PLA announces selection of President's Program keynote speaker at 2006 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans

Contact: Barb Macikas


Deputy Director, PLA


312-280-5025

For Immediate Release


March 7, 2006

PLA announces selection of President's Program keynote speaker at 2006 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans

CHICAGO – Author and television news anchor Anderson Cooper will keynote the Public Library Association (PLA) President's Program at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. The program, to be held Monday, June 26, at 5 p.m., is part of the ALA Auditorium Speakers Series. PLA President Daniel L. Walters (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District) will preside. PLA's annual service awards will be presented at the program.

Anderson Cooper anchors Anderson Cooper 360°, an unconventional, wide-ranging news program airing on CNN/U.S. weekdays. Cooper has anchored major breaking news stories, most recently the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. In his new book, “Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival,” (HarperCollins Publishers; June 2006), Cooper relates everything he saw and experienced as a correspondent and an anchor in 2005, when he traveled to some of the world's most dangerous places and unforgettable events, from the destruction of the tsunami in South Asia to the hunger crisis in Niger to the deadly Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. HarperCollins Publishers is a sponsor of this event.

Following the PLA President's Program is a gala, music-filled reception. In addition, PLA will present more than 20 continuing education programs during the conference. For more information regarding the conference, visit
www.pla.org or call 800-545-2433, ext. 5752. PLA is a division of the American Library Association.