Microsoft, libraries and open source

<!--HTML--><p>We are finally starting to see the early signs of transformation in<br />scholarly publishing. The innovations we've been expecting for years are<br />slowly being adopted, but we can also expect the pace of change to<br />accelerate in the coming 3 to 5 years. At the same time, many of rituals<br />and artifacts of the scholarly communication lifecycle are still rooted in<br />a centuries-old model.&nbsp; What are the primary goals of scholarly<br />communication, and what will be the future role of librarians in that<br />cycle?&nbsp; What are the obstacles in information flow (many of our own<br />design) that can be removed?</p><p>Is the library profession moving fast enough to stay ahead of the curve...<br />or are we ever going to be struggling to keep up? With the advent of the<br />data deluge, all-XML workflows, the semantic Web, cloud services<br />and increasingly intelligent mobile devices - what are the implications<br />for libraries, archivists, publishers, scholarly societies as well as<br />individual researchers and scholars? The opportunities are many - but<br />capitalizing on this ever-evolving landscape will require significant<br />changes to our field, changes that we are not currently well-positioned to<br />enact. This talk will map the current scholarly communication landscape -<br />highlighting recent exciting developments, and will focus on the<br />repercussions and some specific recommendations for the broader field of<br />information management.</p><p>About the speaker:</p><p>Alex Wade is the Director for Scholarly Communication within Microsoft's<br />External Research division, where he oversees several projects related to<br />researcher productivity tools, semantic information capture, and the<br />interoperability of information systems. Alex holds a Bachelor's degree in<br />Philosophy from U.C. Berkeley, and a Masters of Librarianship degree from<br />the University of Washington.</p><p>During his career at Microsoft, Alex has managed the corporate search and<br />taxonomy management services; has shipped a SharePoint-based document and<br />workflow management solution for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance; and served as<br />Senior Program Manager for Windows Search in Windows Vista and Windows 7.<br />Prior to joining Microsoft, Alex held Systems Librarian, Engineering<br />Librarian, Philosophy Librarian, and technical library positions at the<br />University of Washington, the University of Michigan, and U.C. Berkeley.</p><p>Web: <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/awade/">http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/awade/</a><br />&nbsp;</p>