OCLC Web Services at LITA National Forum

If you're lucky enough to be in Salt Lake City today, chances are you're at the LITA National Forum 2009. I wanted to highlight a couple of sessions that might be of interest to you, as a member of the OCLC Developer Network. Our own Bruce Washburn and CIndy Cunningham will be there, along with a host of other good speakers: Session Today Friday, Oct. 2, 4:20-5:30 pm, Alpine West, Hilton Salt Lake City Center Putting your Library on a Mobile Phone--It's More than Screen Size Cindy Cunningham (OCLC) Offering library-based information in a mobile environment is not about exporting your OPAC onto a mobile phone, and there is much more to the user experience than screen real estate. Learn about what mobile library access is really about and how to create an optimal user experience. (Note that Cindy will also be showing the WorldCat Mobile pilot, which is powered by the WorldCat Search API and the WorldCat Registry. Session Tomorrow Saturday, Oct. 3, 10:50 a.m. - noon, Alpine West, Hilton Salt Lake City Center Real Life Experiences with Library APIs Bruce Washburn (OCLC), Karen A. Coombs (University of Houston) Have you wondered just what an API is, and what it would mean to use one? Are you thinking of investing effort into building new systems that rely on APIs, or enhancing an existing service with API-provided data? Bruce Washburn will describe the APIs offered by OCLC, and how these are built to support production-level services, global availability, new markets, and web scale activity. Then, Karen Coombs of the University of Houston will discuss the evolution of the Library's use of APIs offered by OCLC in combination with other APIs and the role these currently play in extending information access for the UH community. Slides for both presentations are out on the LITA site on ALAConnect. Look forward to seeing you there!