RA Programs at ALA Conference

You may have noticed that I am actively advertising for the American Library Association Conference beginning this coming weekend right here in Chicago. As a Chicagoland librarian, I am very lucky that this conference comes through town every 4 years or so.

This year there is quite a bit going on for those interested in providing cutting edge RA service for your library patrons. In fact, Cindy Orr over at RA Online's blog posted a very nice consolidated list of the RA specific offerings.

I am most excited about the RUSA President's Program, led by Neal Wyatt. From the RUSA Blog:

The program, which will be held from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Monday, July 13, is the inaugural session of the Readers’ Advisory Research and Trends Forum, a new RUSA initiative where ideas, best practices and creative possibilities are actively engaged and deconstructed in order to contribute to the advancement of RA service. This year’s theme—how appeal is an interdisciplinary concept that applies to music, art and books—will be addressed with program content that covers multiple perspectives on the topic, including service implications and collection building.

The Adult Reading Round Table is also a sponsor of this event. I will be working at ARRT's table during the program, so come by and say hi. You can click here for more details on this program, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency and does not require an extra ticket beyond basic conference registration.

The ALA conference also brings many authors to town. I am hoping to catch Michael Connelly, Junot Diaz, and Charlaine Harris among others.

Over 12,000 librarians are expected to invade Chicago this weekend. Maybe I'll see you there.