ALA 2009

Today I received Fact Sheets on two programs that my co-worker, Mary Kelly, and I will be presenting at the ALA conference in July 2009. They have tentatively planned both programs for Monday, July 13, the first day of the conference. That's great because it gets all of our "work" out of the way in the first day and we can enjoy the rest of the conference free with our time. That's bad because we won't be able to attend much in the way of other sessions on that first day. It's very exciting, though! I attended one ALA conference when it was in Toronto, but have never spoken at it.

I also saw a posting online asking for program proposals on mobile reference for the 2009 Computers in Libraries conference. That's a topic near and dear to my heart, so I hope to submit a proposal to them.

We have also submitted programs to the Rural Libraries Conference to take place in Traverse City, MI in May, but have not heard back from them on acceptance.

On top of all these speaking plans, I found out this week that I will be stepping in for a panelist on an MLA annual conference session that my committee put together. He found out recently that he can not attend the conference for personal family reasons, so I will present his piece. It takes place in just over two weeks and I know nothing about the subject of "QRS: Quality Reference Service" (a peer-to-peer training program), but the panelist is meeting with me to brief me on it. I can also take it in my own direction on the theme of "Great Reference Service," so I know it will all work out just fine. A bit stressful at this late date, maybe, but not a problem.