2006

LITA Internet Resources Interest Group Meeting

Sunday, June 25, 2006, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Marriott New Orleans at the Convention Center, Fleur de lis

Introductions: Attending: Laura Cohen, Chair; Holly Yu, Vice-Chair; Joe Fisher, incoming Vice-Chair; and Mike Sainsbury, Greater Victoria Public Library. This was one of our smaller meetings in a few years, but membership numbers are less of a key to the success of this interest group than the activities of the core officers who continue to put out strong programs.

Annual Conference Program: The members were very pleased about the success of its program at the Annual Conference this year, “The Ultimate Debate: Who Controls the Future of Search?”

After the session, a number of people asked if the session had been recorded. The offer to make a recording has not been made to the IRIG by the LITA office since its Orlando program. When we meet with the Program Planning Commitee (PPC) on Monday, we will ask the group if the means to make recordings will be available again in the future. If so, we could then reformat the recording into a podcast.

Although no recording of the session was made, Chris Strauber posted a transcript-like program summary to the LITA blog. The IG expresses its appreciation to Chris for this major effort. The posting is available at http://litablog.org/2006/06/24/the-ultimate-debate-who-controls-the-future-of-search/. This URL has been added to the IRIG’s page that lists Programs and Presentation Documents.

We have one correction: Chris estimated an audience size of approximately 170. When we counted chairs and rows, and included people sitting on the floor, we estimate an attendance of about 300.

An overview of the program evaluation forms revealed that the session got high marks from the audience. A few comments:

– “Run the same session again.”

– “Very inspiring.”

– “Fascinating.”

– “I’m grateful to be here to see it in person.”

– “It reminded me of why I became a librarian and how much I love being one.”

Name change: A decision was made at the Midwinter Meeting to change our name to the “Internet Resources and Services Interest Group” (IRSIG). The Bylaws and Organization Committee gave us a form to use for submitting our name change request. We will submit this form for a decision by the B&O Committee on Monday.

In conjunction with this change, we will add “and services” to our mission statement so that it will read: “To serve as a forum for sharing information on the development, use, presentation, and integration of resources and services on the Internet.

Next year’s program: The group came up with a tentative program topic for 2007. Draft title: “Draw Them In or Meet Them There: The Future of the Library Web Presence.” This will be presented to the PPC on Monday.

Post-meeting addendum: The PPC approved the topic.