COMO COLUMBUS

What was different about COMO in Columbus? Without a beach or a bustling university around, the uniqueness of Columbus appears more subtle.  Before noticing the many well preserved houses, I saw folks in wheelchairs wheeling about the streets.  The pavements near the convention center were broad but not bustling.  Walking was pleasant.  Broadway in particular offers many sights, sounds and aromas from the shops and restaurants.  Several eateries offers open air dining.

Inside, the Columbus Ironworks Convention Center provided a spacious and self-contained building for all the activities from meeting rooms large and small, banquet rooms, open areas for the Hubbard Raffle tables, the vendors,  and the authors, as well as the auditorium for the general sessions. Evidence of the old ironworks fittings and fixtures is everywhere.

And the presentations - What to pick?  What to catch part of? Here are thoughts on some of the sessions that I attended.

The Georgia Virtual School offers flexibility for the Georgia high school.  For example, students with a niche need not covered by their school in a particular semester.  Or, for students who need to finish up their high school requirements.  Many of the offerings are advanced placement.  This online education is available to all students in Georgia.  For more information, visit http://www.gavirtualschool.org/ .

Weblogs and RSS feeds are a current method to overstuff your content in-basket.  The technology makes targeted news and content feeds extremely efficient.  But does one have the time to take it all in?  Presentation details are available at    http://www.gpc.edu/~dfree/comoblogs.htm .

More changes in store for Galileo.  At it's 10th birthday, Galileo is bracing for another change that will allow users to access specific journal articles and other content more easily.  Via  the SFX linking solution, Galileo provides the user with a quicker path to their requested content.  The next step, federated searching, is the current Galileo focus towards improving beyond SFX.  Detail on Galileo's efforts to improve searching is found at the Galileo newsletter,  http://www.usg.edu/galileo/planet/sum05/ .

Many details great and small surfaced at a presentation on the expansion of the ISBN to 13 characters.  This expansion to 13 characters allows for more ISBNs (we're running out of 10 digits).  Also, the ISBN will become more integrated into international product numbering standards.  Several online aids are available on this topic, including an effort by the folks at Wiley Publishing: (Not for dummies only) http://www.bisg.org/isbn-13/ISBN13_For_Dummies.pdf .

The Georgia Student Media Festival showcases our state's student talent with projects of sight, sound and technology.  This effort is inclusive on several levels - it's a K-12 invitational, it embraces many technologies, it invites students from public, private, and home schools, and public broadcasting hosts the final judging event.  For more information, visit   http://www.gpb.org/public/education/features/mediafestival.jsp .

The vendors floor had it's usual cast of entrepreneurs and industry professionals.  For those with room in their budget, plenty was available.  As always, it was a great opportunity to visit with reps and re-supply the reference desk with free pens without really planning to.  One crowd pleaser was a  colorful tubed finger doodle toy available from the folks at the Proquest booth.  (photo is coming!)  

The folks at the Georgia Perimeter College booth were happily announcing that their LIST Program (Library & Information Science Technology) is now approved by the powers that be.  The first class in this associate degree and certificate program will be offered in January, 2006.  More detail is available at http://www.gpc.edu/~dunlib/LIST/ .

The Hubbard Scholarship Raffle had a new method at the drawing for winners.  All the raffle items were lined up in the auditorium.  As each item was presented (with various degrees of presentation aplomb) to the audience, the winning ticket was drawn and announced from the stage.  For more information about the Hubbard Scholarship program, visit http://gla.georgialibraries.org/scholarship.htm .

COMO presenters and committee persons whose work I recognized include  Paula Galland, David Free, Jennifer Link, the Galileo Development staff, Ann-Marie Breaux, Bill Walsh, Michelle Lenderman, Ann Grantham, Steve Koplan, and Liz Bagley and the GLA Scholarship Committee (most ably assisted by Casey Long And Claudia Dale).  

Thanks to Cawood Cornelius and the COMO XVI Steering Committee for their work.  COMO XVI was held October 12 - 14, 2005.  The COMO 2005 website is http://gla.georgialibraries.org/events_COMO_2005_index.htm .

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