Current Trends and Future Directions of Library Automation
In this keynote session, Marshall Breeding will provide an overview of the current library automation landscape and give his best forecast into its future.
Breeding will share his perspectives on the developments underway in both the open source and proprietary sectors of the field. In today’s environment, libraries increasingly seek out open source solutions, but how do they compare with proprietary products in terms of functionality, scalability, and overall cost? Do the open source systems offer fundamentally new alternatives, or do they replicate existing automation models under new license terms? Do the libraries that implement open source automation products report higher satisfaction? He will also discuss some projects and products underway that aim to completely re-conceptualize automation for libraries. New resource discovery products have supplanted traditional notions of online catalogs and must be taken into consideration as part of a libraries overall automation strategy.
About Marshall Breeding
Marshall Breeding serves as the Director for Innovative Technologies and Research for the Vanderbilt University Libraries in Nashville, TN. He is part of the management team of the Library, focusing issues related to the strategic use of technology in the library. He designs and develops digital library resources and investigates emerging technologies. Marshall is also the Executive Director the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, a large-scale archive of digital video content.
In addition to his responsibilities at Vanderbilt, Marshall frequently speaks and writes on topics of network technologies and library automation. He is the creator and editor of Library Technology Guides (www.librarytechnology.org) and the lib-web-cats online directory of libraries on the Web. His monthly column “Systems Librarian” appears in Computers in Libraries; he is a Contributing Editor for Smart Libraries Newsletter published by the American Library Association, and has authored the “Automation System Marketplace” feature published by Library Journal for the last eight years. He has authored eight issues of ALA’s Library Technology Reports, and has written many other articles and book chapters. Marshall has edited or authored five books. His most recent issue of Library Technology Reports was titled “Opening up Library Systems through Web Services and SOA.” He regularly teaches workshops and gives presentations at library conferences on a wide range of topics.
He is a regular presenter at library conferences including Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian conferences, he is a LITA Top Technology Trends panelist at ALA conferences has been an invited speaker for many library conferences and workshops throughout the United States and internationally. He has spoken in throughout the United States and in Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, China, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Austria, The Netherlands, Norway, Colombia, and the United Kingdom. In December 2008 Marshall completed a three-week Fulbright grant project in Argentina.
Read his Guideposts blog on Library Technology Guides at:
http://www.librarytechnology.org
For more details see:
http://www.librarytechnology.org/resume.pl