The American University in Bulgaria has graciously offered to host our consortium's next annual conference, AMICAL 2015. Our initial planning meeting was held today, and we expect that another great conference for AMICAL librarians, technologists and faculty is on its way for next year! The dates are likely to fall around late May or early June; we will post the finalized dates in September, so keep an eye on this site and our various social media channels for announcements (@AMICALnet on Twitter, and for members: AMICALconnect and the AMICAL Facebook group). A Program Committee will begin work in September. We will take into account suggestions that were already offered in AMICAL 2014 evaluations, but members should feel free to send to contact@amicalnet.org other suggestions you have for the program - in particular for themes, topics, session types or speakers to invite. Raise awareness about AMICAL and the conference with local colleagues! The official conference web site will be launched this fall. For now, direct those less familiar with AMICAL to our member institution list and to the 'About' page from the 2014 conference web site, which describes the event generally and lists the themes covered by previous conferences.

Under the theme of student engagement and learning spaces, AMICAL 2014 brings together librarians, technologists and faculty from 26 American international universities to discuss shared problems and solutions, and to hear from exceptional thinkers and practitioners whose work is influencing library and information services in higher education. If you're unable to attend the conference, you can still participate through the streamed and recorded conference sessions, through the sharing and conversations on social media, and through online discussions on AMICALconnect: Streamed and recorded conference sessions For the first time in an AMICAL conference, our keynote presentations, as well as a number of other talks, will be streamed live. Go to Watch AMICAL 2014 on the conference website for links to the streamed sessions and locally converted session times. Recordings will be posted to that same page after the conclusion of the conference. For descriptions of these talks, see the online schedule. Social media The tag amical2014 will be tying together our interactions on social media related to the conference. In particular, we'll be using Twitter, Flickr and Slideshare, but other platforms are welcome too. You can find an amical2014 Twitter feed on the conference website and (for members) on AMICALconnect. Online discussions on AMICALconnect For more substantial and persistent discussions, AMICAL members can participate via the AMICALconnect Forum, where the amical2014 tag should be added to any conference-related posts. Discussion Groups and other discussion-oriented sessions will nominate a participant to post a brief report to the Forum, so that other participants, and AMICAL members unable to attend, can see what was discussed and get involved in follow-up discussion. Members can also interact using AMICALconnect chat.

As of yesterday, responses have been sent for all program proposals for AMICAL 2014. If you proposed a program session and have not received a reponse, please contact contact@amicalnet.org. A tentative program including information about all sessions will be posted on the conference site in the next few weeks. Conference attendees from AMICAL institutions: please remember to register for the conference by 20 March in order to receive support for registration fee and (for Full/Affiliate members) hotel.

AMICAL members: Join us Thursday for a webinar looking at two ways AMICAL can collaborate with Ithaka S+R to gain strategic insight on our library communities. Roger Schonfeld will talk about Ithaka's faculty and now student surveys of library expectations, and how they might be adapted for AMICAL institutions; Nancy Foster will talk about ethnographic methods for studying library communities and how we might expand upon previous work in this area among AMICAL institutions. Together they will address how these methods complement each other to develop a clearer understanding of our library communities, providing a sound basis for strategic planning that supports our institutional missions. Guest speakers: Roger Schonfeld, Program Director for Libraries, Users, and Scholarly Practices, Ithaka S+R Nancy Fried Foster, Senior Anthropologist, Ithaka S+R WHEN: Thursday, 13 March 2014, 7:30-9:00am US eastern time (see local time conversion) Instructions for attending the webinar have been sent by email to AMICAL members and posted to the event page on AMICALconnect (AMICAL members not on AMICALconnect can create an account). Questions about the event may be sent to contact@amicalnet.org.

Seeking alternatives to high-cost textbooks: a Case Study of the UMass Amherst Open Education Initiative The high cost and lack of availability of commercial print textbooks is a major concern to both students and their parents. To address these concerns, the Provost's Office and the University Libraries of the University of Massachusetts Amherst launched the Open Education Initiative in the Spring of 2011, having saved over $750,000 to date. This model has an implementation strategy that is easy for others to adopt. Guest speakers: Jay Schafer (Director of Libraries, UMass Amherst) Marilyn Billings (Scholarly Communication & Special Initiatives Librarian, UMass Amherst) WHEN: Tuesday, 11 February 2014, 9:00am-10:00am US eastern time (see local time conversion) This is the second webinar of AMICAL Currents, a series of webinars for AMICAL members on hot topics of interest to librarians, technologists and faculty. AMICAL Currents invites key thinkers and practitioners on each topic to join us for an hour-long webinar, including a presentation followed by Q&A. The webinar is open to anyone in the AMICAL community. Information about how to join the webinar, and any updates for the event, will be posted to the event page on AMICALconnect (requires AMICAL membership). Marilyn Billings is the Scholarly Communication & Special Initiatives Librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a position she has held since 2006. She provides campus and regional leadership and education in alternative scholarly communication strategies and gives presentations on author rights, new digital publishing models and the role of libraries and digital repositories in today's research and scholarship endeavors. Current projects include her oversight of the UMass Amherst’s digital repository ScholarWorks and her recent role as the leader of the UMass Amherst’s Open Education Initiative. Ms. Billings’ recent presentations include “Ditch Your Textbook: Academic Librarians Inspiring Faculty to go “Open” with Steven Bell (Temple University) at the Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in April 2013; “Documenting and Promoting Research & Engagement Using ScholarWorks, UMass Amherst’s Digital Repository” an invited webinar presentation for Berkeley Electronic Press, April 2013; “The Open Education Initiative @ UMass Amherst: Taking a Bite Out of High-Cost Textbooks” with Sarah Hutton at the UMass System Curriculum Redesign Symposium in Shrewsbury, MA Jan 2013; and “Transforming Library Services in a Time of Rapid Scholarly Communication Change” at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Sept 2012. Her most recent publication “Open Educational Resources as Learning Materials: Prospects and Strategies for Research Libraries” Billings et al was featured in the Research Library Issues (RLI) no. 280. For a more complete listing of presentations and publications, visit http://works.bepress.com/marilyn_billings/ Jay Schafer has been Director of Libraries at the University of Massachusetts Amherst since 2004. He combines his expertise in library collection-building, resource sharing, and facilities space planning with a deep dedication to providing innovative, high quality service to library users. The Learning Commons in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library is one successful example of his belief that libraries must evolve to meet the needs of today’s students while maintaining the high standards of a nationally-ranked research library. Director Schafer is currently a member of the Executive Board of the Association of Research Libraries. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of LYRASIS, the nation’s largest regional membership organization serving libraries and information professionals. In addition, Director Schafer is past-Chair of the Five College Librarians Council, past-President of the Boston Library Consortium, and previously served on the BioOne Library Advisory Board. Director Schafer earned his B.A. degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and his M.A. degree in Librarianship from the University of Denver. He has served in library administrative positions at a number of institutions including the University of Colorado at Denver.

The American College of Greece Athens, 14-17 May 2014 About the AMICAL Conference AMICAL's annual conference is the one opportunity each year for AMICAL members to meet face to face with colleagues from the other American international universities in AMICAL, to discuss shared problems and solutions, and to hear from exceptional thinkers and practitioners whose work is influencing library and information services in higher education. The AMICAL Conference is a small, intimate event that typically has just over 100 attendees, mainly from member institutions: librarians, IT directors, instructional technologists, faculty, but also deans and other administrators. This smallness and focus is one of its strengths, enabling a real sense of community that's ready to engage with each other and embark on collaborative projects in spite of the geographic and cultural distances. If you've never attended an AMICAL Conference, see the public site for last year's Conference. Information about registration and grant support for attendance will be posted by early February. For more information about the AMICAL Conference, see the Conference site.

AMICAL is pleased to sponsor "Engage Students in Creative Multimedia Production,” a workshop organized by the American University in Kosovo in collaboration with the American University in Cairo. The workshop will be held 21-22 March 2014 at the American University in Kosovo and is aimed primarily at faculty and instructional technologists with experience or interest in working together to support student multimedia content production as a tool for engaging students while promoting and assessing their learning. There will be a limited number of registrations available to students that have done exceptional multimedia work with their attending professos. Basic information will be posted publicly on the workshop page here on AMICALnet.org, but AMICAL members will find the most complete and up to date information posted to the workshop hub on AMICALconnect (AMICAL membership required).

On 25 November, AMICAL launches AMICAL Currents, a series of webinars for AMICAL members on hot topics of joint interest to librarians, technologists and faculty. We're inviting key thinkers and practitioners on each topic to give a presentation, followed by Q&A, with each webinar lasting about an hour. The first webinar in the series features Audrey Watters, noted writer on higher ed learning technologies, author of the blog Hack Education: Session 1 - Open Educational Resources in Higher Ed Invited Speaker: Audrey Watters The use of Open Educational Resources is a trend that can have major impact on academic instruction and learning. What is OER? Should we opt to use them? To save money? To facilitate sharing? What are the barriers of OER, and what happens with copyright? This event will include an overview of OER in higher education from one of the most recognized writers on the topic, followed by time for questions from AMICAL members and discussion. When: Monday, 25 November 2013, 9:00am US Eastern time (click to see your local time) Where: Online - Adobe Connect Open to: All faculty and staff at AMICAL member institutions. More information about the event, including instructions on how to join the webinar, will be posted on the AMICALconnect event page (accessible to AMICAL members only).

The 10th Annual AMICAL Conference, 12-15 June 2013 at John Cabot University in Rome: For more photos, see the 2013 AMICAL Conference photos on Flickr.

Slide shows and other materials from presentations at the last AMICAL Conference are now publicly available here on AMICALnet.org, linked from the 2013 AMICAL Meeting and Conference page under Presentations. Also posted there is the daily program (presentation titles link to files when available), as well as the detailed program with abstracts.