A few more photos of the SLA West Coast Chapters Reception:

SLA-SD Chapter member Kathy Cook and her husband Steve greeting attendees at the welcome table.

The poster thanking our sponsors.

The views of the White House and the Washington Monument from the windows of the First Amendment Lounge at the National Press Club.

Here are some photos from the SLA Annual Conference held in Washington DC June 13-17. You can click on the photos to see the full size image.

SLA CEO Janice Lachance at podium and President Gloria Zamora at left at the opening of the INFO-EXPO exhibit hall.

Full-size cardboard figures of President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary of State Clinton were very popular. President Obama is either very tall or SLA-SD Past President Kathy Quinn is very short . . . hmmm . . .

The Hoover robot was quite a hit, greeting the attendees as we entered the ballroom for the opening session and keynote speech by Gen. Colin Powell. The robot was programmed to “talk” and even interact and respond.  Quite fun!

SLA-SD Chapter President Cindy Shamel at the AIIP (Association for Independent Information Professionals) booth in the exhibit hall.

SLA-SD Chapter member Kathy Cook, Past President Kathy Quinn, and President Cindy Shamel enjoying the celebration of SLA’s Centennial.

I can honestly say, that a good time was had by all.  The National Press Club First Amendment Lounge hummed with intense networking on Monday evening, June 15.  Over 115 members from the seven West Coast Chapters enjoyed the company of their colleagues along with scrumptious food and refreshing beverages.

Organizer and Past President of the San Diego Chapter, Kathy Quinn welcomed all of the guests and thanked our very generous sponsors.   These included IEEE, Infotrieve, EOS, ReprintsDesk, CyberTools for Libraries, Dialog, and Ovid.

Attendees enjoyed good conversation, good food, and fabulous views.  From the windows we could glimpse the Washington Monument and the roof of the White House.

Thanks go to volunteers Kathy Cook, Cubic Corporation; Cindy Shamel, Shamel Information Services; and Gus Pritchett, Gemological Institute of America for staffing the welcome table.

Special thanks to Kathy Quinn for organizing a most enjoyable and successful 2009 West Coast Chapters Reception.

SLA and American Association of Law Libraries will both meet in Washington, DC this summer.  In San Diego we’re joining forces to prepare for the trek East.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009
5:30 – 7:00 PM California Western School of Law      

350 Cedar Street Room LH-1
San Diego

Join us for an informal meeting and pizza party.  We’ll show short films and have literature available about our nation’s capitol.

RSVP by Februry 13 to Bobbi Weaver baw@cwsl.edu
Bring $5.00 to cover the cost of the pizza and drinks.

Parking – limited street parking with paid lots in the area. 

http://www.fivestarparking.com/city_sandiego.php.

Public Transportation – Civic Center trolley stop (3rd & C St.); Beech St. stop of bus Route 11; Ash St. stop of bus route 30; or take Coaster to Santa Fe Depot and transfer to 3rd & C Trolley.  http://www.sdcommute.com

Many of you probably heard about SLA's plans to celebrate the association's centennial in 2009.  The initial plan was for a gala event on Sunday evening during next year's annual conference.  When that plan was presented to division and chapter officers at this year's annual conference, there were many objections, primarily due to the cost and the limited number (2,000) of tickets for the gala.  The Centennial Commission listened to those objections and has cancelled the gala.  Further details are in the email below.

- Kathy Quinn, SLA-SD President

- – - – - – - – - – - -

Dear Leaders,

You spoke and the SLA Centennial Commission has listened:  The Centennial Gala originally planned as part of SLA 2009 will not take place.  After careful consideration, we determined that looking into other types of events to honor the association would be more appropriate for the membership.

We look forward to incorporating centennial celebrations throughout the SLA 2009 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO, as well as throughout the year.  With this more inclusive approach, all SLA members will have numerous opportunities to toast the first century of our achievements together as information professionals and applaud the exciting changes taking place at SLA and in our profession.

One of the events the Commission is considering is an Opening Centennial Reception (not requiring unit sponsorship) on Sunday evening following the Opening General Session. Please note that this change leaves Sunday night open for unit planners to plan activities and members may come and go at the reception as they wish. One schedule under consideration for Sunday is as follows:

1:00 pm INFO-EXPO Opening with cake and champagne/sparkling cider

3:00-5:00 pm INFO-EXPO Networking Reception with food

5:15-7:15 pm Opening Session

7:30-9:00 pm Opening Centennial Reception with light food, drinks and entertainment

Thank you for your continued support of SLA’s Centennial Celebration. There will be opportunities for sponsorship of centennial activities at the conference and throughout the year, and more information will be forthcoming. We will continue to keep you updated on our plans to make the entire year a very special one that both celebrates the past and envisions a bright future for the association and the profession.

As always, we continue to solicit your suggestions, which you can send to 100@sla.org.

All the best,

The Centennial Commission and 2009 Conference Planning Committee

Dav Robertson, Chair

Lynne McCay

Bill Fisher

David Cappoli

Patricia Cia

Kristin Foldvik

Stacey Greenwell

John Larrier

Tamika McCollough

DeVonne Parks

Deborah Rash

Tom Rink

Karen Kreizman Reczek

Cara Schatz

Information to Inspiration: Knowledge & Vision Shaping the Future

SLA Celebrating 100 Years: 1909-2009

Internet Librarian 2007 Conference Report
by SuHui Ho, SLA-SD Chapter Treasurer

“2.0: Info Pros, Library Communities & Web
Tools” were the themes of the Internet Librarian 2007 Conference.  Web
2.0 and Library 2.0 were the buzz words in this conference with eleven tracks
devoted to the various aspects of the web and web 2.0 issues.  The tracks
were:

1. Information discovery & search. 
2. Web design and
development. 
3. Strategies & best practices.   
4. Learning:
more than teaching. 
5. Enterprise trends. 
6. 2.0 organizations
& roles. 
7. Virtual worlds & libraries. 
8. Search
engines. 
9. Content management. 
10. Digital libraries, systems,
operations. 
11. Games, videos & libraries.   

The Internet
Librarian 2007 Conference has evolved from a “geek” conference
attended mostly by webmasters and IT personnel to a conference attended by a
wide audience including public services librarians and
administrators interested in delivering library services to the web, a
core space of the library.  One trend that is evident in the conference is
libraries nationwide are embracing the web as a core service space.  The
focus has been shifted from merely delivering resources on the web to providing
services on the web.  Libraries are experimenting with various web 2.0
tools to market the library, promote resources, interact with users, and create
communities right on the web space.  Libraries should actively seek out
“best practices” in using web 2.0 tools in public services and
participate in developing a new service model in this web space. 

Another point I took from the conference is that libraries need to develop new
ways to measure our success.  As Joe Janes, the keynote speaker of the
conference noted, libraries are more successful than ever. However
libraries’ budgets have not increased because libraries have not
systematically gathered web statistics even though the number has doubled.  It is beneficial for libraries to develop strategies to gather
various web statistics, from web pages, OPACs, e-journal usage, and other electronic
collections. 

by Nancy Stimson

This was one of the best SLA annual conferences that I've ever attended. These were some of the highlights for me:

"Future Shock! Libraries for Next-Gen Science and Scientists."

I sat at a table where we talked about interdisciplinary sciences. Some of the useful things that came out of that session were:

-       Sometimes interdisciplinary programs fall between the cracks because there isn't a liaison specifically for that area

-       It's hard to identify all your clientele, in various departments, so that you can promote to them

-       It might be a good idea to create a web portal(s) for people working in interdisciplinary topics.

-       We could fill out a worksheet when we talk to faculty and put that information in an internal database

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by Kathy Quinn, President-elect

I expected to be informed and educated, but certainly not entertained, when I signed up for a CE course titled Copyright in the Digital Age at the SLA Annual Conference.

However, I was sorely mistaken with my stereotypical opinion of how dry and boring a complicated legal topic such as copyright would be. This “Click U! Live” class was taught by several attorneys affiliated with the Copyright Clearance Center, primarily Mr. Frederic Haber, its Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.

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Adele Barsh

Most of the SLA annual conference’s Opening Session format is perennially predictable—the acknowledgement of major sponsors and the announcement of association-wide awards that feature outstanding SLA members. It is our industry’s version of the Oscars, complete with statuette. Instead of a golden Oscar, though, our recipients get a bronze bust of the slightly dour-looking John Cotton Dana, which appears to have considerable heft, going by the looks of surprise on recipients’ faces when they first grasp it. I hesitate to draw any conclusions about what that icon says about our profession, but I favor this sort of recognition and celebration. The bonus is that the featured speaker who follows is always inspiring (at least at the several conferences I have attended). This year’s keynote in Denver raised the bar, however, due to the high profile and ‘rock star’-like status of the featured speaker: former Vice-President, Al Gore. The pre-Session buzz was much more intense than usual. . . and so were the Session’s long lines and security scrutiny before getting into the hall.

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