Digital Reference audiocasts available from ACRL

Contact: Stephanie Orphan


312-280-2511




For Immediate Release


December 19, 2002

Digital Reference audiocasts available from ACRL

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is pleased to announce that audiocasts of the opening and closing sessions of August's Digital Reference Research Symposium are now available through the ACRL Web site free of charge.

The invitation-only event, cosponsored by ACRL, brought together over 30 participants from libraries, digital libraries and computer science to develop a research agenda in digital reference. Six white papers were presented at the symposium and will soon be available as an ACRL publication:

  • "Question Negotiation in an Electronic Environment," Joseph Janes, assistant professor, University of Washington Information School.
  • "Impact and Opportunity of Digital Reference in Primary & Secondary Education," R. David Lankes, director, Information Institute of Syracuse and assistant professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies.
  • "Software, Systems and Standards," Michael McClennen, head of information systems, Internet Public Library.
  • "Integrating Digital Reference Service Into the Digital Library Environment," Jeffrey Pomerantz, Ph.D. candidate, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University.
  • "Education for Digital Reference Services," Linda C. Smith, professor, associate dean/interim dean, Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • "Policies for Digital Reference," Jo Bell Whitlatch, associate dean, SJSU Library, San Jose State University.

The goal of the symposium was to create a research agenda in digital reference that bridges the areas of digital reference, library practice and digital libraries. The Digital Reference Research Symposium was sponsored by the Information Institute of Syracuse; the National Library of Canada; the Association of College and Research Libraries; Harvard University Graduate School of Education; and QuestionPoint with participation by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Library of Congress and Gemstar.

To listen to R. David Lankes' opening comments and the closing group discussion session, visit:
http://acrl.telusys.com/webcast/.

ACRL, a division of the American Library Association, is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products, and services to meet the unique needs of academic librarians. ACRL is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academic library and information professionals to serve the information needs of the higher education community and to improve learning, teaching and research.