[10871] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Call for papers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (PACS-L Moderator)
Wed Dec 4 20:10:54 1996
Date: Wed, 04 Dec 1996 17:38:20 -0600 (CST)
From: PACS-L Moderator <libpacs@UH.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
From: PLEnsor@UH.EDU (Pat Ensor)
Subject: Call for papers
Following is a prospectus for a book arising out of the recent LITA/
LAMA National Conference to be published by ALA Editions in 1997, and
dedicated to the pioneering work of the late Paul Evan Peters. Proposals are
being solicited now, for work to be completed by mid-February, 1997. If you
are interested in contributing to this project, contact Pat Ensor
(PLEnsor@uh.edu) as soon as possible for further discussion.
As LITA/LAMA Conference Publications Committee member Gladysann Wells
notes, "We are looking for the best minds, doing the thinking about how
technology is changing our institutions and the way we interrelate to do our
work and run our society. We are looking for vision, future articles that
do not require a great deal of editorial assistance. We want to produce
something that looks into the 21st century and how we will all be changing
to accomplish our work given the transformation of our society."
Working Title: TRANSFORMING INFORMATION INSTITUTIONS: TECHNOLOGY,
LEADERSHIP AND VISION IN THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT
Prospectus: The Information Age is largely a computer-mediated
environment, one that has affected almost all social institutions. While
libraries, museums, archives, and other information-rich areas of the social
fabric debate whether the technologies are positive or negative, no one
argues that society is being increasingly "wired," that access to all this
data has made "content" a valuable commodity, and that new institutions,
laws and information methodologies are transforming society.
The increasing effect of the Internet on organizational operations alone
has challenged information resource managers to re-think the basics of an
organization's infrastructure. The rapid pace of technological change has
overturned many traditional organizational responses, sometimes antiquating
cherished beliefs and institutions almost overnight. The ability of the
computer to simulate not only present processes but also to model
alternatives has created, especially in those institutions devoted to
information transfer, new paradigms of operations and an unsettled future.
But whatever the brave new digital world brings, rest assured that "ideas"
are on the social fast track, that we are only beginning to
perceive the changes that the electronic frontier will create in such
important areas as the protection of intellectual property, censorship,
and the political process.
At a recent meeting of two divisions of the American Library
Association, an organization that has a history of keeping the public
informed about information issues, the technology-oriented Library and
Information Technology Association (LITA) joined with the
management-oriented Library Administration and Management Association
(LAMA) to examine the impact that the various technologies are having on
information organizations. That conference (held October 12-16, 1996 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was entitled: TRANSFORMING LIBRARIES: A NATIONAL
CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION ON LEADERSHIP AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE INFORMATION
AGE. It provided the basic thrust of this book and the spirit of inquiry
into those transformations impacting our increasingly electronic information
suprastructure and the information welfare of the general public.
--Milton T. Wolf
Pat Ensor
Mary Augusta Thomas
Pat Ensor (ple) PLEnsor@uh.edu
Head, Information Services, University of Houston Libraries
Editor, Cybrarian's Manual
Co-Editor, Public-Access Computer Systems Review
Book Review Editor, Telecommunications Electronic Reviews
Voice: (713)743-9762 Fax: (713)743-9778
Houston, TX 77204-2091
