ARC17: Hello. I'm the Smarter Library.
2017 OCLC Americas Regional Council Meeting
October 30–31, 2017 • Baltimore, Maryland, USA
What does it take to become a “smarter library”?
Join fellow library leaders at the inaugural Americas Regional Council meeting and address the challenge of supporting increasingly personalized customer relationships while also scaling to meet growth in population, materials and expectations. We live in the age of Alexa, big data, autonomous cars, smart everything. What does this mean for libraries, their services and their value and values? Together we’ll look at how “smarter libraries” can remake user experiences to be more customized, effective and intuitive. We’ll investigate ways to leverage data to improve both services and outcomes. And we’ll see how, by applying and strengthening our professional values, libraries can strengthen the communities they serve. All with the never-ending requirement to innovate and reimagine every facet of the library.
Together we will:
Reimagine customer experiences
Be more personalized, effective and intuitive
Leverage data
Improve services and outcomes
Confirm professional values
Strengthen the communities you serve
Innovate continuously
Keep pace with change
We hope you’ll join us for this exciting event held in vibrant downtown Baltimore. The active two-day agenda was designed for attendees representing all library types, and will feature thought leaders from within and outside of the library community, including library colleagues and OCLC leadership. Dr. Carla D. Hayden, Librarian of Congress, will be a featured keynote speaker. This is your opportunity to connect with fellow library leaders to share ideas, learnings and insights.
Please join us
“Today we find ourselves reimagining library services and spaces, managing our patrons’ increasing expectations and identifying our ever-evolving place within our communities. This inaugural Americas Regional Council member meeting brings library leaders together to explore the future of building ‘the smarter library.’”
CHRIS CRONIN
Associate University Librarian for Collections, Columbia University
Chair of Americas Regional Council
“Library leaders from all library types will come together at this OCLC member meeting, for the first time in the Americas region. We will tackle the opportunities and challenges that face us all, and learn from each other how to make our libraries ‘smarter.’ I hope to see you there.”
HELEN FRIED
County Librarian, Orange County Public Libraries
Americas Regional Council delegate
Calling all library leaders
This meeting was created especially for current and emerging library leaders across all library types—academic and research, public, special and others. Programming and discussions are centered around library leadership’s opportunity to build a smarter library, both today and into the future. Librarians and staff with these titles and areas of focus will benefit from this meeting:
- Library director
- Dean of libraries
- University/college librarian
- City librarian
- Head/director of access services
- Head/director of reference services
- Head/director of technology
- Associate directors of libraries or library divisions
We welcome all staff members from OCLC member libraries who would like to join this strategic discussion around building smarter libraries.
Please direct questions about event participation to oclcevents@oclc.org.
Member-driven programming
The programming and agenda at ARC17 are led by a Program Committee of respected leaders from the Americas Regional Council, which spans all library types. We sincerely appreciate their expertise and partnership:
Bonnie Allen
Dean of James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
Constantia Constantinou
Dean of University Libraries, Stony Brook University
Chris Cronin
Associate University Librarian for Collections, Columbia University
Helen Fried
County Librarian, Orange County Public Libraries (California)
Antoinette Pinder-Darling
Cataloguing Librarian, The Harry C. Moore Library, The University of The Bahamas
Debbie Schachter
University Librarian, Capilano University
Brad Schaffner
College Librarian and Senior Lecturer, Laurence McKinley Gould Library, Carleton College
About OCLC membership
All OCLC member libraries within the Americas region—Canada, United States, Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America—are part of the OCLC Americas Regional Council (ARC). All members are encouraged to attend member meetings and community activities, to share insights through various member forums and channels, and to participate in elections and governance. Learn more about ARC and OCLC governance.