Preliminary Conference Agenda

Our Tuesday Plenary includes recognizing the winner of the 2019 iSchools Doctoral Dissertation Award, presentation of the Best Short Research Paper Award, a preview of iConference 2020 in Borås, Sweden, and keynote address by Brewster Kahle, Digital Librarian and Founder of the Internet Archive. 

Kahle's keynote abstract: Today, a growing majority of people get their information online—often filtered through for-profit platforms. For many, if a book isn’t online, it’s as if it doesn’t exist. Yet much of modern knowledge still lives only on the printed page, stored in libraries. Libraries haven’t met this digital demand, stymied by costs, ebook restrictions, policy risks, and missing infrastructure.

But now, through innovations in technology and new legal frameworks, we have the power to transform our library system and bring it into the digital age. The Internet Archive’s Open Libraries project is working with library partners across the country to bring 4 million books online, starting with a wishlist of the most widely held and used books in libraries and classrooms.

Our project includes expanded circulation of these digital books, enabling libraries who own the physical works to lend digital copies to their patrons.Through Open Libraries, thousands of libraries can unlock their analog collections for a new generation of learners, ensuring free, long-term, public access to knowledge.