The upcoming 2012 LITA National Forum, October 4-7, in Columbus, Ohio, is your opportunity to learn and network in a small, manageable conference setting. The programs cover technology with depth, specificity, and a project orientation. Conference planners emphasize the social too with the reception and network dinners. Plus they somehow swung wireless internet in the Hyatt Regency's guest rooms at no additional charge. Save money and register today. Early bird rates for registration expire this Friday, August 31. Housing deadline for conference rates is September 3.
Two preconferences run on consecutive half-days-- Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. The latest brain research suggests you'll be able to sort out what you learned the first day while you sleep. Tabatha Farney and Nina McHale will be presenting "Developing Web Analytics for Your Library: Using Data to Measure Success." Tabby and Nina are authors of the forthcoming LITA Guide on web analytics, scheduled to be published in March. Christopher Manly will present "Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Running Your Systems And Are Afraid to Ask!)." He will cover in-depth the core issues of systems management with an attention to getting the job done with extra tight budgets.
The three keynoters for the the three-day conference are Eric Hellman, president of Gluejar; Ben Shneiderman, computer science professor at University of Maryland and noted expert on human-computer interaction; and Sara Houghton, the popular blogger at Librarian in Black and director of the San Rafael Public Library.
Topics of concurrent sessions include:
- 11 digital publishing trends, culled from a review of the websites of 148 startups,
- Approaches to making discovery tool results and interfaces useful,
- Data mining the Twitter API to learn the research needs of users in your location,
- Building visualization displays with open data, freeware, and APIs,
- Update on the Smithsonian Libraries Linked Data Digital Library,
- Building institutional repositories with external data sources.
Innovative Interfaces and OCLC are sponsors of the 2012 LITA National Forum. See the Forum website for registration and housing information and program descriptions.