I won't be there. But if you all are going to talk about "metadata", please use plain English. A good example of using very convoluted and dense English can be found in the current issue of Cataloging and Classification Quarterly. If you cannot say it in 25 words or less, guys and gals, go back to the drawing board. Gene Fieg Cataloger Claremont School of Theology [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Antony Robert David Franks Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 8:07 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: ALA: PCC Participants' Meeting Save the date! The PCC Participants' Meeting at ALA--Midwinter will be Sunday, 20 January 2006, 4:00--6:00 pm in the Gonzales Convention Center, 217B Our program speaker, Karen Calhoun, AUL for Technical Services at Cornell University Library, will speak on the future of catalogers, cataloging, metadata, and metadata specialists. Catalog librarians have the potential to leverage their expertise to make enormous contributions to their communities and to next-generation information discovery and delivery systems, provided they focus on the needs that catalog librarians meet, rather than the methods they use. Library catalogers have justifiably taken pride in their role as the creators of tools that connect their communities to the information they need, thus contributing significantly to the saving of time and the progress of science. Yet in the increasingly interconnected world of the Web, readers behave more and more self-sufficiently, choosing simple but powerful search services like Google and moving well beyond library catalogs in their pursuit of information. How can catalogers continue to contribute to saving readers' time and advancing the state of knowledge in this kind of world? See you in San Antonio. Anthony R.D. Franks Team Leader, Cooperative Cataloging Team Library of Congress 202-707-2822 (voice) 202-252-2082 (fax)