This is long past due, but thank you to everyone who attended our 35th anniversary conference in October! I would like to give a special thank you to our presenters, including our keynote speaker Bohyun Kim, and the IOLUG past presidents in attendance. We ventured to a new site for the conference – the Indianapolis Propylaeum – and it was quite possibly the prettiest venue for any professional conference I’ve attended.
During the fall business meeting, I officially unveiled our new logo, which is a combination of two designs that were submitted during our 2016 logo design contest. I also reported that the board approved a speaker presentation policy that would allow IOLUG to display or re-use presentation materials within the IOLUG Archives. This is a non-exclusive license, and the policy does not transfer any copyright or intellectual rights to IOLUG; the contributor retains all rights, title, copyright, and other interest in the material. We are still ironing out the procedures to collect and deposit presentation materials within our Archives.
At the business meeting, I also stated that, after the fall conference, I would devote more attention toward achieving our strategic objectives. I am pleased to share our progress on our first strategic priority, which is to broaden IOLUG’s reach. Since October, I have discussed partnership opportunities with amazing colleagues at MCLS and ILF. IOLUG is now exploring joint professional development activities with the MCLS Linked Data Users Group and ILF Regional Conferences. The IOLUG board recognized that there are a lot of outstanding professional learning opportunities in our area, but there is unfortunately never enough time to attend all of them. By partnering with fellow organizations, we hope to ensure the technology-rich sessions you have experienced with IOLUG are even more widespread.
With that said, another reason why we are exploring partnership opportunities is because the IOLUG board voted not to hold a spring conference in 2018. Unfortunately, our Program Committee Chair had to step down in late 2017, and we have not yet been able to fill his role. We are also currently short a President-elect. Given these two vital vacancies on our board of officers, we felt it best to call off plans for a spring conference. We still plan to hold a spring business meeting, since we need your input on our slate of officers. This will most likely be an online meeting sometime in May, which will hopefully make it easier for all of you to attend.
Rest assured, the IOLUG board remains committed to enhancing your awareness and knowledge of professional trends and technologies. We will keep you informed on our activities during upcoming Linked Data Users Group and ILF events, and in the meantime, we plan to further develop our communication channels (another strategic priority!) to keep you abreast of developments in our field. Keep an eye out for updates on our Facebook page, as well as our upcoming relaunch of the IOLUG Twitter page!
Thank you for your involvement in IOLUG! Please don’t hesitate to contact me or any board member with comments or ideas – and especially if you’re interested in either of our vacant board positions!
Angie Pusnik
President, IOLUG
Associate Librarian
Digital User Experience Librarian
Indiana University Kokomo