Today I’m attending my first academic conference, the 2009 Digitization Symposium, hosted by the Califa Library Group. Most of the other attendees here are library professionals, but the conference sounds interesting and it is local–and cheap. So I hauled my bike on to Caltrain and headed for the SF Public Library.

The first thing I realized when I arrived at the library (located at Larkin and Grove) this morning was that my bike was loaded with items that were vulnerable to theft. My light, my saddle bag, my water bottle, my rear fender. Even my top tube padding. Ugh. I stuffed what I could into my messenger bag and headed inside, make it just in time for the free breakfast (bagels and coffee). Much to my delight, a stock of Peet’s coffee was on hand. I filled my mug and did a little bit of people-watching (the event drew about 100 people) before heading in the auditorium to catch the keynote.

Califa Symposium

The symposium began with a keynote by Trudy Levy, who provided a broad overview of the issues and processes associated with digitization of print media. Very interesting to note the crossover between graphic design and library sciences, and having a background in Photoshop helped me follow along. Also interesting to note the single-minded focus on image scanning–no mention of transcription of text, or digitization of analog (taped) video sources. Left me wondering if the field is serving this need, or if there is opportunity for field research and experiments.

The next keynote was given by the illustrious Brewster Kahle, who presented on digitally born materials and librarianship of digital materials. Kahle’s presentation, no doubt drawing on years of experience and advocacy, was expansive, pragmatic, and inspiring.  His message to the audience was simple: just do it. If you’ve got media, digitize it! Your movies, your audio recordings, your books, anything you’ve got that can be consumed digitally (and by extension, over the Internet).

Kahle Does Califa

Kahle did the requisite amount of name-dropping to add weight to his words. YouTube. The Internet Archive. The WayBack Machine, and spoke at length about new project he’s involved in called the Open Library. The most interesting and (gasp) controversial moment came during a discussion of Google Books and ownership over digitized media, which led to a testy aside about a controversial policy change proposed by the OCLC that Kahle claimed would give them “ownership” over user-contributed card catalogs. He went as far as to advocate that people go retrieve as much data as possible from the OCLC before the policy change took place. Clearly, Kahle is in the same philisophical camp as Stewart Brand and Richard Stallman when it comes to information.

This drama played out later in the conference during a panel discussion, when Christine Guenther acknowledged the “OCLC target” on her back, but she quickly pleaded non-involvement before diving into a dry and highly technical presentation on digitization of historical newspaper records, providing an in-depth look at common issues that arise in the process (uneven lighting, acetate vs. polyester, scanning from film vs. paper, etc.). After I woked up, it dawned on me that Technical Detail is an excellent avoidance mechanism when faced with political controversy.

After the panel discussion ended, we took a lunch break and then broke up into a series of two breakout sessions. It was only at this point that I noticed Trudy Levi’s FUSIA hair! “Hair color is like clothing,” she said, “it’s meant to be changed periodically.”

Suddenly I felt a lot more at home, among friends.