An Age of Discovery: Distinctive Collections in the Digital Age

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) are co-hosting a Forum, "An Age of Discovery: Distinctive Collections in the Digital Age." It will be held October 15-16, 2009, in Washington, DC, immediately following the ARL Membership Meeting.

The Forum builds on the work of the ARL Special Collections Working Group. The goal is to focus attention on opportunities available in the digital environment for leveraging the strengths of special collections, making them more widely accessible. The co-hosts seek to bring together librarians, archivists, and others with responsibilities for stewarding special and distinctive resources, and to identify strategies for advancing this goal. Intended Audience

The forum is open to all. In particular, directors of research and academic libraries, archives, and historical societies are encouraged to attend, along with other staff members who have responsibilities that encompass special collections.

Program sessions will address:

• Why Are Special Collections Important? Exploring the Value Proposition
• Collaborative Strategies to Build Cross-Institutional Collections
• Special Collections as Laboratories for Researchers and Students
• Integrating Special Collections into the Enterprise
• What Changes with Digital Content?

The Fall Forum programs have a reputation for high quality engagement of strategic issues and this year's program is no exception. We recommend that Directors of research and academic libraries and archives plan to attend the full Forum and consider doing so with a member of their staff who has responsibilities for the library's special collections.

See the Forum Web site for speaker and program details. http://www.arl.org/events/fallforum/forum09/index.shtml

Registration Deadline September 25

Registration is $275 per person for individuals affiliated with an ARL or CNI member institutions; $325 for all others. The registration deadline is September 25.

Fellowship Awards Deadline September 14

With the generous support of the following sponsors, we are able to offer a limited number of Fellowship Awards to assist Forum participants with the costs of their travel and accommodations to attend the Forum.

Fellowship Award Sponsors

• The Council on Library and Information Resources
• Preservation Technologies
• OCLC
• EBSCO
• Atlas, Inc.
• Alexander Street Press

See the Forum Web site for information on Fellowship Awards. The deadline for applications is September 14.

For more information, contact:
Sarah Segura
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
sarah@arl.org

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The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries at comprehensive, research-extensive institutions in the US and Canada that share similar research missions, aspirations, and achievements.

The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is an organization dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. Some 200 institutions representing higher education, publishing, network and telecommunications, information technology, and libraries and library organizations make up CNI's Members.