The OCLC EMEA Regional Council Executive Committee has announced the programme for its third Regional Meeting which will take place on February 28 -29, 2012, in Birmingham, UK. The programme has been extended to two full days to accommodate an agenda that will see speakers from Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the US discussing a vision for the future library.
The theme of the meeting - Developing a New Blend of Library - draws its inspiration, in no small part, to its location, Birmingham. The city is soon to be the site of Europe's largest city centre public lending library, when the Library of Birmingham opens its doors in 2013. The opening keynote for the event will be Francine Houben, architect and visionary for the new library, and Brian Gambles, Chief Executive of the Library of Birmingham Development Trust.
Robin Green, Deputy Librarian, University of Warwick, is the current Chair of OCLC EMEA Regional Council. As in previous years, the meeting will be attended by OCLC's Strategic Leadership Team. It is seen to provide a valuable opportunity for them to meet with and listen to the views of members from the region. This year will reportedly be of special significance as it will be the last EMEA Regional Council Meeting that Jay Jordan, President and CEO of OCLC, will present to before his retirement in June 2012. Jordan will be sharing a platform with Eric van Lubeek, Managing Director of OCLC EMEA, and Robin Murray, Vice-President, Global Product Management.
Other highlights of the meeting will be a Plenary session led by Lorcan Dempsey asking "What Business Are We In?", with sessions on collaborative research projects from David White of Oxford University and Alison Cullingford, RLUK's Unique and Distinctive Collections Project Manager.
The closing keynote will be from Pelle Snickars of the National Library of Sweden. In what is said to be a provocative and engaging conclusion to the meeting, "The Future of Media" will ask us to contemplate what visionaries like Steve Jobs would have envisaged for libraries had they diverted their career paths, and chosen to start all over in the library sector.
The meeting is open to all libraries and cultural institutions.
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