To: Journalists

From: Jim Schenke, Purdue News Service

Date: May 12, 2005

Subject: Bioinformatics Week (May 16-20)

Shhh! The roles of librarians are changing. They're stepping out of the book stacks and digging into data mines.

Journalists are invited to learn about this emerging trend in conjunction with a first-of-its kind conference that teams librarians with researchers and experts from worldwide genetic data banks.

Bioinformatics Week 2005, Monday through Friday (May 16-20), will bring together representatives from two of the three worldwide genetics data banks with more than 300 Purdue librarians and researchers in various locations on campus.

There are two opportunities for stories:

• Purdue Dean of Libraries James Mullen and Purdue research librarians can be interviewed before or during the conference. Their story: Professional librarians, who have been organizing information for centuries, are revolutionizing the field of bioinformatics by providing the order and research skills that are needed to mine the growing and disorganized mounds of genetics information.

• Keynote speaker Andreas Baxevanis, director of the Computational Genomics Program at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, will talk at 10 a.m. on Monday (May 16) in the Purdue Memorial Union North Ballroom.

A related news release is available today (Thursday, May 12). Additional information is available now online.

Sources: James Mullins: (765) 494-2900, jmullins@purdue.edu

Diane Rein, Purdue life sciences librarian, (765) 494-2915, drein@purdue.edu

CONTACT: Jim Schenke, (765) 494-6262, jschenke@purdue.edu

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