President Dahl to speak at conference welcome, June 15, 2006

As of today, SUNY Geneseo's President, Christopher Dahl, has agreed to present a welcoming address to conference attendees on the morning of June 15, 2006.

Professor of Biology, Gregg Hartvigsen, has agreed to lead tours of Geneseo's arboretum throughout the conference dates.

Professor of English, Tom Greenfield, will delight librarians with his song about his own personal call number.

Local artist, Donna Kelsey, has agreed to work on a special logo of an oak tree for the SUNYLA 2006 conference.

A Timely Preview of Siva Vaidhyanathan's work

Just released on multiple library listservs is the publication of Siva Vaidhyanathan's newest article:

Vaidhyanathan, Siva. A Risky Gamble With Google. Chronicle of Higher Education, Volume 52, Issue 15, Page B7. December 2, 2005.

This article is available through the following means:

1) Through an online subscription of The Chronicle of Higher Ed at:
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i15/15b00701.htm

or

2) For free from Vaidhyanathan's blog, Sivacracy, at:
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/archives/002445.html.

To preview a speech given by Siva in 2003, on the topic of his most recent book, Anarchist in the Library, see http://channel.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=820.

And certainly for more information on our keynote speaker, take a look at his blog, http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/, which even includes an audible pronunciation of his name. :-)

More info on Nancy's poster idea . . .

For room/space consideration . . .

"I don't have any idea how many library directors/chairs will respond to the poster session - we've never done anything like this before, at least as far as I know. Could be 10 or 15, or it could be more. Also, I don't know if all of the libraries who are represented at SCLD will be represented at SUNYLA, especially the smaller ones. But it'll be fun to try something a little different and see how it goes! Any sharing of information about how we conduct our business is helpful to all of us."

Nancy Williamson's idea on posters, "The State of our Libraries"

Here is Nancy's e-mail to me. Please respond below, under comments, to this idea.

"In response to suggestions from the 2005 SUNY Council of Library Directors conference evaluations, the SCLD Executive Board (which doubles as a conference planning committee) is going to propose a poster session for our 2006 April conference on, "The State of Our Libraries." The idea is to share information about what we are doing, how we are doing it, challenges, goals, etc. I am coordinating this aspect of the conference.

It seems like the sort of information that would be just as valuable to share at the SUNYLA conference in June. We wondered about proposing it to the directors as something that could be a shared director/librarian project to be presented at both conferences.

Before sending our call for posters out, I wanted to see if you and your committee like the idea, and whether you would have space to house this special poster session along with the regular poster session at SUNYLA."

Participation calls go beyond SUNYLA-L

Thanks to Debby Emerson for sending out the multiple calls for participation to listservs such as WNY/O ACRL, SLSCONNECT, and the 3 R's Council lists. If anyone knows of other lists that would be appropriate forums for information on the SUNYLA conference, please let us know.

If you would like to send out conference information to lists that you are currently subscribed to, please make a special note in your message(s) that participants and/or attendees of the conference do not have to be affiliated with SUNY, nor will the presentations given be limited to those of us working at SUNY libraries.

Debby even sent out a special note, encouraging presentations that highlight collaborations between school librarians and academic librarians. Information such as this will be a benefit to us all!

Day before Thanksgiving updates

Plans for the conference are definitely moving ahead . . .

1) Dawn Eckenrode and Lisa Forrest have been in contact with library school students at the U of Buffalo and will be hosting a dessert and tea reception for the students on Dec. 8. At this meeting, Lisa and Dawn will encourage students to join SUNYLA, as well as attend/participate in the 2006 conference. They are also thinking about planning a similar event at Syracuse University's library school. Lisa and Dawn have been very creative in developing promotional posters and informational packets for UB's students. We have also set forth a motion through SUNYLA's Executive Council to get minimal funding for the necessary refreshments.

2) The conference website address has changed slightly. It can now be found at http://library.geneseo.edu/sunyla2006/index.htm. The website is a work in progress as we wait for an official logo to complete the look of our site. The Local Arrangements Committee is working diligently on securing a local artist to create an oak tree logo, specifically designed for the 2006 conference. The submission forms for presentation proposals are now in working order and potential presenters are free to submit their ideas via the conference website.

3) Sue Ann Brainard and I recently met with SUNY Geneseo's Special Events Coordinator to move forward with our plans for campus housing, room arrangements and technical needs, parking permits, campus signage issues, and other logistical details. The next day, Sue Ann, Sonja Landes, and Nancy Greco met with Campus Auxiliary Services to discuss food details - breakfasts, snacks, lunches, etc. Contrary to our original plan, the Thursday lunch will now be held in our Union Ballroom, to allow for more space, efficiency, and accommodations for the annual luncheon business meeting. We hope to serve breakfasts and snacks in Milne Library's group study area (main floor), where vendors will be located and ready to answer conference attendees' questions and concerns. In the same area, we have two glassed-in study rooms, where we plan to house the poster sessions. With the combination of vendors, posters, and food, we hope that this will be a busy and exciting place to visit before, in-between, and after conference sessions.

4) Details for the Wednesday night welcoming event are still in the planning stages, led by Nancy Greco's Membership Development Committee. We do know, however, that the event will take place in Milne Library, within our 3rd floor comfortable study area. From this side of the building, there is a gorgeous view of the Genesee Valley, and we hope to highlight one of our usual stunning sunsets at the time of the membership welcome. Hosting the event inside will prevent us from making last minute changes if the weather does not turn out as beautiful as we hope it will be. We will also be able to enjoy the A/C of Milne Library, if June turns out to be a hot, hot month.

More details to come . . .

February 17 CPC meeting

Since I have heard positively from most of the local members of the CPC, I have arranged for a meeting on Feb. 17, from 1-4 pm. We will meet in room 208 of Milne Library, SUNY Geneseo. Hopefully, we can get through all of our scheduling issues within three hours. Anita, you may want to talk to Barbara Shaffer at SUNY Oswego, who had a great system for matching up conference sessions in certain blocks of time. I think, for the most part, she arranged them into "tracks" of interest. She is a wonderful resource and knowing her system will certainly ease the process of scheduling at Feb. 17's meeting.

More details and directions to come as February approaches.

Calls for participation go out today!

Ok everyone . . . the day has come. Please start sending out the calls for participation today (sometime this week) and point potential presenters to the submission forms on the SUNYLA 2006 website. Debby, are you still registered to the 3R's listservs and/or other lists that we can send calls out to? Dawn and Lisa, these calls should also go out to the library school listservs (UB and SU specifically), when you're ready. Thanks everyone for all your hard work!

Catching up on old news

The Conference Planning Committee (CPC) had their first in-person meeting on August 4, 2005. As far as I can tell from my online calendar, that was also the date of the first official meeting of the Local Arrangments Committee (LAC). Both groups met individually and then we joined together for a combined meeting.

At these meetings, we determined the date of the 2006 conference - June 14-16 - and the theme - Branching Out: Keeping SUNY Libraries Strong. An oak tree will become the focus of our logo as it ties the theme of the conference to the local area. Ideas for presentations at the conference can include: outreach initiatives, new library services, creative marketing, partnerships, consortia, cooperative collection development, fund raising, redesigning library space, and professional development.

Suggestions for keynote speakers were also discussed on August 4, leading us to two potential candidates - one from NYS and another from out-of-state. In the following weeks, Debby Emerson secured our keynote speaker - Siva Vaidhyanathan, a journalist, NYU professor, and author of The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash Between Freedom and Control is leaving Cyberspace and Entering the Real World.

Plans for our big Thursday night dinner are underway and we have reserved The Glen Iris Inn, located in beautiful Letchworth State Park. The location of our big event lends itself perfectly to the theme of the conference. As plans are right now, we will bus conference attendees to the Park/Inn where they will enjoy an outdoor cocktail hour, under Glen Iris' stunning party tent. Attendees will also be able to wander around the park area and relax to the soothing rush of the falls, located just outside the Glen Iris Inn. Dinner will be served inside around 7 pm, and evening entertainment, to follow dinner, will be set up in the tent area.

A bank account has been set up at Geneseo's local Key Bank with the seed money previously requested through the SUNYLA Council.

A "heads-up" announcement has been sent to the SUNYLA e-mail list to encourage SUNYLA members to start thinking of ideas for conference proposals. The official calls will be sent out via e-mail on November 14. We have considered sending calls to numerous e-mail lists, beyond SUNYLA, to attract local attention and participation. The calls for participation will also be posted on the official SUNYLA 2006 webpage - http://library.geneseo.edu/sunyla2006/index.htm.

The CPC is considering two new ideas, or promotions, for this upcoming conference. We are trying hard to target library school students to encourage them to get involved in committee work, conference participation, and networking. We are also going to create a "Best in Show" competition for those who present poster sessions. Participation in poster sessions has typically not been as high as one might hope, so we are optimistic that the "Best in Show" idea can rally the troupes.

Other planning and activities are going on as I write, and I will continue to add posts as we firm up arrangements.

Welcome to the SUNYLA 2006 Conference blog!

I have set up this blog as a means to archive all communication related to conference planning, which can certainly be helpful to conference planners in the future, and as a way for us to come together, virtually, and discuss issues pertinent to SUNYLA 2006.

As a test, to make sure we can all access this site and communicate effectively as a group, please voice your opinion on the proposed February 17 meeting at Geneseo. This will be a meeting to decide on conference proposals and create a working schedule for the conference. Please let us all know if you can make the meeting or not, and if you have a preference for a morning or afternoon meeting. Thanks!