Programming and Events

Keynotes

Monday

Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing, and a contributor to many magazines, websites and newspapers. He is a special consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation,  a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He holds an honorary doctorate in computer science from the Open University (UK), where he is a Visiting Professor; he is also a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate and a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science. In 2007, he served as the Fulbright Chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California.

His novels have been translated into dozens of languages and are published by Tor Books, Head of Zeus (UK), Titan Books (UK) and HarperCollins (UK). He has won the Locus, Prometheus, Copper Cylinder, White Pine and Sunburst Awards, and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards.

His recent books include Radicalized (2019) and Walkaway (2017), science fiction for adults; In Real Life, a young adult graphic novel created with Jen Wang (2014); and Information Doesn't Want to be Free, a business book about creativity in the Internet age (2014).

Tuesday

Wanda Kay Brown
ALA President

As libraries grow and change, you may be pondering what the future holds for you and the library profession. You may ask yourself, what is your role in taking the lead?  How will you ensure that your library is positioned as an indispensable community asset? What can YOU do to embrace your community and help move it forward? ALA President Wanda Brown shares her vision for the future of libraries and discusses how library staff can embrace and capitalize on the important role libraries play in their communities. Wanda will share her thoughts on how we may best prepare ourselves for the future and how this will not only benefit our libraries and the profession, but ourselves. During this inspirational keynote you’ll learn how library workers can adapt and thrive in this changing environment.

Wanda Kay Brown is the director of library services at the C. G. O’Kelly Library at Winston-Salem State University. (WSSU)  Prior to her appointment, she served as the Associate Dean of Wake Forest University’s Z. Smith Reynolds Library. Brown has spent some 40 years in the profession. Along the way she has focused on being “professionally active” in state and national library organizations. As ALA president, Brown will be the chief elected officer for the largest library association in the world.  She stepped into her role as ALA President at the close of the 2019 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

Concurrent Sessions

Monday, September 30th

Tuesday, October 1st

Maine InfoNet Pre-Conference: Sunday, September 29th

Registration for the Pre-Conference is separate from the main conference. 

David Lee King

Digital Services Director at Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

Emerging Tech Trends for Libraries

Technology has changed the face of libraries, and is continuing to change how we work and how we deliver services to customers. This workshop introduces emerging technology trends, and how those trends are reshaping library services. Examples of how to incorporate these emerging trends into libraries are provided.

Attendees will leave knowing what trends to look for, the difference between a technology trend and a fad, and will have ideas on how their library can respond to emerging technology.

David Lee King speaks widely at national and regional conferences. His focus is relevant to public, school and academic libraries.

Afternoon Work Sessions