CHAPEL HILL - Information Professionals 2050: Educational Possibilities and Pathways, a book that includes the thoughts and ideas of some of the brightest leaders of the information and library science world, is now available in both paper and e-book form at lulu.com . The book is a compilation of position papers written by these leaders and initially prepared and presented at a special two-day symposium and conference on June 4 and 5, 2012 at the William and Ida Friday Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The event, which was hosted by the School of Information and Library Science (SILS), celebrated the ending of the School's 80th anniversary year by taking a forward look at the future of the field and its graduates. A video of the conference is available on the School's Vimeo channel at: vimeo.com/49317328

The book is edited by Drs. Gary Marchionini, dean of SILS and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor, and Barbara Moran, Louis Round Wilson Distinguished Professor, and includes the position statements presented by the leaders' and their perceptions of how the changes on the horizon will impact how students are educated, how institutions are designed and how we may prepare for emerging technologies.

The themes highlighted during the conference included the areas of 1) Education, 2) Libraries and Archives, 3) the Information Industry and 4) Information Trends.

The participants during the symposium and conference, and those who contributed papers included:

• Marshall Breeding, director for Innovative Technologies and Research, Vanderbilt University Libraries

• Anne Caputo, executive director, Dow Jones' Learning and Information Professional Programs

• Bonnie Carroll, president, International Information Associates

• Mary Chute, deputy director for Libraries, Institute for Museum and Library Services

• Lorcan Dempsey, vice president and chief strategist, OCLC

• Michael Eisenberg, professor and dean emeritus, University of Washington School of Information

• Buck Goldstein, University entrepreneur in residence and professor of practice, Department of Economics University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• William Graves, senior vice president for Academic Strategy, Ellucian

• Elizabeth Liddy, dean and trustee professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies

• Charles Lowry, executive director, Association for Research Libraries

• Cathy Marshall, senior research scientist, Microsoft

• Joanne Marshall, alumni distinguished professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Nancy Roderer, director, Johns Hopkins University Welch Medical Library

• Roger Schonfeld, director of research, Ithaka

• David Silver, associate professor, University of San Francisco

• Duncan Smith, co-founder, Novelist (EBSCO Publishing)

Moderators during the conference panel discussions included:

• Susan Nutter, vice provost and director of Libraries, North Carolina State University

• Sarah Michalak, university librarian and associate provost for libraries, UNC at Chapel Hill

• Reagan Moore, professor at the UNC at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science and director of the Data Intensive Cyber Environment group

• Derek Rodriguez, program officer at the Triangle Research Libraries Network

The book is also available as a PDF document that may be freely downloaded under Creative Commons license. Please go to:

http://sils.unc.edu/sites/default/files/news/Information%20Professionals%202050_0.pdf

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Wanda Monroe

Director of Communications

School of Information and Library Science

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

108 Manning Hall, CB#3360

Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360

919.843.8337

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