2015 – Loyola University Maryland
Loyola University Maryland hosted the 2015 CITM conference in Baltimore, not long after the “riots” following the death of Freddie Gray. The people of Baltimore had clearly retaken their city from the few lawless individuals, and CITM had a very enjoyable and productive meeting together with the librarians.
The conference was attended by 108 Information Technology and Library professionals from 25 schools, plus three representatives from AJCU central and one from JesuitNET. Keynote addresses were given by Lorcan Dempsey, vice president of OCLC and H. David Lambert, president and CEO of Internet2. Representatives from AUSJAL presented The Virtual Dual Immersion Project and gave details on how AUSJAL conferences are based on various aspects of the Jesuit mission rather than on functional groups at the universities. Members of the CITM History Project team gave a presentation on the almost-complete web site celebrating the first 30 years of the Conference on Information Technology Management.
Topics from the breakout sessions included the importance of effective, meaningful communications, IT governance, the importance of staff training and development, the pros and cons of cloud storage, aligning projects to institutional goals, and how TTL and the Library can jointly address the changing needs and requirements for learning spaces. Fr. Sheeran, president of AJCU, addressed a joint session, and Fr. Currie, past president of AJCU, made a surprise appearance and gave a short address at lunch. In another surprise moment, President Patrick Frontiera presented Ron Danielson via video link with the William O’Hearn Service Award. A new feature for the conference was the mobile device app created especially for the meeting.
The iOS/Android app written by LoyMD staff provided: general conference, hotel, and Baltimore information; maps of the various conference venues; contact information for the corporate sponsors; and on-campus Internet access information. There were (and as of December 2015 still available) links to the Twitter #ajcu2015 and Flickr pages for the conference. To prepare for the conference, each attendee could create a personal conference schedule. During the conference, tapping the What’s Happening Now button indicated which sessions were currently running. And at any time attendees could tap the Session Evaluation button to provide immediate feedback and information for future planning.
After torrential rains on Monday night, the weather cleared for Tuesday, and the dinner cruise on the Chesapeake Bay that evening was spectacular. And, who can forget the farewell celebration after dinner for Chris Gill!
For more information, go to the meeting website here.
Click on links below to view documents and materials from the meeting.
Selected pages from Program:
Do you recognize yourself or your colleagues in the photograph? We are attempting to label the names of the attendees pictured. Take a look at the Excel sheet and the numbered ovals to see if you’re listed. Feel free to contact us with any information or questions.