Contact:
Cara Schatz
+1.703.647.4917
cara@sla.org
2010 Annual Conference Kicks Off SLA's Second Century
Alexandria, Va. July 1, 2010 - Thousands of members of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) participated in the association's 2010 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in New Orleans from June 13-17. Attendees were able to take advantage of hundreds of learning opportunities in areas such as mobile technology, new media, global information issues, search technologies and taxonomy. The event featured more than 250 sessions and panels, countless networking opportunities, and high-profile keynote presentations featuring political pundits James Carville and Mary Matalin and author Nicholas Carr. This year SLA also offered members who could not make the journey to New Orleans the opportunity to participate in the first-ever 3D virtual SLA Annual Conference component.
"This year's conference in New Orleans was very special and successful in so many ways. From the culture, music and delicious food that surrounded us wherever we went to the content-rich sessions that provided members with immediately applicable skills for the workplace, SLA 2010 really delivered on all its promises," said SLA CEO Janice R. Lachance. "Attendees told me repeatedly how impressed they were with the variety of networking and learning opportunities. SLA's leading-edge Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO proved, once again, to be a can't-miss event for library, information, and knowledge professionals."
Final attendance at SLA 2010 totaled 3,469 registrants. Of that number, 478 were first-time SLA conference participants and 101 were the association's first-ever virtual conference attendees.
SLA's INFO-EXPO, the largest information and knowledge management exposition in North America and the most significant gathering of content and technology providers in the world, featured 243 companies and organizations and a total of 465 booths. SLA welcomed 23 new exhibitors in 2010.
Virtual Conference
This year, for the first time, SLA offered a virtual component as part of its annual conference. Virtual attendees were able to view and participate in the two general sessions as well as attend ten spotlight sessions in real time. Designed to mimic the in-person conference experience, the virtual conference platform allowed attendees to create an avatar and talk to one other as well as submit questions to the keynote speakers and session presenters. The virtual component also incorporated virtual exhibitors Economist Intelligence Unit & CEDROM-SNi, and featured the very active Twitter feed (#sla2010), which logged more than 5,000 tweets throughout the conference.
2010 Opening General Session and SLA Awards Ceremony
SLA honored its best and brightest members during the 2010 Awards Ceremony and Opening General Session. The 2010 award recipients include the following:
- John Cotton Dana Award: Jim Tchobanoff
- SLA Hall of Fame: Judy Field, John V. Ganly and Guy St. Clair
- Dow Jones Leadership Award: Stacey Greenwell
- Dialog Member Achievement Award: Richard P. Hulser and Dianna Wiggins
- Rose L. Vormelker Award: Jan Chindlund
- SLA Fellows Rebecca Jones, Dee Magnoni, James Manasco, Jill Strand, Libby Trudell
- SLA Rising Stars: Jessica Beauchamp, Amy Buckland, Reece Dano, Bethan Ruddock, Chris Vestal
Videos were created to tell each award recipient's story. The videos are available on SLA-TV, the association's exclusive online video network, at www.slatv.org.
After the ceremony, SLA members heard from husband-and-wife political commentators James Carville and Mary Matalin, who spoke about the importance of quality news sources and the blurring lines between opinion and news. Matalin, talking about the amount of information available and the changing information landscape, said, "We've come to a paradigm shift in the information age. You guys can handle all of this info--you need to teach the rest of us to handle it, too." Carville focused on how people use information, saying, "Good and bad information is defined by how we use it. Some use information like a drunk uses a lamppost--for validation and support, not illumination." In response to audience questions, they each discussed their childhood experiences with libraries, with Carville equating the closing of libraries with extinguishing candles: "Every time a library closes, we blow out a candle against the dark."
2010 SLA Membership Meeting and Closing General Session
Following the call to order by 2010 President Anne Caputo, SLA 2010 Treasurer Dan Trefethen delivered a report on the financial state of the association. Trefethen cited decreased non-dues revenues combined with rising costs for services such as Click U Webinars, the annual conference, and other member benefits as responsible for SLA's current fiscal situation. "This has galvanized the Board to reconsider the ways that SLA does business," he said.
The membership then heard from Lachance, who delivered her annual State of the Association address. Lachance noted that the association has long relied on dues, sponsorships and revenue from the annual conference to cover its operating expenses and that this three-pronged approach no longer works in today's economy. "We are at an important crossroads as both an association and as a profession," she said. "The business models that have sustained both for the last one hundred years are withering away.... This is not an era of change; it is the change of an era." She went on to announce that the SLA Board and staff would be working hard to examine the current budget structure and how best to move forward with a more sustainable business model for SLA.
In her closing remarks, Caputo emphasized the importance of creating a roadmap to take the profession and SLA into a sustainable future. Quoting Lewis Carroll, Caputo said, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." She highlighted four major points on her roadmap: (1) information professionals using the Alignment Project research findings to secure their jobs, (2) creating career tools to help members apply the lessons learned through the Alignment Project research in their workplaces, (3) adopting new mission, vision and core values statements for the association, and (4) ensuring fiscal responsibility with a focus on membership expansion and retention. Caputo concluded her remarks with a quote from Will Rogers, the famous American humorist. "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there," she said. "We do not plan to be run over--and we will not be just sitting there."
Following the meeting, attendees heard a thought-provoking presentation from Nicholas Carr, whose latest book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, argues that the Internet is eroding our ability to read deeply and absorb knowledge--the skills we develop from reading books. "The Internet may be the most powerful mind-altering technology to ever be in use," said Carr. He also discussed the pitfalls of multitasking, saying, "What we're learning to do when we multitask is learning to be good on a superficial level."
SLA 2011
Next year's conference will be held June 12-15 in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The theme for the 2011 conference is Future Ready, and the programs, sessions and panels will explore what it takes to be Future Ready in the context of three areas: driving innovation, building collaboration and adding value.
Planners are working on a special track of programming for SLA 2011 that is designed for employers, managers and executives who are not librarians or information professionals. The SLA Need-to-Know Forum will cover the most up to date and relevant topics and will provide a top-level review of what organizations and their leaders need to know about how information, knowledge, and intellectual capital can provide competitive advantage, increase business opportunities and reduce risk.
The event will feature an opening keynote address from Thomas L. Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, author of five books, and New York Times columnist. The closing keynote speaker will be James Kane, a customer loyalty expert who has consulted with organizations in virtually every industry. Registration for SLA 2011 is currently open, and for a limited time members can pay the 2010 rates for next year's conference. Details are online at: www.sla.org/philly2011.
About SLA
Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a nonprofit global organization for innovative information and knowledge professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves some 10,000 corporate, academic, government, and other information specialists in 75 countries. SLA promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy, and networking initiatives. For more information, visit us on the Web at www.sla.org.
Note to Editors: Please contact Cara Schatz (703.647.4917 or cara@sla.org) in the SLA Media Relations office if you are interested in obtaining a press pass for the 2011 SLA Annual Conference& INFO-EXPO in Philadelphia.
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