MARLBOROUGH, Mass. – New England librarians and journalists will have an opportunity to share examples and ideas for collaboration, and learn about two experiments that could uniquely serve community information needs, during an April 27 one-day seminar.
"Common Goals: New Projects, New Ideas for Connecting Libraries, News and Communities," is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 27, 2012 at the Massachusetts Library System's Marlborough Office at 225 Cedar Hill Road, Suite 229 in Marlborough, MA 01752.
The event is jointly organized by the Massachusetts Library System, the New England Newspaper & Press Association and Journalism That Matters. It’s aimed at librarians and news professionals, but the public is also welcomed. Free registration is required at http://tinyurl.com/biblionews
“The web is helping converge some of the tools for achieving the historically overlapping goals of public literacy, government transparency, citizen free speech and participation,” says Bill Densmore, a director of Journalism That Matters and director of the New England News Forum at UMass Amherst. “Both are becoming community information services.”
Densmore says organizers hope librarians and journalists with stories of ongoing successful collaborations – and ideas for new-media approaches that involve media, libraries and government – will come April 27 and share those stories.
"Librarians may be in a good position to make modern journalism and other forms of information, (especially local info) available to the public," says Greg Pronevitz, director of the Massachusetts Library System. “Journalists and librarians share common goals and technology helps to form tools that can be used in both professions to ensure public literacy, government transparency, free speech, and citizen participation. Both professions provide their local communities with informational services and librarians are nurturing those goals by making that information easily accessible to the public.”
After informal introductions, the 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. program will include short presentations on two projects just getting underway:
- The Banyan Project's news co-operative for the "news desert" of Haverhill, Mass., closely aligned with the Haverhill Public Library. Presenters: Carol Verny, Haverhill library director and Tom Stites, a veteran journalist and Banyan's founder/CEO.
- The National Civic Communications Corp., a community-information initiative of Tufts University and a Woburn, Mass.-based nonprofit, Social Capital Inc. Director David Crowley will explain how the San Antonio, Texas, library is collaborating at one of three test locations.
Following the presentations, Densmore and Leigh Montgomery, news librarian at the Christian Science Monitor will lead a round of breakout discussions matching librarians and media professionals in brainstorming both tested and fresh ideas for collaboration. A key focus will be on methods for preserving and making accessible community information.
"Common Goals," is an outgrowth of an April, 2011 event at MIT Center for Civic Media organized by Journalism That Matters and supported by the Institute for Museum and Library Services. That event was, "Beyond Books: News, Literacy and Democracy for America's Libraries." See: http://www.biblionews.org
Journalism That Matters Inc., is a Seattle-based non-profit working to shape the emerging news and information ecosystem. JTM fosters conversations among traditional and citizen journalists with educators, technologists, librarians, public officials and citizens concerned about vibrant communities and civic engagement. It has held more than 14 events since 2001 at locations throughout the United States, including Boston and Amherst.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.eventkeeper.com/code/events.cfm?curOrg=MLS&ref=EK&refNote=TaF#4/27/2012
Bill Densmore / Journalism That Matters
wpdensmore@gmail.com / 617-448-6600
www.journalismthatmatters.org
www.newenglandnews.org
Greg Pronevitz, Executive Director
Massachusetts Library System, Inc.
508-357-2121 x303
greg@masslibsystem.org - www.masslibsystem.org
RELATED LINKS:
http://banyanproject.com/index.php?title=Pilot_site_content
http://www.socialcapitalinc.org/about/staff