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Steamy Chicago Conference Breaks ALA Record“Ever since we’ve had to worry about our own government looking over our shoulders in the library, you’ve been there to stand up and speak out on privacy issues,” Barack Obama told librarians at the opening session of the American Library Association’s June 23–29 Annual Conference in Chicago. “You’re full-time defenders of the most fundamental American liberties, and for that, you deserve America’s deepest gratitude,” said the junior Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois.Despite scorching Chicago temperatures and an underground cable explosion that knocked out power June 24 at the McCormick Place Convention Center, librarians and library supporters flocked to the rather windless Windy City, bringing conference attendance to a record 27,800. Attendees chose from over 2,000 programs and meetings tracked by a broad array of themes: administration and leadership; authors, literature, and cultural programming; children and young adults; collection management and technical services; digital information and technologies; information literacy; issues and updates; research; staffing and staff development; and user services, reference, and outreach. Advocacy took center stage at ALA President Carol Brey-Casiano’s program on “The Library as Place,” with futurist Lowell Catlett. The ALA Council passed several notable resolutions, stating, among them one voicing the Association’s opposition to all legislative and government attempts to proscribe library materials related to sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. The governing body also called for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq in a carefully crafted resolution that succeeded where a similar attempt at last year’s Annual Conference in Orlando failed. Chicago attractions and talks by popular writers such as David Sedaris and Henry Winkler, better known as the Fonz on the long-running television series Happy Days, helped conference-goers forget the heat wave. The annual Scholarship Bash attracted large numbers of attendees to the Museum of Science and Industry, where their $35 tickets included admission to the “Body Worlds” anatomical exhibition of real human bodies and raised money for the Association’s scholarship program for library school students. A complete report on the conference is scheduled for the August issue of American Libraries. Posted July 1, 2005. |
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