ROCH CARRIER Roch Carrier Roch Carrier was born in Sainte-Justine, Quebec, on May 13, 1937. He received a bachelor of arts degree (1957)from the Université Saint-Louis in Edmundston, New Brunswick, a master of arts degree (1964) from the Université de Montréal, and a doctorat ès lettres degree (1970) from the Université de Paris. In 1964, he joined the French Department of the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean (CMR), where he taught literature until 1970. In search of new challenges, he continued his teaching career at the Université de Montréal (1970-1971). He was appointed secretary general of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in 1971. He returned to CMR as director of the French Department (1973-1980) and coordinator of the undergraduate program in Canadian Studies. In 1986, he became dean of the Faculty of Administration and Humanities. In August 1989, he was named acting rector, and in March 1990, he was appointed rector. Several novels written by Mr. Carrier are considered classics and are used in schools and universities around the world, in both French and English. Some have been translated into foreign languages. He has also written plays that have been produced both in Canada and abroad. In addition to teaching, administrative responsibilities and writing, Mr. Carrier has been active in such prestigious cultural organizations as the Canada Council for the Arts and the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, where he served on the board of directors, in various capacities, over a period of 12 years. He also acted as a consultant to the Canadian Film Development Corporation for six years. He was the director of Québec 10/10, a collection of Quebec literature published in paperback by Stanké, and was advisor to the Quebec Minister of Cultural Affairs. Roch Carrier is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a recipient of the Stephen Leacock Medal. He holds honorary doctorates from the Université de Moncton in New Brunswick, York University in Toronto, Memorial University in Newfoundland and the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. From 1994 to 1997, he was director of the Canada Council for the Arts, after which time he turned his focus to travel, studying and writing. Mr. Carrier became Canada's fourth National Librarian on October 1, 1999. The title of Mr. Carrier's presentation will be 'The National Library of Canada, Then and Now'. The National Librarian will talk about the history of the National Library of Canada and his insights on its future.

JEAN-CLAUDE GUÉDON Jean-Claude Guédon earned a PhD in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1974, and has been on the faculty of the Université de Montréal for more than 25 years, first in history of science and more recently in comparative literature. During that time he has lectured on all continents of the planet and written more than 100 publications on the history of science and technology from the 18th to the 20th centuries, on issues as diverse as the philosophy and sociology of knowledge, sci-ence culture, science popularization and science museums, electronic publishing, and social and cultural issues relating to the Internet. For the last 15 years, from the early days of telematics and Bitnet, Dr. Guédon has followed developments in electronic communication technologies. In 1991 he launched Surfaces, now the oldest surviving scholarly electronic journal in Canada. In 1995 he became active in the Internet Society, and is also a member of the membership task force of ICANN, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. His 1996 book on cyberspace, La Planète Cyber. Internet et cyberespace (Gallimard-Découvertes, Paris) has enjoyed wide exposure with sales of more than 100,000 copies and translation into Italian; a second edition will be published in 2001. Last year Dr. Guédon was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Canadian National Site Licensing Project and is a member of the Project steering committee.