NJSLA Blog

Applications Open for SLA Diversity Leadership Development Program Award

See below for more information on applying for the SLA Diversity Leadership Development Program Awards. I was one of the 2009 recipients, and it has been a very good experience. I'm still working with my mentor, and he and I are coordinating our schedules to meet further. I encourage you to consider applying if you qualify. If you need a reference, please let me know.

Best regards,
Eric Schwarz, NJSLA President

SLA Diversity Leadership Development Program Award

Application deadline: February 15, 2010
 
Applications and requirements are available at:
http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/awardsrecognition/awardsdescriptions/dlpnomform/dldpnomfrm.cfm
 
The SLA Diversity Leadership Development Program (DLDP) Award aims to accelerate the advancement and visibility of members who represent a diverse population of the Association by mentoring them for more leadership opportunities within the Special Libraries Association, to ensure that the Association remains vital, relevant, and representative of its diverse membership.
 
For full information about the Award and previous Award recipients, please see: http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/awardsrecognition/diversityaward/index.cfm.
 

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Eligibility requirements for the Diversity Leadership Development Program award:

    * Applicant must have been a member of SLA for at least 1 year.
    * Applicants are eligible based on SLA's definition of diversity, which includes but not exclusive to, race, ethnicity, physical abilities, religious beliefs and/or sexual orientation.
    * Applicant must have between 3-10 years of professional library information experience.
    * Applicant cannot be a current SLA Diversity Leadership Development Committee member. Only applicants who meet all the eligibility requirements [at the time of application] are submitted to the DLDP Committee for award consideration.

Benefits:

A recipient receives:

    * An award of $1000. The awarded money should assist with airfare and/or accommodations and may cover at least one SLA CE course. The awardee must attend the conference to receive the funds.
    * Complimentary registration, provided by SLA, to attend the annual conference and specific ticketed events as appropriate.
    * An assigned mentor to assist candidate in understanding the mechanics of how the Association works and the roles of the Association leaders.

An Explanation of Costs for the SLA 2010 Annual Conference in New Orleans

Registration for the SLA 2010 conference in New Orleans has been open for several months. There was a $395 discounted price for registrations completed by Sept. 4, 2009, which was about four months earlier than the deadline for the extreme early-bird price for SLA 2009 in Washington, D.C.

The current early-bird price for 2010 is $445, an increase of $150 (50.8 percent) since 2006. Here are the registration rates for 2006-2009 (compiled by Teri Vogel, Chemistry Division Chair-Elect):

·         2006 - $295  http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2006/registration/index.cfm

·         2007 - $325  http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2007/registration/index.cfm

·         2008 - $325  http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2008/registration/index.cfm

·         2009 - $395 ($350 if you registered by Jan 31)  http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2009/registration/index.cfm

[Editor's note: If you were one of the first 100 to register for SLA 2009 on Jan. 7, 2009, it was $295.]

Nancy A. Sansalone, SLA's COO/CFO, sent this note to the association's leaders today (Dec. 10) explaining the 2010 costs:

Dear Leaders,

Conference registration fees have risen for two reasons:

* The cost of producing conferences continues to rise.

*  Sponsorship funding, which heavily subsidizes registration fees, continues to fall.

Everything from the cost of electricity to food and beverage services for conference increases each year.  For 2010, we expect our expenses to increase by 20%. Based on conference surveys, attendees also expect, and receive, much more from their conference experience, from wireless connectivity ($20K) to more sophisticated audiovisuals to "unconference" sessions to more food in the INFO-EXPO ($150K), all included in the registration fee.  In New Orleans, we will incur additional expenses for busing ($40K), insurance ($20K) and to subsidize community service projects ($3K).  We will have to pay state sales tax, and we are adding a virtual conference component to our offerings.

At the same time, the revenue we receive from sponsors declines each year.  Last year, we were fortunate that some of our sponsors boosted their support in order to celebrate our Centennial; unfortunately, we do not expect that to happen this year.  This trend of reduced funding for sponsorships and advertising is affecting virtually every association.

Attendees will pay about $50 more than last year to register, but they will find that increase offset by much lower rates for hotel rooms and dining in New Orleans.

Nancy


Nancy A. Sansalone
COO/CFO, SLA
T: +1 703.647.4935
F: +1.703.647-4903
E: [email protected]
W: www.sla.org

 

SLA 2010: Virtually Virtual (Reposted from 'SLA Blog')

From http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog:

To help us determine the level of interest in virtual conference programming, SLA is conducting a survey about adding a virtual component to our 2010 Annual Conference. 

Even if you are planning to attend the conference in New Orleans, we would still like to hear what you think about the 2-D and Second Life-like options!

Please take this quick survey, which will close on Friday, 9 October. 

If you have questions regarding the survey, please contact Kristin Foldvik, SLA Events Director. 

Looking forward to seeing you in New Orleans, 13-16 June!

From http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog:

To help us determine the level of interest in virtual conference programming, SLA is conducting a survey about adding a virtual component to our 2010 Annual Conference. 

Even if you are planning to attend the conference in New Orleans, we would still like to hear what you think about the 2-D and Second Life-like options!

Please take this quick survey, which will close on Friday, 9 October. 

If you have questions regarding the survey, please contact Kristin Foldvik, SLA Events Director. 

Looking forward to seeing you in New Orleans, 13-16 June!

2010 Call for Papers: “Entering SLA’s Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll”

SLA Contributed Papers

An opportunity to share your knowledge!  How are you putting your hard work into action?  How are you using the long-planned, expertly-vetted, SME-approved technologies in your library?  How are your users responding to these new services?

If you have a success story to tell your colleagues, we would love to hear it!  SLA is now accepting proposals for papers to be presented at its 2010 Annual Conference in the "Southern and Soulful City" of New Orleans, Louisiana, with the theme "Entering SLA's Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll!"    Accepted papers will also be published on the SLA Web site. 

More information is on the SLA Blog.

An opportunity to share your knowledge!  How are you putting your hard work into action?  How are you using the long-planned, expertly-vetted, SME-approved technologies in your library?  How are your users responding to these new services?

If you have a success story to tell your colleagues, we would love to hear it!  SLA is now accepting proposals for papers to be presented at its 2010 Annual Conference in the "Southern and Soulful City" of New Orleans, Louisiana, with the theme "Entering SLA's Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll!"    Accepted papers will also be published on the SLA Web site. 

More information is on the SLA Blog.

Taxonomy and Meta Data Division Proposed: Planning Meeting at SLA Set for Sunday, June 14

From Margie Hlava and Janice Keeler:

... We are already working with the IT and KM Divisions to reconcile some known overlaps in scope notes, but if any other divisions have any issues, we need to know ASAP. Leadership – please distribute this note to your units to let them know of the proposed new division and also to tell people they are welcome to join us in Washington DC to discuss taxonomy and meta data
issues and the proposed new division.

Scope Note and Business Case for the New Division: The business case for the new division is attached and posted on the SLA wiki site.

The proposed scope note is: The Taxonomy and Meta Data Division (TMD) addresses meta data contained in taxonomies, thesauri, authority files, and other controlled vocabularies.  Areas of interest include:

• Standards, governance and management issues for all types of controlled vocabularies

• Issues associated with the creation, capture, delivery, structure, and use (such as in search) of controlled vocabularies and meta data for all information object types.

• Trends such as the development of the semantic web, ontologies, folksonomies and other tagging methodologies.

Meetings in Washington, DC, June 14: We are having a meeting for anybody interested in taxonomy on Sunday, June 14, from 3-5 p.m. in Room 145B of the convention center.  This session is not part of the official program, and will not show up in the online planner. 

Agenda:

• organizational issues related to the attempt to form a new division

• discussion of taxonomy issues of interest to participants

Assuming we can reconcile all overlapping scope note issues with other divisions, we will send out a petition to form the new division via SurveyMonkey shortly after the conference. If anybody wants to discuss this with us before or during the conference, please contact us.

Regards,
Margie Hlava, [email protected] 505-975-5578 cell
Janice Keeler, [email protected], 312-573-2813 (work),
773-251-9373 (cell). I’ll be in Washington as of June 12.
 

DC Chapter Welcomes SLA Centennial Attendees

The helpful note below is from Greta D. Ober, 2009 DC Chapter President.

The wiki Greta lists is a great place to find roommates (http://wiki.sla.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=27624346) or a ride share: (http://wiki.sla.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=27625241).

See you in DC!
Eric Schwarz, NJ Chapter President

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Colleagues, Washington, DC welcomes all SLA 2009 Attendees to the Centennial Celebration and Annual Conference.

The DC Chapter is delighted to assist in hosting this historic conference.

Be sure to stop by the DC Information Booth located near the SLA Registration area in the Washington Convention Center. We have the "Official Visitors Guide" which is packed with information you want and need. Major areas cover Museums, Theatres, Restaurants, Shopping, Hotels, Special Events and Maps.

In the Guide you will find Special emphasis on the Lincoln Centennial, the Green Scene of parks and gardens, and Summer Spotlight which features Festivals, Concerts and Other Celebrations. Other items we'll provide include METRO Pocket Maps, other maps of DC, Special brochures of the National Mall as well as the SLA 2009 Conference Pin.

Special Drawings held each day, so be sure to deposit your business card for great prizes. Drawings daily Sat-Tues at 4:45 p.m.; Wednesday 11:45 a.m.

We promise the prizes will be easily portable!

Use the DC SLA Wiki (http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLA2009) to learn specific things about the DC Neighborhoods, interesting things to do with kids - Toddlers to Teens using the "Our Kids" web site (many coupons for savings listed there!). Our Volunteers have been working on this page for more than a year....it is a real gold mine!

The DC Chapter Volunteers will be available to answer questions, make suggestions and generally welcome you to DC.

DC Information Booth: Saturday - Tuesday staffed from 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.; Wednesday 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

There will be a special Restaurant Concierge located near our booth to assist in making reservations.
---Washington, DC Chapter  (http://units.sla.org/chapter/cdc/) ---->  Looking forward to seeing you in DC!!

Greta D. Ober, 2009 DC Chapter President

FreePint Offers Free 'Gap Subscription' to Laid-Off Professionals

FreePint, a global network of people who find, use, manage and share work-related information, offers a free newsletter, digest and forums.

SLA partner FreePint is proud to offer a 'gap subscription' to our premium resources for professionals who have been laid off. Receive free copies of our paid-subscription publications to stay informed and up to date on the industry during your job search. Visit http://web.freepint.com/go/how/gap/ to learn more and apply for your gap subscription.

Also ... you can join FreePint at SLA, or connect virtually to the activity. Visit http://www.freepint.com/events/sla-2009/ to sign up.

Guest Pass Option to Help Unemployed SLA Members

*Guest pass option to help unemployed SLA members attend the upcoming D.C. conference — sign up or be a sponsor for a fellow member!*

Dear NJSLA Colleagues,

SLA-NY has come up with a terrific way to help our unemployed colleagues attend SLA 2009 affordably (saving several hundred dollars off the registration price). Please read the note below from New York Chapter President Michelle Dollinger, and consider yourself invited to participate as either a sponsor or a guest.

The guest can simply fill out the conference registration form and send it back to the SLA registration office (Experient). If you use a credit card you can fax it back (or perhaps even call it in). If you send a check, of course you'll have to mail it in.

I realize that there are additional costs for the hotel and travel. The host chapter, DC/SLA, has set up a wiki to help you get to and make the most of the conference. You can find a roommate or a ride by signing up for the SLA wiki if you haven't already. Registration is free and easy.

Best regards,

Eric Schwarz (NJSLA President)

P.S. If you’re logged in to Google/Gmail, you’ll need to copy/paste http://tinyurl.com/slaguest and login information (Email: slaguest / Password: slany100), then log out before accessing the spreadsheet SLA-NY has set up. Or you can open the link in another browser. For example, if you’re using Firefox, open the link in Internet Explorer.

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Original message from Michelle Dollinger:

Dear Colleagues,

The economic downturn has been felt by a number of our members who have lost their positions. They may not be able to attend the upcoming SLA conference in D.C. due to the cost of registration.

How can we help our colleagues? We have learned that SLA members may each have one guest pass for the upcoming conference in D.C. The $50 guest passes are good Sunday through Wednesday for attending general sessions, non-ticketed networking events and the vendor INFO-EXPO.

An SLA member is needed to “sponsor” the guest pass, which is billed directly to the person using the pass. Normally used for spouses, guests this year may be SLA members. Several of us have been asked to “sponsor” a guest pass for an unemployed SLA member and we thought we would try to offer this to others who could benefit.

If you currently are an unemployed SLA NY [or NJ] member, and are interested in finding a “sponsor” for a guest pass, please enter your information in the following spreadsheet.

If you are willing to be a “sponsor” for a guest pass, please consult the list, enter your contact information, and please let the person requesting the pass know. Although sponsors can select whomever they want, let’s suggest that the names be considered in order that the requests are made in the following spreadsheet: http://tinyurl.com/slaguest

Log in using this ID:

Email: slaguest

Password: slany100

The guest pass information is on page two of the conference registration form. Each sponsor will receive confirmation from SLA that a “guest pass” has been issued to the requesting person.

Hope to see you at the conference. Special thanks to the Employment Taskforce and Rita Ormsby and Dana Gordon for bringing this to light.

Michelle
Michelle Dollinger, SLA NY Chapter President 2009

http://www.sla-ny.org

Twitter: mdoll, IM/meebo: MichDollNY

SLA Mid-Atlantic Chapters Reception - Tuesday, June 16 (8-11pm)

SLA-NJ, in partnership with neighboring chapters (Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC), will host a reception open to all and designed as a "calm in the midst of the conference storm." This event takes place on Tuesday, June 16th and features free Tarot Card readings (compliments of our Platinum Sponsor--Leadership Directories) and a mini-exhibit of chapter activities from our DC, VA, MD, and NJ chapters.

The reception runs from 8-11pm in Congressional Hall B at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel (across the street from the Convention Center). Please join us for what is sure to be a great time!

When: Tuesday, June 16 (8:00 PM. - 11:00 PM.)

Where: Congressional Hall B at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel (across the street from the Convention Center).

Tickets: Thanks to generous sponsorship from Leadership Directories and our four participating SLA Chapters (Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey), there is no cost to attend this event. To ensure that we have adequate refreshments, we ask all attendees to pre-register at the link below. As an additional thank you, members of the DC, VA, MD, and NJ Chapters who pre-register by June 10th will receive a free drink coupon when they check in.

Register Online.

See this event on the NJSLA Calendar and add it to Outlook.

 

Tips for Making the Most of an SLA Conference

Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect Ann Sweeney and Division Cabinet Chair-Elect Ruth Wolfish wrote an article, 2009 SLA LDI: Tips for Making the Most of an SLA Conference. It's a survival guide of how to prepare prior to the conference (or things you wish you would have done prior to arriving), how to get oriented and maximize your conference experience. Check out their full article in Leadership Connections. (The first item in the article applies in particular to SLA leaders and officers; the rest of the tips are great advice for everyone!)