There is still space for people to sign up for the Thursday (June 16th, 2011) tour of the EPA Library.  For more information, go to the wiki.

The Sci-Tech Division is also co-hosting the tour of the TastyKake facility.

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If you are new to the Division, or if this is your first SLA Conference, we would like to invite you to the Rangoon Burmese Restaurant which is at 112 North 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107-2401.  The Luncheon will take place on Sunday June 12th from 11:30am till about 1:00pm.

Please RSVP to either Sarah Oelker at soelker @ mtholyoke.edu or Joe at joseph.kraus @ du.edu

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http://bit.ly/jEQRvX (Google Map to the Restaurant)

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The Sci-Tech Division Open House will be at the “Field House” on Monday evening, June 13th from 6-8pm. We will have a semi-private area on the first floor for the reception. We should have a great time there. It is about a block south of the Convention Center.

Field House, 1150 Filbert St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

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They note that they “are attached to the PA Convention Center and the Downtown Marriott, which is the primary hotel headquarters for each convention that visits us here in Philadelphia. With our affordable and upscale pub menu, we create customized contracts that allow you, as vendors and visitors, the experience you want and deserve. Sure, a booth inside the convention will get your company name out there, but an exclusive party with our cocktails and hors d’oeuvres would not only validate what your company sought out to do, but reinforce your company name and image to all convention visitors.”

If you want to sponsor this Open House, please let me know at joseph.kraus@du.edu.

I am looking forward to attending the Sci-Tech Division Contributed Papers that will be presented at the “Data: The Next Generation” session. It will be on Wednesday, June 15th from Noon till 1:30pm. Light snacks and beverages will be served.

Abstract: Peer-reviewed contributed papers will be presented on the topic of data curation. The four papers are: “ChemSpider: Hosting, Linking and Curating Chemistry Data for the Community” by Valery Tkachenko, CTO ChemSpider; “Starting from Scratch: Assessing the Library’s Role in Data Management on Campus” (PDF) by Christie Peters, Robin Dasler, and Anita Riley from the University of Houston; “Planning for Data Curation in the Small Liberal Arts College Environment” (PDF) by Sarah Goldstein and Sarah Oelker, Mount Holyoke College; and “Data Management Plan Advising? A New Business Venture for Libraries” (PDF) by Andrew Sallans, University of Virginia.

Speakers: Robin Dasler University of Houston Science & Math Librarian; Sarah Goldstein Mount Holyoke College Library Head of Digital Assets and Preservation; Sarah Oelker Mount Holyoke College Science Librarian; Christie Peters University of Houston Chemistry Librarian; Anita Riley Digital and Web Projects Fellow University of Houston; Andrew Sallans University of Virginia Head of Strategic Data Initiatives; Valery Tkachenko RSC Publishing VP Strategic Development – ChemSpider

“Data curation is the active and on-going management of data through its lifecycle of interest and usefulness to scholarly and educational activities across the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Data curation activities enable data discovery and retrieval, maintain data quality, add value, and provide for re-use over time. This new field includes representation, archiving, authentication, management, preservation, retrieval, and use. (GSLIS-UIUC)”

There is a growing demand by taxpayers, funding agencies, researchers and major scientific journal publishers for access to data being produced during scientific inquiry. Patrons need access to digital data, information about data management plans, data curation, and more. Data curation is creating new roles, opportunities, and challenges for libraries. We are looking for papers that speak to the current and future impacts of data curation on library collection development, service models, instruction, policies, infrastructure (e.g. personnel, financial, technological), etc. How are you engaging researchers and colleagues? How are you educating yourself and others about opportunities? Do you have active programs managing, evaluating, or archiving data?