MLA Conference Announcement!

MLA is Growing Communities, May 6 – 9, 2008 at the SeaCrest Resort & Conference Center, Falmouth, MA

The MLA Conference Committee has pulled out all the stops to deliver an annual conference that just keeps getting better! This year sees formal partnerships with ACRL/New England, the Cooperative Libraries Association and the Massachusetts School Library Association to develop programming to appeal to libraries of all types in Massachusetts. Outstanding programming will be offered in the following tracks:

* Youth Services
* Technical Services
* Paralibrarian Issues
* Academic Libraries
* School Libraries
* Reader’s Advisory
* Marketing and Outreach
* Reference and ILL
* Technology
* Self-Improvement and more!

This year’s conference features the return of the popular Career Center, round two of MLA’s incredibly fun Trivia/Auction fundraiser led by MLA Executive Director Keith Fiels, and the debut of MLA’s Technology Petting Zoo in the Exhibit Hall!

Names? You want names? How about these?

* Nancy Pearl
* David Lee King
* Aaron Schmidt
* Authors: Linda Barnes, Mameve Medwed, Katherine Hall Page, Elizabeth Haydon, Tracy Brown
* Marshall Keys
* Diane Hillmann
* Susan Parker
* Janet Swan Hill
* Lesley Farmer
* Maureen Sullivan
* Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum (the creators behind Unshelved, the library comic strip) to name just a few.

To top things off, how about a reception at the newly-finished Falmouth Public Library, and the first ever Massachusetts Book Cart Drill Team official competition?

Incredibly Relevant Pre-Conference: MLA’s Technical Services Section in conjunction with the Conference Committee, offers a one and a half day pre-conference. Mark Tuesday, May 6 and Wednesday morning, May 7 on your calendars for The Future of the ILS. With names like Marshall Breeding, and Eric Lease Morgan providing the opening and closing events, and representatives discussing the Georgia PINES project, Koha, Endeca, VUFind, Scriblio, and WorldCat Local, the future of the ILS will be poked and prodded from nearly every conceivable angle. Add to that demos from vendors on their latest technology and services, a complementary dinner, and an open planning session and discussion on where Massachusetts needs to focus regarding Open Source alternatives, and you’ve got a day and a half packed full of the latest important topics in Library automation.

The Ease of Being in Falmouth: “But Falmouth is so hard to get to,” you say. Don’t worry! Plans are in the works to provide buses from Springfield and Worcester to the Conference Center each morning, with return trips each night, you can come down for the day, or two, or the entire conference without having to drive! More information as it becomes available.

Full programs and registration for MLA’s Annual Conference will appear very soon, at http://wwww.masslib.org!