Charleston Voices
Charleston Voices is an ongoing yearly series that publishes chapters based on ideas first shared at the annual Charleston Conference. The Charleston Voices editorial team chooses chapters based on relevancy, session attendance counts, analysis of survey feedback from conference attendees, and social media mentions. The authors contributing to Charleston Voices represent library, publisher, vendor, technology, and professional association perspectives. The topics they address vary widely and are typical of the issues and challenges faced by anyone working to acquire and make available library resources or scholarly content.
The audience for Charleston Voices is similar to the audience for the Charleston Conference: librarians, publishers, information technology professionals, vendors, consultants, and entrepreneurs. In Charleston Voices, readers will discover a wide variety of chapters covering the changing nature of library collections and services, standards, and assessment. The chapters point to emerging and continuing concerns for the libraries and publishes and point to novel approaches and practices aimed at improving the publication, management, and use of scholarly resources.
Charleston Conference
The Charleston Conference is an informal annual gathering of librarians, publishers, electronic resource managers, consultants, and vendors of library materials in Charleston, SC, in November, to discuss issues of importance to them all. It is designed to be a collegial gathering of individuals from different areas who discuss the same issues in a nonthreatening, friendly, and highly informal environment. Presidents of companies discuss and debate with library directors, acquisitions librarians, reference librarians, serials librarians, collection development librarians, and many, many others. Begun in 1980, the Charleston Conference has grown from 20 participants in 1980 to almost 2,000 in 2017. From the librarian of a small library to the CEO of a major corporation, they all stand and make their voices heard. The tone is casual, the talk irreverent, and the answers are far from simple. But together, we can find solutions. In this annual volume we have collected many key issues that were discussed in 2017.
Testimonials
“The best library gathering around. I look forward to it.”
“The Charleston Conference is an incredibly stimulating venue. I am tired afterwards, but get so many great ideas, network with my colleagues, and learn what is going on. I recommend it highly.”
“Charleston is the only conference that is worth attending.”
