Program Proposal Requirements

Primary Speaker
Each proposal must identify a Primary Speaker who will receive notification of the proposal's acceptance or rejection. If the proposal is accepted, the Primary Speaker will serve as the contact for the ACRL committee and staff. The Primary Speaker will work with his or her speakers to determine the scope of content, the order of speakers within the program, audiovisual needs, etc.; will confirm program details, descriptions and arrangements with speakers and staff; and will facilitate the program's presentation.

ACRL depends on Primary Speakers to perform a variety of functions in developing the program and ensuring that it is successful at the conference. These include becoming familiar with ACRL policies concerning expenses, honoraria, audiotaping, and publishing; communicating regularly with speakers; responding to requests for information from ACRL staff and committee members; and adhering to deadlines. By entering a proposal into the database, you agree to perform these functions to the best of your ability if your proposal is accepted, or to identify a substitute Primary Speaker as necessary.

ACRL reserves the right to reorganize content, combine proposals, and make other changes as necessary to render the proposal appropriate for presentation at its meetings. The involvement and agreement of the Primary Speaker will be sought on all such changes.

Additional Speakers Information
The Primary Speaker is required to provide full contact information for all of the speakers involved in the proposed session. ACRL requires complete contact information for every speaker (name, title, organization, address, phone, fax and e-mail) so we may issue appropriate speaker agreements to all presenters.

Program Format
Please choose the format you feel is the most appropriate for your proposal before you begin. Click here for Program Formats.

Program Theme
When submitting your proposal, please select a theme. Consider which theme your proposal would fall into depending on its subject content. Click here for Program Themes.

Program Title 
Creative, interesting and informative titles and descriptions are most favorably viewed by the proposal review committees and prospective program attendees.

Description
You will need to provide a detailed description (500 words) of your session, outlining its main points, its relevance to attendees, how it is unique and different from others that may address the same topic, and the ways you will engage your audience.  You will also need to provide a short description (75 words)which highlights the main points of your session.  If the proposal is accepted, the short description will be used in promotional materials and may be edited for style and clarity by ACRL staff.  Roundtable discussion proposals require the short description only.

Learning Outcomes
Suggestions for development*: A well-written learning outcome will identify what participants will be able to do as a result of attending your program. How will your target audience's skills, attitudes, knowledge, behavior, status, or life condition change or improve by participating in your program? Think about the intended impact of the program and how it fills a need or solves a problem. Develop at least three learning outcomes that describe the end result in terms of the behavior of the learner.

Tip: Consider using a verb or action phrase + "in order to" + an impact statement to design your outcomes. The first phrase describes the skill or task you want to learner to perform, and the second phrase describes its impact and why it is important. Examples of well-written learning outcomes:

• Define assessment in terms of student learning in order to identify its relationship to good teaching.
• State several concepts and applications of assessment in order to apply it as a practical information literacy tool.
• Critically examine different classroom assessment techniques in order to evaluate them for application in your own setting.

*Adapted from: Debra Gilchrist, Assessment is Learning. ACRL Immersion Program, 2007

Funding
In accordance with ALA practices, ACRL members cannot receive honoraria nor have expenses reimbursed for presenting conference programs. Participants are required to pay for conference registration fees, travel, and other expenses. Non-librarian presenters may be eligible for per diem, travel reimbursement, and/or honorarium. All requests for reimbursement or honorarium are subject to approval by the program committee; acceptance of the proposal does not guarantee funding.

Audiovisual Equipment/Room Set
Please note that the standard room is theater-style to capacity with a podium and microphone, head table for four people with two table microphones, data projector, and screen. Computers are not provided as part of the standard equipment. Presenters are required to borrow or bring their own laptops. ACRL is unable to guarantee an Internet connection so if this is part of your presentation you will need to prepare a simulation.

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