Eboni Johnson, Oberlin College

I am so excited to announce our speakers for the 2014 annual conference:

Char Booth will facilitate a pre-conference workshop on November 13 called Who Gives? Advocacy and Outreach that Make Things Matter. Char is Head of Instruction Services and E-Learning Librarian at the Claremont Colleges Library, and is on the faculty of the ACRL Information Literacy Immersion Institute. She will also lead a workshop during the main conference on November 14. This session, Heart on Sleeve: Librarianship as an Avocational Vocation, is specifically designed for students and new professionals. Char blogs at info-mational and tweets @charbooth.

Courtney L. Young is the 2014-2015 American Library Association (ALA) President, and will deliver the keynote address on November 14. Since 2010, Courtney has been the Head Librarian and Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at Penn State Greater Allegheny, and has held positions at Penn State Beaver and University Park. Her keynote address, tentatively titled Diversity, Professional Development, and Participation: How Academic Libraries Empower Communities, will bring together the larger ALA/ACRL perspective with front-line advocacy efforts, and discuss the role of academic libraries in empowering our communities.

More information will be added to the conference website as planning continues. Stay tuned!

Part of my role as Vice President involves planning the annual Board retreat. This year’s retreat will be held on July 14-15 at Mohican Lodge and Conference Center. The retreat is a good time for newly-elected officers to get oriented to their positions, and for the entire board to plan for the upcoming year. Part of the retreat will be dedicated to reviewing and ALAO’s strategic plan and setting new goals that will take us into the future.

Finally, I am chairing the Conference Proceedings and Publications Task Force. This ad hoc group is charged with looking into opportunities for compiling conference presentations, IG programs, etc. and having them hosted on the Internet. We will soon be ready to send a survey out to the ALAO membership, to get an idea of how such a service might be used before making a recommendation to the board. We thank you in advance for your participation; I encourage you to be in touch if you have any questions or concerns.