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Despite SARS Scare, Toronto Conference Draws 17,600That the American and Canadian Library Associations’ joint Annual Conference in Toronto, June 19–25, happened at all might be considered a miracle. That it brought some 17,671 librarians and library supporters to a city whose tourism industry has been devastated by SARS is what association officials are calling the triumph of information over media-induced hysteria. Nevertheless, attendance was nearly one-third lower than the projections of 25,000 made before severe acute respiratory syndrome threatened to force cancellation of the first joint ALA/CLA conference in 43 years.Unfazed by the SARS outbreak, keynote speakers including U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Canadian author Margaret Atwood, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, and journalist Naomi Klein addressed issues key to the library profession—among them threats to privacy posed by the USA Patriot Act, which Sanders characterized as “an extremely dangerous piece of legislation that strikes at the heart of what freedom is all about.” Klein called librarians “beacons of sanity in an increasingly insane world,” and Nader said librarians must fight the current wave of funding cuts. “Once the libraries go, there goes democracy,” Atwood observed. Conference spirits were dampened less by SARS than by the news that the Supreme Court had ruled June 23 against ALA in its challenge to the Children’s Internet Protection Act. The more than 2,000 programs and meetings that made up the conference were “tracked” by general themes: administration; children and young adults; electronic and digital information; issues and updates; literature, cultural heritage, and public programming; staff development, recruitment, and education; technical services and collection management; and user services and outreach. Despite many cancellations, the exhibit halls and most programs enjoyed solid attendance, which totaled only about 3,400 less than last year’s ALA conference in Atlanta. Posted June 30, 2003. |
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