacy of tag clouds in the library’s online catalog. As a result of discussions with a panelist planned for this event, Roy Tennant, we have expanded the scope of the event to include all other kinds of user-contributed content in library catalogs.

Each panelist will give a 10 minute presentation. After each presentation and at the end there will be a Q&A session with the audience.

5:30 P.M. — Meet and mix (sandwiches and refreshments will be served)
6:00 P.M. — Introducing the panelists
6:15 – 8:00 P.M. — Presentations, Q&A and more Q&A

Moderator:
Steven Dunlap — Head of Technical Services, University Library, Golden Gate University.

Panelists:
Ann Sperske — Teacher Librarian Vintage High School , Napa, CA.
Ann works with high school students to use web tools effectively. http://www.vhs.nvusd.k12.ca.us/vhs_library.html

Roy Tennant (of OCLC and other adventures) — Senior Program Officer, OCLC.
Roy is also 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. http://roytennant.com/professional.html

Rice Majors —  Product manager for Encore the OPAC discovery layer by Innovative Interfaces Inc.

Cathy Marshall — Senior researcher at Microsoft Research’s Silicon Valley laboratory and an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Digital Libraries at Texas A&M University. She was a long-time member of the research staff at Xerox PARC and has written a soon-to-be-released book, Reading and Writing the Electronic Book. She wrote an article about tags and maintains a blog about her ongoing work.