American Library Association (ALA) Begins “Rethinking” Annual Conference
From a Post on the ACRL Insider Blog by ALA Conference Committee Chair Clara N. Bohrer:
The ALA Conference Committee is seeking your assistance as we rethink the ALA Annual Conference, looking at member experience, conference-based collaboration and networking, learning and sustainability.
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Our focus is the best possible conference experience for all participants, forward-focused innovation, and long-term sustainability for our association. So, we are seeking your collaboration with the ALA Conference Committee as we examine what we are currently doing, think about possible new opportunities, and explore new ways to collaborate. We will end up doing less of some things. We may end up doing some things we don’t currently do — but would like to do.
The Committee has asked Mary Ghikas, ALA’s Senior Associate Executive Director, to develop a couple of different models, looking at three inventories:
- The things we do at conferences – programs, discussion groups, meetings, special events.
- The places we use at conferences – meeting rooms at both the convention center and hotels.
- The conference schedule – the designated time periods for programs and other conference activities.
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It will be the task of the ALA Conference Committee to examine and discuss the models presented, to share and obtain input from across the Association on the models, and to select or modify a model for implementation at the 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans and future annual conferences.
In the future, we will be asking for your feedback on models
Learn More, Read the Complete Blog Post (approx. 740 words)
See Also: ALA Conference Committee Webpage and Resources
Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Libraries, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.