Workshop 5
Get the Most Impact from the OPAC
Date: June 05, 2007
Location: Musser Auditorium, Safeguard Scientifics Building, Penn State Great Valley, Malvern, PA
Time: 10:00am to 3:30pm
Speakers: Lynn Connaway, Gregg Silvis, Laurie Allen, Susan Beidler
“Reconfiguring the OPAC” with Lynn Silipigni Connaway. Lynn Silipigni Connaway joined OCLC's Office of Research in July 2003 as a Consulting Research Scientist. Her primary responsibilities are to develop and lead externally-focused research projects and programs that support OCLC's members and the library community. She is the co-investigator on a two-year IMLS-funded project to investigate the information-seeking behaviors of faculty, graduate students and undergraduates from 44 central Ohio colleges and universities. Current research projects include the identification and comparison of circulation and interlibrary loan patterns and library collections and WorldCat data mining to facilitate library decision-making.
“The Impending Demise of the Local OPAC” with Gregg Silvis. Libraries have expended considerable resources in the creation, maintenance and customization of local OPAC's. These efforts have been largely duplicated from institution to institution, sometimes even within the same institution. Given current developments such as OCLC WorldCat Local, libraries now need to seriously reexamine the role of and the ultimate need for a local OPAC. This session will explore some of the major factors that are leading to the obsolescence of the local OPAC. Gregg A. Silvis has been the Assistant Director for Library Computing Systems at the University of Delaware Library since 1994. He has been involved with the implementation of old technologies (ILS and CD-ROM networks) and newer technologies (institutional repositories, image databases and cool web stuff). He served on the PALINET Board of Trustees, and is now a delegate to OCLC Members Council.
“PennTags: Creating and Using a Social Bookmarking Tool in an Academic Library” with Laurie Allen. Laurie Allen is the Social Sciences Data Services Librarian at the University of Pennsylvania. As a member of the Research & Instructional Services Department, she is also the liaison to the Urban Studies, Gender Studies, and Criminology Department and bibliographer for Criminology. She serves as chair of the PennTags Development Team where she brings experience working with students and faculty to the development of the project.
“AquaBrowser Library® : a new look for the OPAC” with Sue Beidler - Demonstration of AquaBrowser Library with discussion of implementation decisions and choices made at Lycoming College. Sue Beidler is currently the Head of Collection Management and Systems at Snowden Library, Lycoming College. She has been a member of the library faculty at Lycoming since 1975. Before that she was a catalog librarian at Stockton State College in New Jersey. Sue has her MLS from the University of Pittsburgh and did her undergraduate work at the University of Delaware.