Keynote Speakers

Dr Paul Ayris

Dr Paul Ayris has been Director of UCL (University College London) Library Services since 1997. He is also the UCL Copyright Officer.

Paul is a member of the LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche) and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition) Europe Boards. He chairs LIBER's Access Division, the OAI (Open Archives Initiative) Organizing Committee for the Cern Workshops on Scholarly Communication, and chaired the 2006 European Repositories meeting in Glasgow. Paul also chairs the UK's SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation & Access) Management Group and the JISC’s NHS-HE (Joint Information Systems Committee’s National Health Services – Higher Education) Content Procurement Group. He is a member of the JISC’s Repositories and Preservation Advisory Group, of the JISC's Journals Working Group, of the SCONUL/CILIP Health Strategy Group and of the CURL/SCONUL Joint Scholarly Communications Group. He is also a member of Ex Libris’s E-Books Working Group.

Paul has a Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical History and publishes on English Reformation Studies.

Rhys Francis

Rhys completed applied mathematics at Monash University and his Ph.D in computer science at La Trobe University and started work as a software engineer with Varian Techtron. He then returned to La Trobe University to enjoy a ten year period, teaching and researching parallel and distributed systems, and pursued the development of a sophisticated architecture simulation system able to explore the relationship between parallel architecture features and application performance.

In 1990 Rhys moved to CSIRO, the Australian Government's national applied research agency, to develop high-level application languages and algorithms for advanced modeling and simulation problems. He was subsequently appointed as a Research Program Manager in 1994 to establish a research group focussed into electronic document technologies which led to many projects including: electronic record keeping in government, e-commerce in the wool industry, and resource discovery and advanced information products in the manufacturing, construction, finance and media sectors.

Appointed as CSIRO's ICT Sector Leader in 2001, Rhys helped articulate a strategy for ICT research across all of CSIRO, adopted by the Board in 2003. Since 2006, first as the NCRIS Facilitator for the Platforms for Collaboration Capability and now as the Executive Director of the Australian eResearch Infrastructure Council, Rhys is working to establish eResearch services for all researchers and national research teams (see www.pfc.org.au for details).

Dr Joan Lippincott

Joan K. Lippincott is the Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), a joint project of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and EDUCAUSE.  CNI, based in Washington, DC, is an institutional membership organization that advances the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity.  She has been with CNI since 1990.

At CNI, Joan has provided leadership for programs such as New Learning Communities, Assessment of the Networked Environment, Working Together,  and collaborative facilities and learning spaces.  She has written articles and made presentations on such topics as networked information, learning spaces, collaboration among professional groups, assessment, and teaching and learning in the networked environment.  Her chapter on “Net Generation Students and Libraries” in an EDUCAUSE book on Educating the Net Gen www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen/ has received wide distribution.  She is past chair of the editorial board of College & Research Libraries News and is on the board of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD).

Joan previously held positions at the libraries of Cornell University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, and SUNY at Brockport.  In addition, she worked at the Research and Policy Analysis Division of the American Council on Education and the National Center for Postsecondary Governance and Finance at the University of Maryland.

Joan received her Ph.D. in higher education policy, planning, and administration from the University of Maryland, her M.L.S. from SUNY Geneseo, and an A.B. from Vassar College.

Additional information is available at:
http://www.cni.org/staff/joan_index.html

Mr Paul Reynolds

Paul is one of the most well known and respected commentators and thinkers on the topics of information access and technological change in New Zealand today. His work demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of the Internet and of the broader issues in a social, economic, political and technological context. He puts a strong emphasis on community access and contribution to knowledge. He is forward thinking in his views and brings a wider information sector perspective to the role as a Commissioner. Paul is the co-founder and Joint Managing Director of McGovern and Associates, a full-service on-line media company who, since 1995 have provided strategy, design and development in the field of new media and Internet to clients in New Zealand, Fiji and the UK, see www.mcgovern.co.nz. In August, 2005, he was appointed to the New Zealand Government Digital Strategy Advisory Group, http://www.digital-strategy.govt.nz/. Paul is an invited member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science, www.iadas.net. Paul was initially appointed to LIAC in September 2003. Having served three years as a Commissioner, Paul was reappointed for a further period of two years from September 2006.

Ms Evelyn Tobin

Ngati Manu me Nga Puhi

JP, PGDipEd, B.MS, Tohu Matauranga Maori, Dip Tchg

Evelyn is an expert specialist in the field of Matauranga Maori with 30 years teaching experience that includes national curriculum, kura kaupapa Maori advisory, teacher professional development, and NCEA national qualifications work. She is a director of Kotare Enterprises Limited, an education and training consultancy, and is currently employed as a Kaitiaki Reo consultant for Front-of-the- Box video and television productions. She is a member of the Library and Information Advisory Commission (LIAC) and Komiti Maori that provides independent advice to the National Librarian. She brings Matauranga Maori, cultural awareness and educational perspectives to her role as a Commissioner. Evelyn serves her second term as Commissioner ending in September 2008.