Keynote speakers announced for OCLC's First EMEA Regional Council Meeting

LEIDEN, Netherlands 11 January 2010—The programme for OCLC’s first Regional Council Meeting in Europe, Middle East and Africa has been announced.

In the Opening Session entitled “Cloud Computing, what is it and what are its impacts for libraries”, the Keynote will be given by Jan Aleman, CEO of Servoy and a distinguished global thought leader on Cloud Computing. As secretary of EuroCloud (www.eurocloud.org), he has been a disruptive technology visionary at the forefront of the cloud revolution in computing. He is also a published author and commentator as well as guest and keynote speaker at many conferences worldwide. The meeting opens on 24 February 2010 in Leiden, Netherlands and takes place over two days.

Cloud computing is one of the key themes of the Meeting. “A great deal of interest has been expressed by our library members in understanding more about the benefits that cloud computing can bring, “ explained Mr Berndt Dugall, Chair, EMEA Regional Council Executive Committee. “Mr Aleman’s insight in this area will be tremendously valuable”. The opening session will also see a presentation by Matt Goldner, OCLC’s Product and Technology Advocate. In a presentation, entitled “The future of library management on the web”, Matt Goldner will look more deeply at the question of what we can expect from a shift in library workflows to the web, in the light of OCLC’s announcement last year that they are developing the first cooperative Web-scale management service.

In addition, the Meeting will provide the backdrop for a conversation with OCLC’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Jay Jordan. Alongside members of OCLC’s Strategic Leadership Team, the audience will have the opportunity to hear about OCLC perspectives on the library domain in Europe, Middle East and Africa. The first Meeting will also include a lively session from The Shanachies. Jaap van de Geer and Erik Boekesteijn, from the world-renowned DOK, the library concept centre in Delft, who have travelled the world collecting stories to help libraries to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Places are still available to attend the Conference. If you are interested in registering for the event, please visit: http://www.oclc.org/councils/emea/meetings/2010annual/default.htm

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