Jill Hurst-Wahl, MLS, is president of Hurst Associates Ltd. and a senior instructor in Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies. She has more than 15 years of diversified professional experience with significant accomplishments in information retrieval and information technology. She is currently working on a two-year planning project with the Western New York Library Resources Council. She has also completed planning projects with the Capital District Library Council and the South Central Regional Library Council. She has also worked on several private (in-house) projects and the Women’s Suffrage Digitization Project, a demonstration project completed in 2000 by the Rochester Regional Library Council. Her knowledge in the area of digitization includes project planning, project management, vendor selection, intellectual property concerns, and material access.

She received her MLS from University of Maryland’s College of Library and Information Science. Prior to forming Hurst Associates, she worked for Manning & Napier Advisors and Corning Incorporated. Additional information on Jill Hurst-Wahl and Hurst Associates, Ltd. can be found online at www.HurstAssociates.com. Her blog, Digitization 101, can be read at hurstassociates.blogspot.com.

K. Matthew Dames is the founder and principal of Seso Group LLC, a strategy and advisory firm that helps clients in the private and federal sectors connect the dots between business, law, information, and technology.

His insight and broad range of skills has led to successful ventures as an information professional (including induction into Beta Phi Mu, the national honor society for information scientists); legal and business advisor for a billion dollar company (where he developed a creditor-side bankruptcy practice and negotiated database licenses); journalist; and university professor (where he teaches graduate classes in copyright and licensing).

His deep comprehension of the myriad issues in the information transfer cycle, along with nearly 15 years of experience working in information-intensive industries, makes him a sought-after advisor, writer, and thinker on information technology issues.

He has presented and written extensively on the legal and business aspects of information technology, and is the author of executive editor for two Web logs: OpenWyre, which reports on online communication and collaboration; and CopyCense, which reports on the intersection of technology and law.

He earned his graduate information science degree from Syracuse University, and his law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.