ACURIL 2024: Message from President Erick Toussaint

The annual conference of the Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL) will take place this year from May 12th to 16th in Georgetown, Guyana. Under the theme "From Metadata to Big Data: Trends and Hidden Treasures in Caribbean Libraries, Museums, and Archives," this event promises to be rich in discussions, sharing experiences, and networking. Below, we share the full message from the ACURIL President 2024, Erick Toussaint.

I have always been passionate about technology and its implementation in libraries in particular. All to improve the services for the users. Everything that happens generates data. Number of visits, category of books getting out, length of loans, late returns, loan renewal, participation in activities of the libraries, requests, and you name it. Just like the outer world you would say. But the evolution of technology is faster than we can realize. Jumping from metadata to collecting different types of data, to the era of AI, we have lessons to learn and a need to adapt.

Since my first ACURIL 14 years ago, I’ve seen presentations and posters, participated in workshops about technological progress in our libraries. We always wanted more as our curiosity as librarians would dictate to us. Now, the needs are shifting, and some tools tend to be accessible to more people. I believe the library field needs to start talking about the possibilities of today’s technology and how we can improve the services accordingly. ChatGPT, Dall-E, and other generative AI tools are being used in academic works. What are the reasonable limits, security threats and ethics in all of it?

The theme of the conference comes from this thinking: From metadata to big data: trends and hidden treasures in libraries, museums, and archives of the Caribbean.
Three sub-themes will be discussed each day of the conference respectively:
1. From data collection to their usage in libraries, museums, and archive
2. How can libraries, museums, and archives of the Caribbean benefit from big data and AI?
3. Ethics, privacy concerns and the future of data in the libraries, museums, and archives of the Caribbean.

There could be sub-themes. And your approach to the subject of AI and Big Data will probably differ from mine but that’s the beauty of sharing.

I, hereby, invite you solely to come animate the discussion from May 12-16 in Georgetown, Guyana for the annual conference of ACURIL. Submit your proposals in the call for papers, workshops, and poster presentations. Tell us what you’ve been doing, what are the plans to tackle AI based services in your library, museum, or archive. But also, because it’s ACURIL, come to dance, eat, and have fun and find what unites us within our diversity.

Erick Toussaint
ACURIL 2024 President