The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency that supports museums and libraries, has awarded the University of Illinois at Chicago Library $123,561 to co-host its annual Web-Wise Conference in Chicago next spring.
The UIC Library grant was announced in July under the federal agency's National Leadership Grants program, which supports model projects that enhance library and museum services.
The conference will address broad issues related to technological applications that enhance library and museum services. Approximately 300 developers of digital libraries, museum and library professionals, and policy makers are expected to attend the conference. Papers from previous IMLS Web-Wise conferences are available in the online journal First Monday; selected papers from the 2003 conference are available at: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_5/.
"We look forward to working with the Institute on the Web Wise conference in 2004," said Nancy John, UIC's interim librarian who is responsible for management of the UIC University Library and the project's principal investigator. "Technology plays an important role in helping us meet the needs of students, faculty and other patrons. Our technology-based partnerships with local Chicago museums -- notably the Field Museum, the Chicago Botanic Garden and, of course, the UIC Hull-House Museum -- are making unique primary research materials available to the UIC community at their desktops."
"At IMLS, we have a strong conviction that the primary characteristic museums and libraries hold in common is that both are social agencies that support public education," said Robert Martin, Director of the IMLS. "Fueled by technological changes at an unprecedented rate, libraries, museums and archives are collaborating, sharing digital resources, as a valuable tool to carry out that central work. At IMLS we are proud of what we contribute to fostering the growth of the collaborative spirit. This is a learning age--a knowledge age like none other in the past. The public must have access to information and learning and we are committed to making that happen."
