March 18, 2008, Lewisburg, PA -- Bucknell University's Library & Technology Division is pleased to issue this Call for Proposals for the first Mid-Atlantic Digital Library Conference. The conference goal is to bring together librarians and technologists from a wide range of cultural heritage institutions such as colleges and universities, libraries, museums, historical societies, and art galleries, who are interested in providing digital access to their collections. The conference seeks to support this community through a mix of speakers, contributed papers and posters, workshops, and engaging discussion.

Audience
Librarians, technologists, and other information professionals with responsibility for or an interest in digitization projects, metadata, and digital library systems. Sessions will range in scope and depth. Some sessions will be appropriate for those with no prior knowledge in the field, while others will be more technical in nature.

Conference Topics
Conference presentations are sought in all areas related to digital libraries, including the following:

Case studies
Collaborative projects
Digital content for teaching (K-12)
Digital content for teaching (higher education)
Digital images
Digital library systems and architecture
Digital projects -- archives and historical societies
Digital projects -- museums and art galleries
Digital projects -- public libraries Digital projects -- special libraries
Digitizing art collections and other rare/fragile materials
Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
Getting started with digitization projects
Grant-funded projects
Metadata
Working with faculty
Working with students
Working with IT staff

We encourage proposals targeted at all levels of experience (introductory, intermediate, and advanced) and a wide range of audiences (academic librarians, public librarians, special/corporate librarians, archivists, museum curators, digital library technologists, library administrators, library/information science graduate students).

The program committee hopes to have several tracks to accommodate a wide range of topics, experience levels, and audiences.

Presentation Formats
Proposals are invited for a variety of formats: lecture-style presentations, panel discussions, and posters.

Submitting a Proposal
Email proposals to dig@bucknell.edu. Proposals must include the following information:

Proposed session title
One- to two-paragraph abstract
Name(s) and contact information for all presenters
Type of session being proposed (lecture-style presentation, panel discussion, or poster)
For lecture-style presentations: level of experience (introductory, intermediate, or advanced)

Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Notification to proposal authors is expected to occur by early May.

Feel free to contact Bucknell University's Digital Initiatives Group [dig@bucknell.edu] if you have questions or proposal ideas you would like to discuss before submitting a proposal.

Conference Location
Bucknell University is located in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The campus is in a beautiful rural setting adjacent to the Susquehanna River. Harrisburg and State College (home of Penn State University) are about an hour away; New York, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are approximately a three- to four-hour drive. Click here for a map and directions.

Conference Planning & Program Committee
Abby Clobridge, Conference Chair
Bucknell University

Michael Foight
Villanova University

Chris Kemp
University of Richmond

Daniel Mancusi
Bucknell University

Christopher Raab
Franklin & Marshall College

Laura Riskedahl, Conference Co-Chair
Bucknell University

Carolyn Sautter
Gettysburg College

If you are interested in submitting a proposal for a panel but don't yet have other panelists lined up, submit the proposal and the conference planning committee will help put together the panel. As we get closer to the proposal deadline, we will publish topic areas for which we are seeking additional panelists.