Keynote Biographies & Backgrounds

Laura Campbell, U.S. Library of Congress

On Oct. 2, 2000, Laura E. Campbell was appointed by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington as Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives, a new Library of Congress position.

Creation of the position responds to a recommendation contained in the July 26, 2000, National Academy of Sciences report, "LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress."

Ms. Campbell is responsible for the overall strategic planning for the Library, which includes development of a national strategy, in cooperation with other institutions, for the collection, access and preservation of digital materials.  This collaborative effort is formally called the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program.  Ms. Campbell is the Library’s CIO and also oversees the Information Technology Services directorate at the Library.  

In 2007, Ms. Campbell was the recipient of the EMC Information Leadership Award from the Computerworld Honors Program.   

Ms. Campbell is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University (B.A., 1973), the University of Maine (M.A. in management, 1979) and Georgetown University (M.S. in accounting, 1983).

Gunnar Sahlin, National Library of Sweden

Gunnar Sahlin was born 1946 and appointed as National Librarian of Sweden and Director of the National Library of Sweden 2003. Before he was Director of Stockholm University Library (1996-2003), First Librarian and Head of Department at Stockholm University Library and Uppsala University Library (1989-1994).

In 1989 he received a doctorate in Literature from the University of Stockholm. He was Lecturer and postgraduate researcher at the Department of History of Literature, Stockholm University (1980-1989). He was also Lecturer at Information and Library Science courses at Uppsala University and University of Borås.

Mr Sahlin has several assignments in national and international boards. He is Vice Chairman of the Swedish School of Library and Information Science at the University College of Borås (2003-), and he was committee member in University of Gotland (2004-09). He was Vice Chairman for the Swedish Library Association (1998-03), Treasurer and member of IFLA Governing Board (2005-09), and now he is Chair of The European Library Management Board (2010-). He was municipal commissioner with various committee assignments for the municipal authorities and county councils (1987-1998). He holds appointments and assignments in several other foundations, associations and companies.

Mr Sahlin has published books, articles, reviews and web-based lectures concerning the history of literature and issues regarding librarianship. In addition he has delivered numerous lectures and chaired seminars on both a national and international level.