Proposals closed Sunday, November 20, 2011, so we can finalize the list and add them to registration! (The deadline for preconference proposals has passed.)

Spaces available: main meeting room (max 275) + 5 breakout rooms (max 30-50).

Please include a "Contact/Responsible Individual" name and email address so we know who is willing to put on the proposed precon.

Full Day

Hacking Content

What is the future of getting library information and resources into users’ hands at the right time and with appropriate context and relevancy. Learning management systems, library guides, Web-scale discovery systems-plenty of tools to choose from and still we see lots of opportunities for improvement. Let’s pick them apart and brainstorm ideas for projects that could address weaknesses in one or all of these systems. If you’re interested in these issues, challenges and conundrums join us for a day of thinking, dreaming and scheming. All skill sets and backgrounds needed.

Speakers/Facilitators will be:

- Thom Cox - Manager of Library Information Technology Services - Tufts University
- Ken Varnum – Web Systems Manager - University of Michigan Libraries
- Evviva Weinraub – Director, Emerging Technologies and Services - Oregon State University Libraries 

Contact: Margaret Mellinger - margaret dot mellinger at oregonstate dot edu

Developing applications using REST web services

Been hearing about web services but don’t know where to start to build something? Have you built applications that use read services but are stumped by OAuth, Content Negotiation and HTTP Headers? Come dig in and learn how to build applications that interact with both read and write REST services. We’ll cover the basic principles and practices of REST services and discuss the Atom Publishing Protocol as a REST service and its extensibility. The group will examine and test the CouchDB HTTP API by building a simple list creation tool. You’ll learn how OCLC’s platform web services leverage Atom to expose the data and business processes from OCLC’s library systems. By the end of the session, you’ll know the basic principles of REST services, be able to perform Create, Read, Update and Delete operations via REST and be able to authenticate to REST services via API keys and OAuth.

Come ready to learn and code!

Presenter: Karen Coombs - coombsk at oclc dot org

Half Day Morning

Linkfest

We've had talks and sessions galore about Linked Data at code4lib in past years. Let's focus on linking. Bring data you want to publish and link to or link from and your ideas about new ways we can push data linking into being part of our regular approach to how we put our libraries' content and services on the web. At the start of the session we'll run a quick poll to see who wants to link to what and how, and we'll pair or group up and get to work from there. May a kajillion links bloom!

If you need an "intro to linked data" we can prep a good list of readings/talks to review before you come. But please come ready to link!

Organizer type person: Dan Chudnov, GWU Libraries, @dchud or dchud at gwu edu

What's New in Solr

This session will bring folks up to speed on the latest developments in Lucene and Solr. There's always a lot of new capabilities as well as tips and tricks on using Solr in clever and powerful ways.

Presenter: Erik Hatcher - erik . hatcher @ lucidimagination dot com

Half Day Afternoon

Git -r done

A session to cover all things Git, everyone's favourite distributed version control system. This session should cover a little bit of the history of Git, how it works, and how it's different than other version controls systems like SVN. Practical application should also be covered, including how to clone existing repos and contribute code back to them, how to host your own repository, and best practices for setting up a distributed network.

Looking for attendees with real-life Git experience to share it, so we can all broaden our understanding of possible use-cases and nifty advanced features.

Coordinator: Ian Walls, ByWater Solutions, @sekjal or ian.walls at bywatersolutions com

Blacklight

This session will be walk-through of the architecture of Blacklight and what we have been improving since the rails 3 upgrade. In addition to the architecture of the software, we will also briefly discuss the architecture of the Blacklight community and what has made it successful so far.

For part of the session we will install Blacklight live and get it up and running. This install demo will include a How-To on basic customizations in Blacklight using a test-driven approach (one of the cornerstones of the Blacklight community).

For more information about Blacklight see our wiki ( http://projectblacklight.org/ ) and our GitHub repo ( https://github.com/projectblacklight/blacklight ). We will also send out some brief instructions beforehand for those that would like to setup their environments to follow along and get Blacklight up and running on their local machines.

Presenters: Jessie Keck, Stanford University - jkeck at stanford dot edu | Molly Pickral, University of Virginia - mpc3c at virginia dot edu

DACS and EAD Overview

This session will look at what DACS (Describing Archives: a Content Standard) is and describe the ten required elements. Then there will be an overview of what EAD is, how it works, and the required elements. The final part will be a practice session on taking a paper finding aid and coding it using DACS and EAD.

Presenter: Doris Munson, Eastern Washington University, dmunson at ewu dot edu (please feel free to contact me if you are interested in being a co-presenter)

Digging into metadata: context, code, and collaboration

Working with library/archival metadata is difficult. This preconference will tackle pressing questions and will show some of the intricacies of metadata (including AACR2/MARC) with exercises to demonstrate why inconsistencies exist in the data. What steps can the cataloging & metadata community take to help improve the quality of this data? What tools & techniques could help? Rules have evolved over time leaving dirty legacy data. Systems have impacted--and will continue to impact--data structure & design. How can this data be aggregated and refined for use in a new emerging data environments? What assumptions can safely be made and when do you need to inquire about local practice? We will end with a hack-fest where you can ask questions of experienced catalogers and get help with your metadata related problems. Bring your laptops and data.

Person Herder: Becky Yoose, Grinnell College, yoosebec at grinnell dot edu

Collaborators/Facilitators: Corey Harper, New York University - corey dot harper at nyu dot edu | Shana L. McDanold, University of Pennsylvania - mcdanold at pobox dot upenn dot edu | Laura Smart, Caltech - laura at library dot caltech dot edu

"Geo"

This session will explore, we hope collaboratively, the presentation of objects on maps. There will be a section on workflow, a section on discovering objects via "geobrowse," a section discovery of objects via "geosearch," and an exploration of the discovery and presentation of geo-referenced images (e.g. historic maps). There will be open discussion on other approaches to map-based discovery. Emphasis will be placed on simplicity of workflow and implementation. Technologies include: Atom, Django, Solr, and OpenLayers.

Presenters: Mike Graves, UNC Chapel Hill, gravm at email dot unc dot edu; Tim Shearer, UNC Chapel Hill, tshearer at email dot unc dot edu (please feel free to contact Tim if you are interested in being a co-presenter)