2016-2017 CD#4.1
2017 ALA Annual Conference
WHAT’S HAPPENING: A PRE-CONFERENCE UPDATE
June 19, 2017
2017 ALA Annual Conference -- Chicago
New at the 2017 Conference
v 2016-2017 ALA President’s Program Join 2016-2017 ALA President Julie Todaro at the ALA President’s Program, scheduled on Saturday, June 24, 3:30-4:30pm. Be present for the launch of ALA’s Book Club Central. Honorary Chair Sarah Jessica Parker will reveal her first book pick. The author of the selected books will be signing following the session in McCormick Place (MCP) – W375b/Skyline. Sponsored by Penguin Random House.
v SCHOOL LIBRARY FOCUS
o Every school library advocate has a unique story to share about how they developed and grew partnerships. AASL/ALA’s recent Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) trainings focused on creating new and strengthening existing relationships in the community. All conference participants are invited to “Partnerships to Strengthen School Libraries,” Sunday, June 25, at the Hyatt Regency.
o Rally to Restore Illinois School Libraries. On Friday, June 23, 12pm, James R. Thompson Center (State of Illinois Building, 100 W Randolph St., Chicago 60601), ISLMA, the Illinois School Library Media Association, an affiliate of ALA/American Association of School Libraries (AASL), invites you to join librarians, parents, teachers, administrators and children from across Illinois and around the country for a demonstration in support of school librarians in Illinois.
v Stand for the Banned (Banned Books Video Readout)
Authors, ALA staff members, readers and librarians are invited to talk on-camera about book censorship and the freedom to read at OIF’s and SAGE Publishing’s Stand for the Banned recording booth. These videos will later be uploaded to the Banned Books Week YouTube Channel and promoted during Banned Books Week. The booth is located outside the Exhibit Hall, near the Registration area, and will be open from 9:00am – 5:00pm on Saturday and Sunday, June 24-25.
v PR Sunday Spotlight
A new series of marketing and public relations-focused sessions conveniently scheduled on a single day will premiere on Sunday, June 25. Events include:
o Libraries Transform: New Tools and Best Practices, 10:30-11:30, HILTON Chicago-Williford A.
n And stop by the ALA Lounge to pick up a free Libraries Transform window cling when you sign up for the campaign.
o PR Xchange Event, 11:30am-1:00pm, MCP, Exhibit Floor – Special Events Area
o Crisis Communication: Who Speaks for Your Library? 1:00-2:30pm, MCP – W194B
o PR Forum: Learning to Tell Your Library Story, with Ben Bizzle, 3:00-4:00pm, MCP – W185d
o John Cotton Dana Awards & Reception, 4:00-6:30pm, Blackstone Hotel – Crystal Ballroom
v Another program stream premiering this year: Start with a film screening – Upstairs Inferno – MCP – W181c, Saturday, June 24, 8:00-10:00am, followed by a series of programs from ALA’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT):
o Out and Proud: LGBTQ Literature, 10:30-11:30am, MCP – W190a
o Protest and Preservation, 1:00-2:30pm, MCP – W176a, including Upstairs Inferno director, Robert Camina
o Intersections and the Experience of GLBTQ Library Folks, MCP – 178b
v As we start the 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, we acknowledge the indigenous history of the state of Illinois and recognize the Potawatomi Tribe. For more information, see: http://www.ala.org/offices/potawatomi-illinois
v The Corporate Committee for Library Investment (CCLI) - https://www.fundlibraries.com/ - is a new alliance of companies and trade associations (not libraries or other organizations) advocating for library funding, co-conceived by Gale/Cengage and ALA’s Office of Government Relations. The group publicly launched in May with a letter from 25 businesses to U.S. senators asking for their support for library funding. Since then, CCLI has grown to nearly 100 companies, with current membership including publishing companies and prominent technology associations. CCLI sponsors will hold an organizational meeting and recruiting reception on Monday, June 26, 11:00am-12:00pm, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place – Grant Park D. Companies interested in learning more about CCLI can RSVP for the event online.
v Don’t miss the Opening General Session, featuring Reshma Saujani (Girls Who Code), at McCormick Place (MCP) 375b/Skyline Ballroom, followed by the ALA/ERT Exhibits Opening Reception (open to full-conference registrants, only), MCP – Exhibit Hall, 5:30-7:00pm.
v New in the Exhibit Hall:
ü Take a break from miles of aisles at The Park @ ALA, MCP – Exhibit Hall, Below the Food Court. Enjoy some green (carpet) space – and a comfortable seat. See page 30 in the Program & Exhibit Directory.
ü Try The Playground @ ALA to pilot a drone, see VR/AR demos and more. More additional information go to http://2017.alaannual.org/park-playground-ala
or see pages 30-31 in the Program & Exhibit Directory.
v The Porch Stage is back! Located in the Grand Concourse area of the convention center, this live stage focuses on solo acoustic acts across a wide range of musical instruments and styles. For a listing, see p29 in the Program & Exhibit Directory.
v See pages 54-55 in the Program and Exhibits Directory for Think Fit@ALA, a health and well-being initiative. Check our opportunities for community service, too.
Anniversaries and Remembrances
v The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom will commemorate its 50th anniversary during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. It will celebrate the event during the IF 101 program with a special cake and the support of leaders and members of the Intellectual Freedom Committee, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and the Intellectual Freedom Roundtable. All are invited to join in the festivities on Saturday, June 24, 10:30am, MCP – W180.
v Since January, Booklist has been celebrating the 50th year of the modern young-adult book, as is commonly defined by the 1967 publishing of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. Related activities at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference include author signings with seven top YA authors and Booklist’s #50YearsofYA Panel (Sunday, June 25, 2:00-4:00pm, MCP West – S103. Booklist’s 50 Years of YA Celebration – in print, online and at ALA Annual – is supported by HarperCollins Children’s Books; Little Brown Books for Young Readers; Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group; Penguin Young Readers Group; Random House Children’s Books; Scholastic; Simon & Schuster Children’s Books – and YOU.
v The Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary.
v ALA’s Spectrum Scholarship Program will be celebrating its 20th year. Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, will headline the kickoff celebration on Sunday, June 25, 4:00-6:00pm, 19 East Event Gallery (19 East 21st St., Chicago). Purchase your ticket through ALA Conference registration. See page 37 in the Program & Exhibit Directory for additional information.
v ALA’s Emerging Leaders Program will celebrate its 10th Year on Friday, June 23.
o Join the 2017 class of Emerging Leaders at a Poster Session, Friday, June 23, 2:30pm, MCP-W196b. Since the 2017 Midwinter Meeting, Emerging Leaders have been working on projects related to ALA or professional concerns, and the poster session will showcase their innovative solutions.
o Immediately following the poster session, in the same location, join in the 10th Anniversary celebration, 3:00-4:00pm, MCP – W196b.
Key Numbers
→ 2017 ALA Annual Conference Registration
Final pre-conference registration for the 2017 ALA Annual Conference is 19,498 – compared to 14,254 in Orlando (2016) and 19,351 in San Francisco (2015). This includes 9,470 paid registrations, 3,492 Exhibits-only and 5,610 exhibitors.
→ Membership (placeholder numbers FY16)
May 31, 2017 May 31, 2016
Total ALA Membership 56,603 58,919
Including:
Personal Members 50,907 53,038
Organizational Members 5,523 5,705
Corporate Members 173 176
Division Memberships May 31, 2017 May 31, 2016
American Association of School Librarians (AASL) 6,289 6,767
Association for Library Collections & Technical 3,396 3,527
Services (ALCTS)
Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) 4,196 4,115
Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 10,766 10,837
Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library
Agencies (ASCLA) 788 830
Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) 2,497 2,654
Library Leadership and Management Association
(LLAMA) 3,679 3,724
Public Library Association (PLA) 7,828 9,046
Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) 3,208 3,310
United for Libraries (UNITED) 4,442 4,429
Young Adult Library Association (YALSA) 4,817 5,117
Round Table Memberships May 31, 2017 May 31, 2016
Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange
Round Table (EMIERT) 792 645
Exhibits Round Table (ERT) 493 507
Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round
Table (FAFLRT) 358 303
Games and Gaming Round Table (GAMERT) 622 502
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Round
Table (GLBTRT) 1,280 1,118
Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) 612 650
Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) 1,222 1,123
International Relations Round Table (IRRT) 1,623 1,713
Learn Round Table (LEARNRT) 324 274
Library History Round Table (LHRT) 383 348
Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) 1,616 1,532
Library Research Round Table (LRRT) 1,229 1,187
Library Support Staff Interest Round Table (LSSIRT) 401 346
Map and Geospatial Information Round Table
(MAGIRT) 299 312
New Members Round Table (NMRT) 1,226 1,147
Retired Members Round Table (RMRT) 248 215
Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) 1,370 1,094
Staff Organizations Round Table (SORT) 156 135
Sustain Round Table (SUSTRT) 330 226
Video Round Table (VRT) 448 416
Hot Topics
· Climate Change
Acclaimed environmentalist, activist, and author Bill McKibben will speak on “Imagining a World That Works – In Time to Prevent a World That Doesn’t” on Saturday, June 24, 1:00-2:30pm, MCP – S102. McKibben’s body of work includes his 1989 book, The End of Nature, which many consider the first book for a general audience about climate change. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized 20,000 rallies around the world, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched a fossil fuel divestment movement. The session is sponsored by ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT), Sustainability Round Table (SUSTAINRT), the American Indian Library Association (AILA) and the Asian Pacific Librarians Association (APALA).
· Coding and Libraries: Libraries Ready to Code – Phase 3
For the past two years, ALA’s Office of Information Technology Policy (OITP) and Google have collaborated onLibraries Ready to Code, an initiative aiming to ensure libraries have the resources to embrace activities that promote computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) among our nation’s youth. Previous phases of the collaboration include alandscapeof CS education activity in libraries (Phase I) and support foruniversity LIS faculty(Phase II). Phase III will be announced on June 22. OITP is holding several sessions at Annual to introduce members to free resources and information to help get their libraries get Ready to Code, including a session that covers the program overall on Sunday, June 25, 1:00-2:30 (Hyatt Regency McCormick – DuSable/CC 21A-C). Also, Google is hosting a lounge in exhibit booth #3451 that will be staffed by Googlers knowledgeable about computer science, coding, education, literacy and related subjects. There will be hourly presentations, charging stations and comfortable chairs.
· Copyright
Legislation passed in the House and introduced in the Senate would make the Register of Copyrights a position appointed by the President rather than the Librarian of Congress. What’s behind this effort and its implications will be addressed in OITP’s session “A View from the Swamp” on Monday, June 26, 10:30-11:30am, MCP – W179b. In addition, OITP’s Copyright Education Subcommittee will host an “Ask a Copyright Question” booth on Saturday and Sunday, June 24-25, 10:00am-4:00pm in the MCP – Exhibition Hall, where visitors can get free copyright education resources and responses to concerns about any copyright-related issues they encounter.
· Data Rescue
In the current political climate, the endangerment of federally funded research results, including data, has become a reality. In response to the potential loss of public research data, many specialists, including librarians and archivists, have joined forces to rescue imperiled data. Grassroots efforts like “DataRefuge” events and “Endangered Data Week” are raising awareness and enabling data to be saved that otherwise would be left to disappear. The SPARC-ACRL Forum in Chicago will feature speakers presently or recently involved in #datarescue efforts, such as those led by the University of Pennsylvania and nurtured by the Digital Library Federation. Presentations are expected to report out on the movement; identify challenges and lessons learned; offer guidance and tips for potential #datarescue efforts; and, recommend what further roles organizations like ACRL and SPARC can play in this space. The forum will be held from 3:00-4:00 on Saturday, June 24, in MCP – S102.
· Equity/Diversity/Inclusion
o In 2009, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation launched its America Healing initiative, supporting racial equity/racial healing projects in over 100 communities. Building on this initiative, the Foundation has launched a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation enterprise (TRHT) designed to uproot the myth of a hierarchy of human value based on race. As a framework, it has prepared case studies on several America Healing communities. Join Gail Christopher, the Kellogg Foundation’s senior advisor and vice president for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, for a session about the principles employed, activities that have proven most effective, cross-sector collaborations, successes and challenges, and lessons learned. A question and answer period will explore how library workers can be engaged in the TRHT process. This session is co-sponsored by ALA’s Public Programs Office (PPO) and the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services (ODLOS), on Saturday, June 24, 3:00-4:00pm, MCP – W185d.
o In 1961, Geraldine Edwards Hollis and eight of her fellow students from Tougaloo College entered a whites-only library in Jackson, MS, and were arrested, helping to spark the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. Hear Ms. Hollis tell the story of the Tougaloo Nine, reflect on the Civil Rights movement, and inspire participants with both the story of her struggle and her enduring love of reading and libraries at Desegregating Public Libraries: The Tougaloo Nine, Sunday, June 25, 1:00-2:30pm, MCP – W184d. The program is co-sponsored by the ALA Committee of Professional Ethics, the Public Library Association (PLA), and the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services (ODLOS).
o Interested in youth librarianship? Join ALSC Leadership to discuss the transformation of ALSC. This year’s Leadership & ALSC program will connect the dots from Diversity and Inclusion to Learning and Development. Focusing on ALSC’s newly envisioned 2017 Strategic Plan, Dr. Nicole Cooke, from The iSchool at Illinois, will be discussing the research in the areas of diversity and social justice in librarianship, while the Diversity within ALSC Task Force and Emerging Leaders Project Team will present key findings on diversity and leadership trends and development, respectively. The event is scheduled Saturday, June 24, 8:30-11:30am, Hyatt Regency Chicago – Columbus A-D.