WebSearch University 2009 Speakers

Mary Ellen Bates
Principal, Bates Information Services, Inc.
Mary Ellen is the owner of Bates Information Services, providing strategic business research and analysis to business professionals and special librarians, and consulting services to the information industry. She also offers strategic busines coaching for entrepreneurs.

She is a prolific writer and speaker, having keynoted at conferences around the world and written six books and innumerable articles on the information industry. She is a regular columnist for ONLINE magazine and contributing editor for Information Advisor. She received her MLS from the University of California, Berkeley, and worked in special libraries for over a decade before starting her own company in 1991. She currently serves on the board of directors of SLA.

Robert I Berkman
Editor, The Information Advisor, Associate Professor, Media Studies, The New School, NY, NY
As the founder and editor of The Information Advisor, an international monthly journal for business researchers, Robert Berkman has over 25 years of experience teaching others about effective research techniques. He is the author of several books on research, online searching, and the media, including The Art of Strategic Listening (Paramount Market Publishing, 2008); The Skeptical Business Searcher (CyberAge, 2004) and Find it Fast: How to Uncover Expert Information on Any Subject (HarperCollins, 5th ed. 2000). He has given workshops and presentations on research and searching to firms like Accenture and Eastman Kodak and organizations such as the Special Libraries Association and the European Journalism Centre.

Berkman is also an associate professor at the Department of Media Studies and Film at the New School in New York City where his focus is on emerging media technologies. Berkman lives in Rochester, New York.

Kathy Dempsey
Editor, Marketing Library Services newsletter, Owner, Libraries Are Essential consultancy
Kathy Dempsey is the editor of Marketing Library Services newsletter and former editor-in-chief of Computers in Libraries magazine. She joined Information Today, Inc. back in 1994. In 2005, she started a consultancy called Libraries Are Essential to help librarians promote their value (www.LibrariesAreEssential.com). She also blogs at "The M Word." In 2009, she published a book called The Accidental Library Marketer.

Dan Giancaterino
Education Services Manager, Jenkins Law Library


Dan Giancaterino teaches online Continuing Legal Education classes at Jenkins Law Library in Philadelphia.  He has discussed Web searching on The Michael Smerconish Morning Show, The Glenn Beck Program, and Bill O'Reilly's Radio Factor on The Big Talker, WPHT 1210 AM.

Laura Gordon-Murnane
Intranet Web Master, Library, Bloomberg BNA
Laura Gordon-Murnane is currently employed at Bloomberg BNA as their intranet web master.  She has been with BNA for more than ten years.  Laura earned her MLS degree from the University of Maryland.  Library Journal named her as one of their Movers and Shakers for 2005 and she has published many articles for Searcher and Online.

Ran Hock
Principal, Online Strategies
Ran is the author of The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook, The Traveler's Web, The Extreme Searcher's Guide to Web Search Engines, and Yahoo! to the Max. He is also a frequent contributor and columnist for professional publications. Through his company, Online Strategies, Ran creates and presents courses on using the Web for professional associations, governments, NGO's, companies, schools, and businesses in the U.S. and abroad. Ran has held management and training positions with DIALOG and Knight-Ridder Information Services, and has been a reference librarian at MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently an adjunct faculty member for Catholic University's School of Library and Information Science, and has served as adjunct faculty for Lesley University's Technology in Education Program, and Johns Hopkins University. He is active in the American Society for Information Science and Technology and the Association of Independent Information Professionals.

Greg Notess
Reference Team Leader, Montana State University
Greg Notess, founder of SearchEngineShowdown.com and reference team leader at Montana State University library, is an award-winning author, consultant, and international conference speaker. He writes the "On the Net" and "Search Engine Update" columns for Online Searcher, and his most recent book is Screencasting for Libraries.

Marydee Ojala
Editor-in-Chief, Online Searcher magazine
Marydee Ojala is Editor-in-Chief of Online Searcher (the successor journal to ONLINE) and writes its business research column ("The Dollar Sign"). She contributes feature articles and news stories to Information Today, Searcher, EContent, Computers in Libraries, Intranets, Cyber Skeptic's Guide to the Internet, Business Information Review, and Information Today's NewsBreaks. Her blog is ONLINEInsider.net. A long-time observer of the information industry, she speaks frequently at conferences, such as WebSearch University, Internet Librarian, Online Information (London, UK), Internet Librarian International, and national library meetings outside the U.S. She has adjunct faculty status at the School of Library and Information Science at IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis). Her professional career began at BankAmerica Corporation, San Francisco, directing a worldwide program of research and information services. She established her independent information research business in 1987. Her undergraduate degree is from Brown University and her MLS was earned at the University of Pittsburgh.

Gary Price
Co-Founder, INFODocket & FullTextReports
Gary Price was the Founder and editor of both ResourceShelf and DocuTicker, published by Free Pint, Ltd. Having left those publications, he is now co-founder of Library Journal's INFODocket and FullTextReports. He co-authored (with Chris Sherman) The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See, published by Information Today, Inc. Price lives in suburban Washington D.C. and earned a Masters of Library and Information Science from Wayne State University in Detroit.

Chris Sherman
Executive Editor, Search Engine Land
Chris Sherman is executive editor of Search Engine Land and president of Searchwise LLC, a Boulder CO-based web consulting firm. He is the author of Google Power: Unleash the Full Power of Google, published by McGraw-Hill. He co-authored (with Gary Price) The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See, published by Information Today, Inc. From 2001 through 2006, Chris was executive editor of SearchEngineWatch. Chris holds a master's degree in interactive educational technology from Stanford University and a B.A. in visual arts and communications from the University of California, San Diego.