NASIG Newsletter

PROGRAM PLANNING COMMITTEE
Rachel Frick and Sarah George, Co-Chairs

SUMMARY OF CONFERENCE PROGRAM
The Program Planning Committee finalized the program featuring 34 sessions involving 65 speakers.  In addition, poster sessions and discussion groups are planned for additional programming opportunities. 

Program Proposals

Special Program Events

SPECIAL PROGRAM EVENTS
The Poster Sessions Subcommittee consisting of Meg Mering, Jennifer Arnold, Nathan Rupp, Trina Holloway, Sarah George, and Rachel Frick sent out the call, selected, advertised, and coordinated 14 poster sessions out of 17 submissions.  Poster sessions provide an opportunity to share innovative ideas and new applications of technology.  Posters will be on display in the East Exhibit Hall of the Galt House on Friday, June 1, from 9:30-5:30.  Presenters will be available to discuss their topics during both break periods.  Posters this year include:

• Janice Cox – “Hedge Your Bet to Improve the Odds of Going the Distance: Dental Theses Journal Citation Analysis”
• Nancy Beals – “Taking a Gamble: Venturing into the Development of an Electronic Resources Management System”
• Chandra Jackson – “Making a Silk Purse from a Sow’s Ear”
• Patrick Carr – “Maximizing Access through Consortial Partnership: Mississippi State University Libraries’ Journal Expansion Project”
• Germaine Wadeborn – “Coming Down the Backstretch of Moving Technical Services Out of the Library and into a Dedicated Facility: Will This Be a Long Shot or a Sure Bet?”
• Raleigh Muns – “Comprehensive Serials Information Database Eases Journal Cuts”
• Randall Watts – “”Yes, As a Matter of Fact, We Are Throwing Those Away” : A Small Public University Library Deals with De-Selection
• Janette Prescod – “Partners in Space: Integrating Periodicals and Government Documents”
• Brian McDonald – “Designing a Local Database for Usage Statistics”
• Sarah Sutton – “”I need to find an article on … ” : What Librarians Need to Know about How Patrons Look for Journal Articles on the Library Web Site”
• Les Hawkins & Hien Nguyen – “The CONSER Standard Record”
• Laurentiu Micrcea Stefancu – “Using Open Source Software to Build Your Tools”
• Rebecca Martinez – “The SUPERFECTA – The Best Bet for Winning the Electronic Derby”
• C. Derrik Hiatt – “A Comparison of Journal Impact Factor to Journal Use in a University Library”

The Informal Discussion Group Subcommittee consisting of Stephen Clark, Bonnie Parks, Janice Lindquist, Mary Grenci, Sarah George, and Rachel Frick sent out the call and are in the process of selecting, advertising, and coordinating these groups.  The purpose of Informal Discussion Groups (formerly known as Networking Nodes) is to promote discussion among NASIG attendees who have a shared interest in a topic, idea, workflow, problem…  The emphasis of these sessions is open discussion and the generation of new ideas.  Informal Discussion Groups will take place over lunch on Saturday, June 2.

In addition to informal discussion groups, there will be sessions dedicated to user groups of a specific product or service.  The purpose of these sessions is to share product implementation or development experiences and ideas. User group attendees will have an opportunity to discuss topics of common interest in a non-commercial setting.  This year, user groups will have two distinct sessions.   The first session, on Friday, June 1, from 3:15-4:15 p.m., will focus on ERM products and services.  On Saturday, June 2, from 4-5 p.m., the sessions will involve other technologies and services used by serialists.

PPC ACTIVITIES SINCE JANUARY 2007
PPC members have continued to work as liaisons to program speakers.  Liaison responsibilities included sending speakers their official notification of acceptance, informing speakers of their reimbursement and audio-visual equipment options and conference and proceedings responsibilities, gathering biographical information, distributing information for electronic handouts.  They also informed selected speakers of their hotel confirmation numbers and answered numerous miscellaneous questions.  PPC members managed an average of three speakers each.
    
PPC co-chairs worked with Anna Creech, NASIG webspinner, to develop a system for electronic handouts.  These handouts will be available to conference registrants in advance of the conference. 

Other activities of the PPC co-chairs:

• Worked with the Evaluation & Assessment Committee regarding the conference survey.
• Worked with the Proceedings Editors to help them contact speakers and coordinate receipt of papers from vision and strategy speakers.
• Called for volunteers to introduce speakers
• Coordinated hotel registrations, airline reservations, conference registrations, and AV information
• Managed unexpected speaker changes

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The PPC co-chairs would like to thank the entire committee for their flexibility and hard work.  The following people served on PPC and helped shape the 2007 conference: Norene Allen, Jennifer Arnold, Stephen Clark, Jill Emery, Mary Grenci, Trina Holloway, Bill Kara, Janice Lindquist, Meg Mering, Bonnie Parks, Erika Ripley, Nathan Rupp, and Jenni Wilson.  Special mention goes to Erika Ripley, our liaison to the Online Registration Team, and to Meg Mering and Bonnie Parks who coordinated the subcommittees for poster sessions and discussion groups.  We also owe a huge thanks to our board liaison, Char Simser. Although the work of PPC can be intense and hectic, the opportunity to work with such creative and dedicated colleagues makes this work a pleasure.