Library Leaders Forum 2015 — Exploring the Future of Digital Libraries

Brewster for BlogFrom October 21-23, the Internet Archive will convene our annual Library Leaders Forum 2015 in San Francisco. We’re bringing together an intimate group of  leaders from the library world to explore how together, we can build the digital libraries of the future.  It’s a  chance to listen to our closest partners, share ideas, launch collaborations, and share new tools.

The Forum kicks off on the evening of Wednesday, Oct 21, with our big Annual Celebration for 500+ friends of the Archive.  This year we will be highlighting the transformative work of our partners, hackers and historians alike, who are doing amazing things with the Archive’s collections.  Guests will also be able to scan a book, listen to a vintage recording, or drop a quarter into a virtual video game in a new  3-D Internet Arcade via the Oculus Rift.

Annual Celebration 2014 exterior

View from outside “Building Libraries Together”–the Internet Archive’s Annual Celebration in Oct. 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day, about 50 of our top partners will gather back at the Internet Archive headquarters to get to know each other and our growing Archive staff.  On Day One we will share some of the strategic goals and projects the Internet Archive is pursuing, and break into Roundtables to dive deeper.  The goal is to find ways to collaborate and fine tune our plans with our partner’s needs in mind.  Next, we’ve planned a series of hands-on workshops that will enable partners to test drive our new Table Top Scribe, film digitization lab, data visualization tools and upload and download features. Researcher, Kalev Leetaru, will demonstrate new ways to visualize and analyze the texts of more than 8 million books.  We will also break into small groups to have lunch at the staff’s favorite neighborhood restaurants, and end the evening with a picnic in the Presidio surrounded by San Francisco’s best food trucks.

On October 23rd, we plan to gather in the Archive’s Great Room to hear a keynote presentation from Founder and Digital Librarian, Brewster Kahle.  He’ll share his vision for bringing entire libraries digital and some of the tools we’re building to make that a reality. Several of our partners, including Tom Blake of Boston Public Library, will share  the projects that are moving digital libraries forward; experts in copyright will weigh in on the policies that support their work.  Silicon Valley CTO, Greg Lindahl, will unveil Project Visigoth–which applies modern web search technology to IA’s 3 million digital texts.  Stuart Snydman, Associate Director of Digital Strategy at Stanford University Libraries, will dive into the International Image Interoperability Framework, showing us the dynamic potential to enrich the presentation of our visual works.

At the end of the day, the Library Leaders Forum is not a conference, and not your typical library meeting.  This invitation-only event is meant for top managers and library leaders to chart a path for the digital future of our organizations.  Situated in San Francisco, we are surrounded by the builders of new tools and platforms–so it is also a peek into what lies ahead.  Our goal: to listen, to share, and to build something enduring together.

NOTE:  Library partners– check your email for an invitation to register.

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  1. Pingback: Library Leaders Forum 2015 — Exploring the Future of Digital Libraries | Internet Archive Blogs | digitalcollaboration

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