OZ 2009/1-2

UVODNIK CONFERENCE COBISS 2009 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SCIENCE, EDUCATION AND CULTURE Last year, the COBISS conference was missed by many. IZUM gradually turned the conference into such an organisationally demanding international meeting that it was no longer possible to hold it every year. The two-day COBISS 2009 conference will, upon agreement with the co-organisers – the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – be a “ministerial conference”, as the following panel discussions will take place as a part of the conference: • Panel on Information Support to Research Evaluation , with the participation of the mini- sters of science, technology and higher education from the countries in the Region, and • Panel on Library Information Systems for Comprehensive Creativity Overview , with the participation of the ministers of culture from the countries in the Region. Both panel discussions are closely related to the “European Year of Creativity and Innovation” . Introductions to the conference topics will be provided by Gregor Golobič (Slovenian Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology) and Majda Širca (Slovenian Minister of Culture). Vojko Volk (coordinator for the Balkans in the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) will speak about Slovenia’s support towards bringing the Western Balkans countries closer to the EU. As usual, many distinguished speakers will be present at this year’s conference: • Karen Calhoun is the Vice-President of OCLC and will present an overview of current trans- itions in global librarianship. • Marshal Breeding from the Vanderbilt University in USA will discuss the next generation of user interfaces. • Stamenka Uvalić-Trumbić from the UNESCO headquarters in Paris will speak about the quality of cross-border higher education. In a separate section, Tomaž Kalin and Marko Bonač will speak about their experience with the development of the European and Slovene academic and research computer networks. Finally, a large part of conference presentations will focus on current issues on the development of library systems. Speakers include Marta Seljak (Maribor), Primož Južnič (Ljubljana), Nadia Karachodjukova (Sofia), Vesna Stevanović (Belgrade), Mirna Willer (Zadar), Zoran Krstulo- vić (Ljubljana), Miro Kolarič (Maribor) and others. IZUM will do its best to organise an enjoyable cultural and social programme, as socialising with other librarians and IT specialists has always presented an important part of our conferences. Welcome to hotel Habakuk at the foot of Pohorje! Tomaž Seljak, M.Sc .