About Us

Third Annual Digital Library Conference and Vendor Fair

March 31, 2009
Hogan Center, College of the Holy Cross 
Worcester, Massachusetts

Overview

The third annual conference of the Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts highlights important issues and practical skills in implementing a digital collection. This conference is designed for all cultural institutions that have an interest in digital libraries, including historical societies and commissions,museums, archives, research institutions, schools, and libraries of all types.

Welcome and Digital Commonwealth Update

Carolyn Noah, President, Digital Commonwealth, convened the annual meeting of members.

Morning Keynote Session

Rebooting America

Speaker: David Liroff, PhD

The commitment of the Obama Administration to assure universal access to broadband is emblematic of the rise to influence of a new generation of leaders who--if they weren't born digital--at the very least demonstrably are fluent in digital as a second language. At all levels of American society, there is a changing of the guard concerning digital media, accompanied by user expectations of having on-line access "to everything." The implications for those responsible for the stewardship of the cultural heritage materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies and archives have yet to be fully fathomed, but the times they are a-changin'.

Afternoon Keynote Session

Digital Preservation : Prologue and Principles

Speaker: Nancy McGovern, PhD

The 1996 report, Preserving Digital Information, provided a cornerstone for the development of the digital preservation community. This talk will take a brief look at community accomplishments since that seminal report was published and at some remaining challenges for organizations that are committed to preserving their digital content. This provides a basic set of principles for developing organizational preparedness for ensuring long-term access to digital collections.

Breakout Sessions

  • Promoting Your Resources (Panelists: David Matthews, Kent dur Russell, Debra Lakind, Mary Ann Stets)
  • Text Alive!  The Body, Mind, and Soul of the Digitized Written Word (Speaker: Tom Blake)
  • Panning for Gold :  Ins and Outs of Grant Writing (Speaker: Gregor Trinkaus-Randall)
  • Scanning Photographs 101 (Speaker: Scott Kehoe)
  • Getting Started with the Digital Commonwealth (Speaker: Erin Logsdon)
  • The Wilson Grant:  A Funding Opportunity for Small Institutions (Speaker: Julie Bartlett)
  • Conducting a Digital Barn Raising (Panelists: Julie Bartlett, Marilyn Billings, Kristi Chadwick, Jan Resnick)
  • Who, What, How, Why? Archival Finding Aids, EAD, and Bringing Our Collections to Users (Speaker: Anne Sauer)
  • Report from the Boston Library Consortium on Digital Issues (Speaker: Jay Schafer)  

Thanks to our 2009 Gold Sponsors:

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