Librarians feature at 'techie' conference

SXSWi (South by South West interactive) 2011 wrapped up in Texas earlier this week.  Lucky attendees enjoyed five days of presentations and events featuring innovative, emerging technologies in the creative industries.  (For those of us unable to attend SXSW events, there is always Twitter @SXSW).Phoebe Connelly was one of the lucky participants.  She networked, attended sessions and had interesting conversations.  And she ‘kept coming back to the librarians'.Writing in The Atlantic, she calls librarians, ‘the lens through which to view SXSWi'.  Every day of the event saw librarians being showcased, leading debates on such issues as user needs; data for a purpose; and data visualisation.For Phoebe, the presence of the librarians helped to keep a focus on the purpose of technology and on the end users, rather than on the technology itself.  Phoebe's article (SXSW: the year of the librarian) is here.