I am fascinated by the personal stories people tell--both as part of their papers and in conversation outside of sessions. 

Drawing on his rich experience, Bob Hayes uses stories to skillfully give the audience a sense of "being there" when he describes talking to the 1960's processing staff of a stock brokering firm who cannot conceive of a computer system which needs to be able to hold  than three times the  then current capacity, or when he describes the impact of the needs of the US intelligence community on the LIS field, or when he recounts taking his first class in programming from Grace Hopper who said, "remember and instruction is a number."    He establishes credibility with his audience when he shares his personal sense of loss--like King Lear holding Cordelia in his arms--at no longer being able to participate in the conference he attended at the University of Zagreb for 15 years.

Conference participants sitting at conference table.

Henryk Hollender of the University of Warsaw shared a wonderful metaphor when he described books or printed text as hibernating and electronic text as living and changing--and dying when we lose the ability to access them. 

Laila Miletic-Vejzovic was careful to say that her paper was based on her own experience and observation as she expressed her concern that Croatia had "kept the worst part of Communism and accepted the worst part of capitalism." 
 

Dr. Herbert Achleitner  keeping things on schedule

The atmosphere of the conference is relaxed and collegial as Maria Kocojawa jokes with gentle humor  about a  typo of XXXIst century that Poland will not have to wait so long for democracy to be firmly established.  A hard look from a later presenter quells some whispering among participants.  Stephen Fischer-Galati's provocative questions ruffle the relaxed atmosphere from time to time. Dr. Stephen Fischer-Galati, Editor, East European Quaterly

Joan Mitchell, discussing the Dewey Decimal System and "Classification as a Multilingual Access Tool" tells us that her mission in life is that every person she sits next to on a plane or a bus will come away with an understanding of the importance of organizing tools. 
 

This makes me remember a conversation from the reception last night when Joan and Mats Lindquist share stories about what it means to have a commuter marriage.  Mats commutes to Lund from  Stockholm and once took a gallon of milk home on a plane since he was getting home so late.  Joan commutes from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. as do a number of people that she knows.  Once she and a friend ran into each other at the airport both carrying cakes to work as if  there were no cakes in D.C.  Such conversations add a human dimension to the professionalism at the conference.          Mrs. Bogumila Rykaczewska-Wiorogorska, Telematics Application Division, Warsaw University Computer Center, coordinator of CUSeeMe tests and WWW mirror site at Warsaw University

Mary Carpenter and James Van Roekel recording the conference procedings

One more interesting story from Joan Mitchell.  Joan describes being at a conference in Vietnam and realizing that two generations of information professionals exist there:  one trained in Russia and the other in Australia.  Not only do they speak entirely different second languages, they have different value systems,  see the world of work totally differently, and yet must work together.  Think of  possibilities for conflict and the difficulty of understanding.

Maria E. Burke, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK (Nov. 6, 1997)
All of the papers are interesting and take different perspectives on the same issues.  However, the one common element and need is that of training and retraining.  In some papers this is mentioned specifically while in others it is implicit, but the importance of training cannot be over-emphasized.  In order to truly use information to restructure societies toward a democracy, the new generations who are presently in  universities, library schools, and those already working in libraries must be made aware of the issues which are being discussed at the conference.  The"global conversations" and use of the Internet technology are, therefore, vital dissemination tools to the successful future of the information professions. 
 

Gordon Anderson, University of Kansas, USA (Nov. 6, 1997) Poznaj Polske, poznaj siebie is an apt slogan to apply to this conference: "Know Poland, know yourself." Here in Warsaw we are coming to understand how a country with over one thousand years of Western culture is, in a short time, rushing to apply the latest technologies and thinking patterns to a society whose recent connections with its western neighbors were notably limited.  We have heard presentations which question the basic assumptions of an information/knowledge society. We have heard others make the case for a redoubling of efforts to forge ahead with every possible introduction of the new technology and thinking. And throughout we have come to appreciate the many different national and professional perspectives brought to the conference table.  In trying to understand all points of view, we finally come to know more about our own library situation in the United States. Not only can we better appreciate the resources and traditions we already possess, we can view the future with both confidence and humility; confidence that we will master change, and the humility to be gracefully patient and understanding if the pace of progress seems slow or results seem inadequate.

Gordon Anderson

(Left to right) Dr. Stephen Fischer-Galati, Dr. Robert M. Hayes, Dr. Wieslaw Glinski

Brad Schaffner, University of  Kansas, USA  (Nov. 6, 1997)
The conference had a very good start thanks to keynote talks by Dr. Fischer-Galati and Dr. Robert Hayes. Dr. Hayes gave an excellent summary on the history of the development of computers and automation technology. 

These talks were followed by the first two papers. Dr. Henryk Hollender, University of Warsaw, gave a very interesting talk on the effect of electronic technology on manuscripts. He pointed that printed texts naturally hibernate -- that is, they can sit on the shelf between use with little care. Electronic texts live and have to be cared for, meaning that there is an ongoing commitment to refresh the text so it will remain compatible with current technology -- even if no one is using the text. 

Dr. Hilary McLellan working late

 

Dr. Robert M. Hayes,  University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Henryk Hollender, University of Warsaw

Dr. Dr. hab. Wanda Pindlowa,  Jagiellonian University, Krakow

Prof. Dr. hab. Maria Kocojowa,  Jagiellonian University, Krakow