Report from the Information without Borders Conference
submitted by Katharine Hall
I was lucky enough to win free registration from APLA to the Information without Borders Conference held by the School of Information Management on February 23 at Dalhousie University. While I found much that was interesting at the conference, here are some highlights:
Opening Speaker: Dr. B.T. Boadway – ICAP: A Tool for Quantifying the Health and Economic Costs of Air Pollution - The morning opened with the speaker, Dr. Boadway, one of the developers of the Illness Cost of Air Pollution (ICAP) program. The ICAP program combines different data from the census, air quality measures and admissions statistics from the Canadian Institute for Hospital Information to estimate the health care costs of diseases caused by air pollution. The program was released on a Web-based Open Source model so that it may be downloaded and used for specific geographic locations and other inquiry subsets. By making ICAP open source, the program has reached a much wider user group than originally anticipated. ICAP has been used by government, community groups, medical health offices, environmental groups, students and universities. Boadway concluded that due to this open access program, the nature of policy and environmental debate has been changed.
Morning Panel Discussion: Information Technologies and Professionals - The panel featured librarians from different fields, including legal, health informatics, and public, who discussed the effect information technologies has had on their work. Legal librarian Kate Greene Stanhope stated that while new information technologies allow for increased flexibility to work from various locations, it comes with greater user expectations, which can be challenging. Particularly challenging is the assumption that, as everything is available freely online, what is the function of the librarian? Grace Patterson discussed the promise and pitfalls of Electronic Medical Records and Drug Information Systems, e.g., e-prescriptions, which allow for easier interface between different communities of practice. Kelli WooShue from the Halifax Public Libraries discussed how information technologies have transformed how the public library can operate in terms of equitable access, civic space, collection development and user service.
Afternoon Panel Discussion: Geographic Information Systems Applications - This panel featured two speakers from private companies, including Paul Boudreau from the Coastal and Ocean Information Network Atlantic as well as Rebecca Bartlett of the Parrsboro School Board. The panelists provided an overview of how GIS functions in the public health and business fields. Also demonstrated was a device for tracking ocean conditions. Bartlett presented a specific case study in which she used GIS as a method to inform a collections decision at a public library branch. She effectively demonstrated that GIS can be used for other investigations, e.g., patron analysis or branch location planning.
Keynote Speaker: Mark Leggott – Building a Library Transmogrifier: Technology and Change –Mark Legott, University of Prince Edward Island Librarian, advocated the adoption of open source integrated library systems and promoted the use of technology to change organizational structure. In his view, pre-existing hierarchical structures are of little benefit to libraries and libraries ought not to be afraid of change, which should be more proactively pursued. Adopting open source is not a way to save money, he stated, but rather a way to spend it more wisely.
