EMEA Regional Council
Annual Meeting—2013
Strasbourg, France
On 26 and 27 February 2013 OCLC's Europe, Middle East and Africa Regional Council (EMEARC) will hold its Member Meeting in the Palais des Congrès, Strasbourg, France.
This is EMEARC's fourth Member Meeting, the first three having been held in the Netherlands, Germany, and most recently in the United Kingdom. Year on year, each has attracted more and more participants from throughout the Region, who come together to hear about and discuss cutting edge developments and technology, relevant to library services.
The next meeting, entitled Dynamic Data: a world of possibilities, will guide us through the rapid evolutions of data management and explore the agendas that are driving the revolution in technology. Sessions such as The Power of Shared Data, Linked Data and Innovating with Data will present a broad spectrum of opportunities for libraries to innovate their services. Renowned keynote speakers such as Jean-Baptiste Michel (Harvard, Fellow), Marie-Christine Doffey (Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek) and Richard Wallis (Technology Evangelist at OCLC) will lead the discussions. As always, a range of pre-conference member sessions are offered, facilitated by OCLC staff. This year, topics include Linked Data, WorldShare Management Services, the OCLC Research Library Partnership and the Future Directions for Metadata. We also invite Members to take an active part in the meeting by hosting a Poster Session on innovations in data visualisation and management.
The importance of our annual Regional Meeting is that it provides a chance for OCLC Members and others across the EMEA Region to come together. This is a wonderful opportunity: let’s not forget that the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, one of three Regions in the OCLC global cooperative, includes around 2000 Member institutions and 7000 organisations using OCLC services!
The Regional Meeting gives this rich and diverse community the opportunity to exchange views and experiences, to broaden our perspectives, and even to identify unexpected partners with shared interests to undertake joint activity. For me, these are the key objectives of the EMEA and other Regional Councils. The Meeting plays an important role for the EMEA Regional Council representing the Region within OCLC’s Global Council and to advise OCLC on strategic and service developments that will support our Members.
Our theme for this year’s activity within the EMEA Regional Council is ‘Building a Strong Community’. It expresses the continuing need to enhance awareness within the EMEA community of Members in order to build a strong identity with considerable influence for the EMEA Regional Council (EMEARC) within the OCLC Cooperative through its governance structure.
We hope you will join us in Strasbourg and that you will be encouraged to engage in other ways with your Regional Council!
—Anja Smit, Chair, OCLC EMEA Regional Council