Meeting Registration

2003 PUG Agenda

Polaris Users Group Conference Sept 18 - 21, 2003

The Polaris Users Group conference was an opportunity to meet and talk with over 50 staff members from 31 Polaris libraries, GIS Information Systems staff, and vendor representatives from GIS Polaris Partners. 

The first day was one of presentations, questions and answers:  Bill Schickling, CEO of GIS, keynote speaker, David Lankes, Director, Information Institute of Syracuse - Syracuse University, the GIS Product Analysts, Candy Zemon, GIS Senior Product Strategists and Brad Rogers, GIS Director of Customer Operations.  The Thursday sessions ended with a Vendor reception, which gave the User Group members a chance to see some of the Polaris Partners products and time to talk with the vendor representatives.

On the second day there were twelve discussion groups led by members of the Polaris Users Group as well as two Technology Showcases presented by vendors.  A sample of the discussion group topics included:  "Pros and Cons of Using Thin Client and Terminal Server", Z39.50/NCIP/Zing:  "Cataloging and Connecting to Your Neighbors" and "Reference 'round the Clock".  In addition to those discussions, there were various "Polaris Tips and Tricks" sessions.  Friday night was the GIS President’s Reception - an annual event whose theme was:  Happy 2^nd Birthday PUG!

The third day included more discussion groups, numerous "Polaris Tips and Tricks" sessions and an opportunity to brainstorm with the Polaris Product Analysts.  A highlight of that day was the "Ask Bill" session where CEO Bill Schickling and members of the GIS Management Team answered questions from the members of the Users Group.  The GIS Team replied to questions that had been submitted prior to the Annual Conference and questions from the members during the session.

Each day of the conference included business meetings of the Polaris Users Group and on the final day of the conference, the election results for Steering Committee vacancies were announced.  Elected this year were:  Brad Westmoreland, Chair; Sylvia Lee, Vice-Chair; Maryam Phillips, Treasurer; Juliane Morian, Member-at-large, and Sherry Knight, Member-at-large.  This Steering Committee will serve for 2004, and will plan next year's conference. 

2004 Annual Meeting

September 16 - 18, 2004