FROM THE DESK OF THE STATE LIBRARIAN...

The annual meeting of NHAIS, the N.H. Automated Information System was held on March 18th at the Highlander Inn, Manchester. This was the 21st such meeting that has been called by the State Librarian to inform the NHAIS members about the state of the system and to provide information about future projects and development. An important component of the meeting is the highlighted topic. A speaker is invited who can give the membership a sense of where technology is heading and what the impact will be. This year the State Library invited Amy Benson, Director of Digital Services at NELINET to talk about where the digital library is going, what is in the future, and what libraries need to do in order to take advantage of the digital opportunities. Ms. Benson provided an overview of the digital process and identified a number of important projects that NELINET has been working on. It is clear that the digitalizing of materials will become an important aspect of all libraries' responsibilities. The State Library is working to provide New Hampshire libraries assistance and support in this process. To get a copy of the PowerPoint presentation Ms. Benson used to discuss the digitization go to: www.nelinet.net/abenson/nhais.ppt; and to see what the Library of Congress has done see the American Treasures project at: www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures.

-Michael York, State Librarian