Access 2008

We’ve posted some of the conference materials and more are coming soon.  Take a look at the program page under the speakers’ names!

As you probably know, Access is heading to Prince Edward Island next year! Keep your eye on the Access 2009 conference website for more details as they become available. And see you in PEI!

We’re looking forward to welcoming you to Access 2008 later this week!  Here’s some useful information we wanted to pass on to you before you arrive:

• Access 2008 is a single stream conference with all sessions being held in the Grand Ballroom on the second level of the Sheraton (except Hackfest, more info on that below).

• We didn’t send out registration & conference info ahead of time — your badge, program (etc.) will be waiting for you at the Access 2008 registration desk when you get to the Sheraton.

• The registration desk will be open from 7:30-9:30am and 4-7pm on Wednesday, October 1st and will be located in the lobby of the Sheraton.  Starting Thursday morning at 7am, the desk will be located on the second level near the Grand Ballroom and will remain open for the duration of the conference (Thursday & Friday: 7am-4pm; Saturday: 7am-1:30pm).

• For those attending Hackfest on Wednesday, October 1st, we’d like to remind you that it starts at 8am and takes place at the central branch of Hamilton Public Library on the 5th floor.  Please ask for directions at the Access 2008 registration desk in the Sheraton lobby. The Central branch is located in the same building as the Sheraton and is a 1 minute walk from the hotel, so you won’t have far to go!

• If you signed up for any of the social events, check your name badge for your event/drink ticket and be sure to bring that ticket with you to the event.

• If you require a receipt for your conference registration, please email Meredith at mtutching@accessola.com. Put “ACCESS Receipt” in the subject line and Meredith will send you the receipt electronically.

See you at Access!

The CARL Institutional Repository meeting will be held in the Ballroom South, on the 2nd floor of the Sheraton in Hamilton October 1, 2008, from 9 am – 4 pm.

Coffee and a light breakfast will be served before the meeting (starting at 8:30) and lunch will also be provided.

The main purpose of the meeting is to enable IR managers to network with each other. Thus, we will try to make things as informal as possible.

The focus will be on a roundtable at which everyone will have a chance to talk about their IR project, and discuss some of the challenges they face. Then, if time allows after the round table, we can address some specific topics of interest in more depth.

–Submitted by Kathleen Shearer, CARL

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is holding a meeting on institutional repositories in conjunction with the Access 2008 conference. The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on October 1st at the Sheraton Hotel in Hamilton, Ontario

The purpose of the meeting is to provide an opportunity for those working with IRs to network with colleagues.

The meeting will be fairly informal and involve a high level of participation by attendees.

The morning session will be a round table, in which participants describe the activities and challenges of their institution in regards to institutional repositories. The afternoon session will be a discussion of “hot topics”, one of which will be an update on Canadian funding agency open access policies. Other hot topics will be determined by participants.

The meeting is free, and open to all those interested in attending. Please email Kathleen Shearer (mkshearer AT videotron.ca) by September 19th if you plan to attend.

If you aren’t already excited about Access, this just might do the trick: the conference program is up. We have some awesome sessions and speakers lined up, so check them out and make sure you don’t miss all the fun in October!

And, speaking of fun — we should have the complete schedule up in a couple of weeks, and conference registration will be open shortly thereafter. Watch this space for announcements!

Call for Proposals for Access 2008
Deadline: Friday, February 22, 2008

Access is Canada’s premier library technology conference, featuring a single stream of sessions that deal with technology planning, development, challenges and solutions. We are now accepting proposals for prepared talks on the following topics (other ideas are more than welcome):

• customized web applications and search interfaces
• open source software
• national and provincial/state-wide consortia technology initiatives
• information policy
• digital and social media
• library catalogue innovations
• digitization projects
• institutional repositories
• end-user searching behaviours
• protocols and metadata

…or anything else suitably geeky, innovative and/or awe-inspiring! Sessions are usually 45 minutes or 1 hour in length. Proposals should include:

• your name, title, institutional affiliation, contact information, blog/website URL
• 100 word (max) abstract describing your proposed presentation
• co-presenters you will (or hope to) present with

Submission Procedures: (deadline is February 22, 2008)

• send your proposal to Amanda Etches-Johnson, Program Chair, at etchesa AT mcmaster.ca
• each submission will be acknowledged and all presenters will be notified of the status of their proposal by April 15, 2008.
• if you’d simply like to recommend topics and/or speakers (other than yourself), feel free to get in touch!

Depending on the number of submissions, we can’t promise that every proposal will be accepted. However, we will have sessions set aside for Lightning/Thunder talks, which provide an informal opportunity to share your ideas with your peers.

Feel free to get in touch with members of the Program Planning Committee:

Amanda Etches-Johnson
User Experience Librarian, McMaster University
etchesa AT mcmaster.ca

Jenn Horwath
Virtual Branch Manager, Hamilton Public Library
jhorwath AT hpl.ca