Immediate Past President’s Message
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core.
(John Keats, To Autumn)
It is hard to believe that a year has passed since I began my term as ASIS&T President, and that this is my final column of the year. How time flies!
Looking back over the past year, we have accomplished a great deal.
ASIS&T Events
We launched the ASIS&T President’s Lecture, a new highly anticipated event in the ASIS&T diary. For this inaugural event, Professor R. David Lankes, Virginia and Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship at the University of Texas at Austin, explored the future of information science in the new world of artificial intelligence (AI). His talk, Demons, Determinism, and Divining the Future of Information Science importantly reminded us that our human input is ever critical in the face of new technologies. The President’s Lecture will return next year to explore another new area that promises to have a significant impact on the field of information science.
Continuing ASIS&T’s exploration of new ideas and research, the popular 2024 IDEA Institute took place in the spring, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI). The event comprised a one week compressed development program spanning multiple topics of relevance to library and information professionals. We look forward to the next exciting topic the IDEA Institute will examine next year.
There have been many events throughout the year, among these Welcome Wednesdays for new members, webinars on a range of topics, and a multitude of Chapter and SIG events. These events attest to the dedication of our membership to the advancement of research, teaching, and professional development in the ASIS&T community, and contribute to solidifying relationships with other societies.
The highlight of the year, our 87th Annual Meeting, took place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada this year. The theme of this year’s conference was Putting People First: Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Care in Information Research and Practice. Our Annual Meeting continues to evolve, this year including a greater focus on educational research. This significant area of research offers an opportunity to consider how we can bring together all of our research for greater impact on learning processes and to help students find professional as well as academic pathways through our highly interdisciplinary field.
Additionally, we have sought to increase the involvement of our professional colleagues in our ASIS&T community. These people are central to the daily work that takes place in libraries and information centres around the world, regardless of world events. We can learn much through their expertise, research, and experience.
I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our award winners, whose contributions have been celebrated on our ASIS&T website and at our Annual Meeting. Your excellence offers inspiration for everyone in the ASIS&T community.
ASIS&T Board Work
I am grateful to have had so many energetic and brilliant people to work alongside this year. Our ASIS&T Executive Board and Board met several times throughout the year, as well as face-to-face for an annual retreat, this year at Dublin, Ireland. The Board has spent the year strategizing to maintain and increase the organisation’s success, brainstorming for future projects and events, and evaluating processes and approaches to challenges and the current long term plan of the Association. I appreciate the dedication of each of our Board members and their collective support and dedication to ASIS&T as we collaborated to develop and promote our Association.
Importantly, we have welcomed an association management company, Global Management Partners to ASIS&T. GMP will support ASIS&T’s day-to-day functions, as well as help the Association to reach wider growth in the coming year.
ASIS&T Headquarters has officially become virtual. Approximately 12 months ago, our HQ team moved out of a 3500 square foot space, saving the Association significant costs for office space. The ASIS&T Archives is now fully housed at the University of Michigan.
Thank you!
There are so many people to thank for a great year in the Association.
Huge thanks go to Lydia Middleton for her dedication to the Association and endless enthusiasm for everything ASIS&T.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Cathy Nash and Pamela Yonker for their years of service, as well as Garreth Doherty whose ongoing work on JASIS&T is much appreciated.
Our Board deserves an enormous round of thanks for its work on a range of initiatives, which benefit our membership.
Thanks go to our Annual Meeting Progragramme Chairs, and to all of you who have reviewed submissions, chaired sessions, and delivered content at our Annual Meeting. We also thank our SIG and Chapter leaders who have hosted receptions, offered workshops, and also found time to run business meetings and plan for next year. Special thanks go to our members who have provided us with inspiration through webinars, talks, launches, and other activities throughout the year. Your contributions make ASIS&T the community and home for our membership.
This has truly been a year of new initiatives and change in the Association. I look forward to seeing further development and engagement in and by ASIS&T in coming years.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too.
(John Keats, To Autumn)