Off-Campus Library Services Conference

Utopia, dystopia, or more of the same? Rapid developments in technology and commerce are matched by significant changes in demographics and important changes in the way people view the world. Things that were on the far horizon two years ago are today's old news. What are the trends that will influence us in the next two years and how should we be preparing for them today? Marshall keys presents a copiously illustrated look at how we can see today the new populations, new technologies, new economies, and new world views that will impact our future as information providers.

The "topia-dystopia-same old/same old" tries to build on the pictures.

After a decade as Executive Director of NELINET, the largest library organization in New England, Marshall Keys founded MDA Consulting to pursue his interest in the effects of large-scale social, economic, political, and technological change on libraries and other information-intensive organizations. He encourages librarians to think strategically by serving as facilitators in their planning processes and by demonstrating and teaching the art of environmental scanning. He holds a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt and a Master’s in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mr. Keys won the 1999 Emerson Greenaway Award, given by the New England Library Association, for outstanding career contributions to librarianship.

In July, 2000, he was named to the National Advocacy Honor Roll by the Association of Library Trustees and Advocates. The citation said, "Each time you listen to Marshall speak or read a column he wrote, you are challenged, energized, and proud to serve in the library profession."

In September, 2000, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus by the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Studies.

Since 1999 he has been a member of the adjunct faculty of the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Recent clients have included the Michigan Library Association, the Queens Borough Public Library, Innovative Interfaces, Inc.; Simmons College; the Institute of Museum and Library Studies; the Library of Michigan; the Medical Library Association; MASSCAT; and consortia such as NOBLE in Massachusetts, NORWELD in Ohio, and the White Pine Library Cooperative in Michigan. He and his colleague Maureen Sullivan were featured on the program at the Ohio Library Conferences in 2001, 2002, and 2003, and he gave the keynote program for ALTA at ALA in San Francisco in June, 2001.

Marshall Keys has given keynote speeches at the North Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont Library Associations and at the annual meetings of the SOLINET, AMIGOS, and MLC library networks, and he has been a featured speaker at many library meetings throughout the US and in Canada. He has worked for academic institutions, libraries, and consortia, both alone and with colleagues. With Maureen Sullivan, he has done programs for Brown University, Simmons College, the North Suburban Library System, CAMLS, and the North Carolina State Library. With Deb Wallace, he has done programs for the University of Toronto, the University of Manitoba, Bridgewater State College, the Alberta Library Association, and the NMRLS consortium in Massachusetts.

Marshall Keys and his wife Sandy live in Nantucket, Massachusetts.