DATE: 3-5:30 p.m., Oct. 22, 2008.

EVENT: A webcast lecture and panel discussion about the future of libraries in the Internet era, involving the founder of the Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine Brewster Kahle. Viewers can watch and submit questions during the Q and A section in real time at: http://si.umich.edu/jsb

Kahle will deliver the keynote lecture, titled “The Closing of Library Services? The Opening of Library Services,” at the fourth John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and Society.

Kahle is the director of the Open Content Alliance, which is building an archive of digital books, other texts and multimedia and opening the contents of the archive to any search service. Kahle has criticized proprietary services such as the Google Book Search project, which does not make the books it scans available to other search services. Google has scanned more than 1 million books at the University of Michigan libraries. As a leading proponent of open access to all knowledge, Kahle’s talk will consider the consequences of these two approaches.

The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion about the possibilities of “Library 2.0,” which could capitalize on social networking, 24-hour services and user-created content. Panelists are: Paul Courant, professor and dean of libraries; Jessica Litman, professor of law and information; and John Seely Brown, U-M alumnus and former vice-president and chief scientist of Xerox Corp. and director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.

“Brewster Kahle’s ideas, writings, and actions have been influential and valuable for scholarship and preservation of the cultural record,” Courant said. “The issues that he is raising are of great importance to academic libraries and to society at large.”

A reception will follow the symposium.

PLACE: Biomedical Science Research Building Auditorium, 109 Zina Pitcher Place, Ann Arbor, Mich. A map that includes parking information is available at: http://uuis.umich.edu/cic/map/central/index.cfm?region=D2. Or watch it at: http://si.umich.edu/jsb

SPONSORS: The School of Information and John Seely Brown, U-M alumnus and former vice-president and chief scientist of Xerox Corp. and director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.

CONTACT: Frank DeSanto, (734) 647-7313, [email protected]

WEBSITES:

John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and Society: http://www.si.umich.edu/jsb/

School of Information: http://www.si.umich.edu/

John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and SocietySchool of Information