A CONFERENCE TO BE REMEMBERED
Welcome Message & ACURIL 2018 RD PHOTOS IN CLUSTER
WELCOME MESSAGE OF MS. KUMAREE RAMTAHAL, ACURIL PRESIDENT 2017-2018
Delivered at the Forty Eighth Annual Conference
of the Association of Caribbean University, Research,
and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL)
held at theCrowne Plaza Santo Domingo Hotel Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic, On Monday June 4, 2018
Professor Carmen Santos Corrado, Madame Chair
Prof. Leovigildo D. Rodríguez-Peña, Conference Honoree
Ms. Loida Garcia-Febo, President Elect, American Library Association and Keynote Speaker
Ms. Vonne Lujano, DOAJ Ambassador and Keynote Speaker
Chairs, Local Organizing Committee, Dominican Republic and members of the respective Sub-Committees
Members, Programme Organizing Committee
Executive Council Members and Guests
Delegates – Local and International
ACURILEAN Exhibitors and Sponsors
Distinguished Guests from all Institutions in the Dominican Republic
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Greetings and a warm welcome to the 48th ACURIL Conference which is being held here at the Crowne Plaza Santo Domingo Hotel in the Dominican Republic from June 3-7, 2018. The theme of the conference is entitled Open Access in Caribbean Libraries, Archives and Museums: Opportunities, Challenges and Future Directions. It revolves around the sub-themes: The Global and Caribbean Contexts; Policy, Strategy and Advocacy; Innovation and Trends; Professional Development and User Education. As we know globally, Libraries, Archives and Museums are challenged to manage their operational budgets, engage their user communities, develop innovative services and function as a gateway to open access resources. Caribbean Libraries are not immune to these challenges. In this information society, open access technologies provide opportunities for Caribbean Libraries, Archives and Museums to rise above these challenges and still achieve these respective goals.
This conference could not have happened if it were not for the excellent support and collaboration from colleagues of the Local Organizing Committee, Dominican Republic 2017-2018, ACURIL’s Executive Secretariat and the Programme Committee, 2017-2018. Every effort was made to ensure that you have a great professional development experience at ACURIL XLVIII. Over the next few days you are going to be immersed into a number of exciting keynote presentations, paper presentations, workshops, poster sessions and ACURILEAN Exhibitors technology updates which will explore the many facets of Open Access and its impact on Libraries, Archives and Museums. It is hoped that these contributions will add value to advancing your knowledge of Open Access in terms of the many opportunities that it offers, the challenges that exist and how we can forge ahead despite these setbacks.
I hope that you will enjoy all the activities over the next few days. Today we will launch into the programme by offering the dedications to Prof. Leovigildo D. Rodríguez-Peña and Dr. Alma Theodora Jordan for their sterling contributions to librarianship. We will also feature our two dynamic Keynote Speakers – Ms. Loida Garcia-Febo and Ms. Ivonne Lujano. This year we have introduced some new and exciting initiatives to engage you. We have developed a conference app which gives you easy access to the conference programme schedule by simply downloading it on your mobile phones. We will also launch the Open Access Passport to Prizes (OApp) which is a joint collaboration between our valued ACURIL Exhibitors and ACURIL. On Wednesday afternoon, we will be host our Exhibitors Panel featuring our top sponsors of this conference and of course we will be having our daily photo shoots of our presenters to ensure that the memories of this conference are preserved. On Thursday, we will have the drawing of prizes for the OApp and then culminate with our Gala Awards and Banquet.
I wish to express my sincerest thanks and appreciation firstly to the Local Organizing Committee, Dominican Republic for opening your hearts and welcoming us to your beautiful country, a memory that I will always cherish. Together we have all worked extremely hard to make this conference a success. I hope that you have a wonderful experience at ACURIL XLVIII 2018!
Thank you.
JOIN MEMORABILIA ACURIL 2018 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN CLUSTER
ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN UNIVERSITY, RESEARCH AND INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARIES
Email: executivesecr@acuril.org
Website: https://acuril.org
Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Phone: 1(787)612-9343
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Twitter: @cybernote