NASIG Newsletter

PROGRAM PLANNING COMMITTEE
Sarah Wessel and Erika Ripley, Co-chairs

SUMMARY OF THE CONFERENCE PROGRAM
The Program Planning Committee finalized the program featuring 37 sessions involving 85+ speakers. Additional programming opportunities being planned include poster sessions, various discussion groups, and the attendee speed-dating session.

NOTE ON PROGRAMMING CHANGES SINCE 2007
This year, sessions are not being repeated in most cases. This has increased the total number of sessions and speakers participating at the conference. Specific sessions with the highest early registration totals were asked and have agreed to repeat.

The Poster Sessions Subcommittee consisting of Meg Mering, Chandra Jackson, Trina Holloway, Sarah Wessel, and Erika Ripley sent out the call, selected, advertised, and coordinated the six poster sessions. Poster sessions provide an opportunity to share innovative ideas and new applications of technology. Posters will be on display on Friday, June 6 from 9:30-5:30. Presenters will be available to discuss their topics during both break periods.

Posters this year include:

• Deberah England, Wright State University Libraries: “Solved at First Sting: a Flowchart to Take the Deadly Sting Out of Troubleshooting E-Resources”
• Deg Farrelly, Arizona State University: “The Prize of Vigilance: Reclaiming Acquisitions Funds through Format and Use Data Review”
• Beverly Geckle, Middle Tennessee State University: “Displaying EJS & Ingenta Titles: An A-Z List Challenge”
• Jonathan David Makepeace, Canada Institute for Scientific & Technical Information: “Scientific Data as End Product: Does the Concept of “Serial” Have a Role?”
• Paul Moeller, University of Colorado at Boulder: “Using ERM to Provide Subject Access to Journal Databases”
• Paoshan Yue, University of Nevada, Reno Libraries: “Creating & Maintaining a Web List of E-journals with RSS Feeds”

The Informal Discussion Group Subcommittee consisting of Danielle Williams, Sarah Wessel, and Erika Ripley 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, or 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 7, 2008.

Planning is still in progress, but the following discussion groups are currently scheduled to meet: Acquisitions; Cataloging/MARC Record Services/ SCCTP; EDI; E-Journal Workflow; Networking Node; Preservation – Archiving, binding, digitization; Scholarly Communication.

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 meet on Sunday, June 8 from 8:30AM-9:15AM.

While planning is still underway for additional groups, the following user groups are currently scheduled to meet: Innovative Interfaces; JSTOR/Portico Archive; Scholarly Stats.

The 2007 conference included “Meet the Publisher” speed-rounds for attendees to discuss key serials issues in a non-commercial atmosphere with colleagues who tackle serials from the ‘other side of the aisle.’ We are building on that successful program and offering Speed-Dating again, in a non-compete timeslot.

PPC ACTIVITIES SINCE JANUARY 2008
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 as well as conference and proceedings responsibilities, gathering biographical information, and 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 programs each.

Other activities of the PPC co-chairs:

• Worked with the Evaluation & Assessment Committee regarding the conference evaluation.
• 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.
• Coordinate with the Conference Planning Committee regarding presentation of program information, hotel 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 2008 conference: Norene Allen, Jennifer Arnold, Morag Boyd, Stephen Clarke, Michael Hanson, Trina Holloway, Sandy Hurd, Chandra Jackson, Bill Kara, Meg Mering, Bonnie Parks, Jean Sibley, Danielle Williams.

• Special mention goes to Jennifer Arnold who will be coordinating online speaker handouts and to Meg Mering and Danielle Williams who coordinated the subcommittees for poster sessions and discussion groups.
• Jill Emery, our board liaison, has also earned our most sincere thanks.
• Yvette Diven has graciously agreed to build on her 2007 “Meet the Publisher” session and coordinate the Speed-Dating event for 2008.

The work of the Program Planning Committee can be tumultuous; we count ourselves fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with this dedicated and enthusiastic group of colleagues.