On October 18 and 19, NISO is hosting "The eBook Renaissance, Part II: Challenges and Opportunities", an update to an event it debuted last year. The conference takes place in Boston.
On the first day, I am moderating a panel, "Running with the Bulls: Publisher Perspectives on Managing eBook Growth", that will offer those attending a chance to hear how a cross-section of publishers think about digital publishing. Speakers from Cengage and HBR Press are confirmed, and a couple of others will be announced shortly.
There is a companion library panel on the same day. Other speakers include Richard Nash (Small Demons) and Robert Darnton (Director of the Harvard University Library). I am also looking forward to a panel about aggregators and platform providers. That panel includes Heather McCormack, late of Library Journal and now Collection Development Manager with 3M Cloud Library.
According to NISO executive director Todd Carpenter, the audience for the kickoff event included librarians (60%), publishers (20%) as well as suppliers and related companies involved in the eBook space (also 20%). He expects a similar profile for this year's attendees.
I have fallen out of the mix when it comes to moderating panels, but NISO puts on fun, stimulating events that give speakers, panelists and the audience multiple chances to delve deeper into a range of topics. I encourage anyone interested in eBooks to take a look at the agenda. It will be a good two days, and Boston in October can be its own reward.
