UB Libraries to host 2022 Code4Lib conference

The UB Libraries will host the 2022 Code4Lib annual conference, which brings together technologists from around the world who work for and with libraries, archives and museums to share new ideas and forge collaborations.

Formed in 2003, Code4Lib welcomes hundreds of developers each year who are committed to the creation and use of open technology.

The four-day conference, scheduled from May 23-26, will be held at the Jacobs School of Medical and Biomedical Sciences at UB. The cost to attend begins at $195. Registration is available on the Code4Lib conference website.

Pre-conference workshops will be held May 23 in Hayes Hall on the UB South Campus. Each half-day, pre-conference workshop costs an additional $40 to attend.

“Code4Lib is a community rather than an organization. Everyone is a leader, which makes the group more inclusive. The presentations consistently incorporate social justice, privacy and security issues, and share how to get work done in an equitable way,” says Karlen Chase, 2022 Code4Lib Buffalo local planning committee chair and head of institutional repository services at the UB Libraries. “It’s the first library conference that ever surprised me, and surprise facilitates innovation.”

The event will feature more than 40 discussions and workshops that address a range of topics, some of which include the development of APIs (application programming interface) that scan library collections and bookstores for course books to help students save money on the cost of textbooks; guidelines on how to create research data and e-books that are accessible to all people, including those with disabilities; the exploration of how automation can allow librarians to spend more time on meaningful work; and training on how to detect algorithm bias.  

Crystal Lee, a PhD candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a senior fellow in responsible computer science at Mozilla, will deliver the opening keynote at 9:15 a.m. May 24. Her work investigates the “lifecycle of data representations,” or the process by which data is curated, cleaned, visualized and circulated, as well as the history of disability and human-computer interaction. Lee is also a research affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She previously worked as a visiting research scientist for the European Commission.

The closing keynote at 9:15 a.m. May 26 will be delivered by Lauren Chambers, a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. Previously a staff technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and a software developer for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope mission, Chambers now studies the intersection of data, technology and sociopolitical advocacy. Her past work includes tracking the disparate effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations, analyzing policing budgets and practices, and advocating for the regulation of government facial surveillance.

All presentations will be streamed and archived on the Code4Lib YouTube channel after the conference has ended. Guests are also encouraged to subscribe to the #code4libcon Slack channel to engage in discussions with conference attendees.