Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Date:         Wed, 30 Sep 1992 16:22:56 CDT
From:         Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      Conference Notification

Moderator's Note:  This notice was received September 29, 2:20 CDT.
*-----

From:    Susan Siegfried                      <ENQ91SS@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Conference on Scholarship and Electronic Information

     SCHOLARSHIP AND ELECTRONIC INFORMATION: WHAT DOES THE FUTURE
             HOLD FOR THE HUMANITIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION?

          National Forum on Information Technology Considers
            Strategies for Collaboration In the Humanities
     Irvine, Calif.--

          *    Is computer technology a powerful force for
               democratizing education, or fundamentally elitist?

          *    Will classrooms, libraries, and universities as we know
               them become obsolete?

          *    Will the computer industry, university administrators,
               scientists, and/or humanists make future decisions about
               technology in higher education?

     These are among the critical questions to be explored at
"Technology, Scholarship, and the Humanities: The Implications of
Electronic Information," a national forum organized by the Getty Art
History Information Program and the American Council of Learned
Societies, and co-sponsored by the Coalition for Networked Information,
the Council on Library Resources, and The Research Libraries Group.
The conference convenes on Wednesday, September 30, and continues
through Friday, October 2, at the Mabel and Arnold Beckman Center of
the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering in Irvine,
California.  More than 60 scholars, museum directors, information
specialists, librarians, archivists, university administrators, and
leaders of professional organizations and foundations will address
current trends in information technology at a national policy level.

     Facing an information explosion occurring at exponential rates, a
30-year low in state and federal support for higher education, and an
information technology system driven by the sciences and the computing
professions, supporters of the humanities are confronted with hard
choices.  They recognize that advances in electronic information have
the potential to expand research and teaching opportunities, but may
also result in sharp cuts in current programs, a low priority given to
humanities scholarship, and reduced access to education for lower-
income students.

     Conference participants will break into working groups to explore
the future of information technology and the humanities in five
principal areas: intellectual pursuits; academic professional
implications; sociology of knowledge; institutional policies; and
national cooperation and policy-making.  They will respond to
challenging and insightful position papers that, among other
suggestions, call for a national system for cooperative collection
development and greater involvement of humanities scholars in key
decision-making bodies.  Each group will develop its own
recommendations for future action.  In the final plenary sessions
scheduled for October 2, these policy proposals will be considered for
adoption by the assembly.

     The keynote speaker will be Dr. Vartan Gregorian, President of
Brown University, former President of the New York Public Library and
an internationally respected leader in information automation and
liberal arts education.  Described by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. as a man
with the "talents of a missionary and a showman," Dr. Gregorian
directed the computerization of one of the largest card catalogs in the
world and a $400 million facilities restoration during his tenure with
the New York Public Library.  He currently presides over one of the
nation's most prestigious Ivy League universities and the only one
without a standard "core curriculum."

     According to Michael Ester, Director of the Getty Art History
Information Program, and a conference sponsor, "Technology is by no
means a neutral force.  The electronic medium can as easily inhibit as
it can vastly extend the reach of research, by the kinds of information
that are automated and by the access and use that are possible.  This
conference brings together representatives from major segments of the
academic community--scholars, managers of the information scholars use,
experts in technology, and those responsible for leading institutions
of learning into the next century.  Their ability to interpret the
impact of technology, and their specific recommendations for how to
respond collectively to its opportunities and challenges, will offer
valuable guidance for shaping national policies on the future academic
environment."

     The five distinguished authors of the papers prepared in advance
for the working groups are: Oleg Grabar, Professor, School of
Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, who has
written about "The Intellectual Implications of Electronic
Information"; Carolyn Lougee, Senior Associate Dean of the School of
Humanities and Sciences and Professor of History, Stanford University,
who has addressed "The Professional Implications of Electronic
Information"; Richard Lanham, Professor of English, University of
California, Los Angeles, who has explored "The Implications of
Electronic Information for the Sociology of Knowledge"; William Y.
Arms, Vice President for Computing Services, Carnegie-Mellon
University, who has considered "The Institutional Implications of
Electronic Information"; and Lawrence Dowler, Associate Librarian for
Public Services, Widener Library, Harvard University, who has written
about "The Implications of Electronic Information for National
Institutions."

     "This is a moment of crucial opportunity for humanities scholars.
Intellectual movements are tending to eliminate the barriers between
traditional academic disciplines, a development being reinforced by the
fundamental technological transformations that libraries are
undergoing," explains Stanley Katz, President of the American Council
of Learned Societies, and a conference sponsor.  "We see both the
potential for increasing interdisciplinary studies and innovative
teaching, and the risks for the liberal arts curriculum and for
scholars and students needing access to information.  We hope this
conference will consider national strategies to ensure that the
humanities are represented along with the sciences in the creation of
national technology standards, to provide adequate funding for
humanities scholarship, and to involve scholars in decisions resulting
from the changes technology is making on teaching, tenure, and
knowledge itself."

     Later this fall, a brochure announcing the main results of the
conference will be widely distributed to the academic, technological,
and institutional communities addressed through the conference.  A
summary and proceedings of the conference and its recommendations will
be published by the conference sponsors in 1993, in both conventional
and electronic form.  It is hoped that the document will serve as the
basis of programmatic planning for the future.   To request copies of
the brochure and of the summary and proceedings and for additional
information, please contact Susan Siegfried, the Getty Art History
Information Program, 401 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1100, Santa Monica,
CA 90401-1455, (310) 451-6366 or, by fax, (310) 451-5570.
                         CONFERENCE SPONSORS

Michael Ester
Director
The Getty Art History Information Program
401 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1100
Santa Monica, California 90401-1455
(310) 395-1025
(310) 451-4470 fax
E-Mail ADDRESS internet: enq94me@mvs.oac.ucla.edu
               bitnet: enq94me@uclamvs

Stanley Katz
President
American Council of Learned Societies
228 East 45th Street
New York, NY 10017-3398
(212) 697-1505
(212) 949-8058 fax
E-MAIL ADDRESS: snkatz@pucc.princeton.edu

W. David Penniman
President
Council on Library Resources
1785 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Suite 313
Washington, D.C. 20036-2117
(202) 483-7474
(202) 483-6410 fax
E-MAIL ADDRESS: bitnet: penniman@gwuvm

Paul Evan Peters
Director
Coalition for Networked Information
1527 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 232-2466
(202) 462-7849 fax
E-MAIL ADDRESS: paul@cni.org

John Haeger
Vice President for Programs and Planning
The Research Libraries Group, Inc.
1200 Villa Street
Mountain View, CA 94041-1100
(415) 962-9951
(415) 964-0943 fax
E-MAIL ADDRESS: bl.jwh@rlg.bitnet
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