The Business of Federal Libraries

The Business of Federal Libraries: 

Connecting Knowledge to Future Patrons   

Join your colleagues for a policy training that will combine new 

approaches for working with your patrons with the perspective of scholars, 

library leaders and the newest voices in the federal information community.  

This year’s morning keynote speaker, R. David Lankes, Director 

of the Information Institute of Syracuse, is a passionate advocate 

for libraries and their essential role in today’s society.  He also 

seeks to understand how information approaches and technologies 

can be used to transform industries.  His latest book, The Atlas of 

New Librarianship, offers a guide to new librarianship based not 

on books and artifacts but on knowledge and learning; and he 

suggests a new mission for librarians: to improve society through 

facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.

The afternoon will feature a keynote from Evan Carroll, 

a leader in the budding digital afterlife industry.  Co-author of 

Your Digital Afterlife (New Riders, 2010), the first book dedicated 

to helping everyday people understand and prepare for death in 

the digital era, he is also the co-author and editor of The Digital 

Beyond (TheDigitalBeyond.com), an online resource for digital 

death and legacy issues.  Carroll is well-versed in traditional 

experience design disciplines including information architecture, 

interaction design, user research and usability testing.  He 

combines this background with practical experience with Web 

analytics, social media and online advertising. 

The forum will also spotlight Edwin S. Clay, III, the 

director of the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) and a former 

adjunct professor at the Catholic University School of Library 

and Information Science. His take on entrepreneurial practices 

for librarians and information workers in traditional and nontraditional settings will offer great insight to federal practioners 

and their support of agency missions.  

Afternoon panel discussions will feature library leaders followed by a 

panel of representatives from FLICC’s newest working group for new Federal 

Librarians.  These panelists have recently begun their careers at the Department 

of Justice,  the Government Printing Office, the Food and Drug Administration, 

the Library of Congress and the National Institutes of Health.