Internet Librarian 2009
Jinfo Blog

29th October 2009

By Nancy Davis Kho

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Earlier this week I made the drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to attend Internet Librarian 2009 (http://www.infotoday.com/IL2009/), with its theme 'Net Initiatives for Tough Times: Digital Publishing, Preservation, and Practices'. I was there to attend the track on Enterprise Trends and Practices, and from a quick glance at the presentation titles everyone, but everyone, is focused on 'tough times','creating on a shoestring', and/or 'extending roles in the enterprise'. Throughout the day, librarians and info pros talked about how they are leveraging free Web 2.0 tools, collaborating with peers in other organizations, repurposing existing content, and aligning closely with enterprise business units as a means of weathering the economic storms. Enterprising librarians are using wikis, Twitter, iCyte, Bubbl.US, Twitterfall and a wealth of other social media tools to extend their reach and enhance their value to their organization. Disappointing, then, to wander over to the exhibit hall on the break and not see any of those new technology companies represented. It's always great to see stalwarts like Euromonitor International, ProQuest, and Gale at these shows connecting with existing clients, but I couldn't help but feel that the Web 2.0 companies whose products are being embraced by librarians are missing the boat. Where are the vendors offering services around Drupal - the open source content management solution that was mentioned repeatedly as a quick and easy way to supercharge digital libraries? Or device vendors like Sony and Amazon - presenters from two corporate libraries described the way that lending pre-loaded eReaders to employees is increasing library traffic dramatically, and talked about what they'd like to see from content vendors in that regard. I came away from IL2009 believing that info pros are really getting creative in how they are surfacing, sharing, mashing up and distributing data. They're an ideal source of feedback for vendors, of content and software alike, about new product directions. And it's a good time to get in front of them because even if they don't have budgets now, they will when the economy creeps back….

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