SLA’s Compelling Keynotes—Lessons from Public Radio, Chocolate, Uber, Fashion, and Outer Space
NPR’s Peabody Award-Winning Lulu Miller to Headline at SLA 2017 Annual Conference
McLean, Virginia, 9 May 2017—The Special Libraries Association (SLA) has announced two keynote speakers—Lulu Miller and Moriba Jah, Ph.D.—and a “Dream Jobs Panel” comprising three additional speakers for its 2017 Annual Conference to be held June 16–20 in Phoenix, Arizona at the Phoenix Convention Center.
Stories from the five featured speakers will underscore how successful corporations and other organizations rely upon information professionals and librarians to find pertinent information, make sense of it, and put it to use to drive results. SLA 2017’s conference presenters will give real-life examples from companies and organizations that are not only household names such as Hershey and Uber, but showcase how info pros—experts in researching, analyzing, explaining, and providing “decision-ready information” to internal and external stakeholders living in a world on information overload—contribute to the success of these popular companies.
Opening Keynote: Lulu Miller, NPR
With a voice that is already known to many across the nation and around the world, opening keynote Lulu Miller is a Peabody Award-winning science reporter for National Public Radio (NPR) and the co-founder of NPR’s Invisibilia—a series about the unseen forces that control our ideas, beliefs, assumptions, and thoughts. Miller is currently writing a book that explores a topic familiar to most librarians—taxonomy (the science of classify things into ordered categories)—but from a brand new angle. She will share some of her one-of-a-kind insights on Sunday, June 18, at the opening general session of the conference.
Dream Jobs for Info Pros Panel: Robin Dodge, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising;
Rosanna Lindquist, Hershey; Brendan Thompson, Uber
On Monday, June 19, attendees will learn from a “Dream Jobs Panel” featuring librarians and info pros who work at three of the most well-known organizations around—Robin Dodge, head librarian at the Los Angeles campus of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising; Rosanna Lindquist, information research scientist for The Hershey Company; and Brendan Thompson, knowledge manager for Uber Technologies.
Closing Keynote: Moriba Jah, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin and formerly of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The conference’s closing session on Tuesday, June 20 will feature Moriba Jah, Ph.D., associate professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to his “day job,” Jah has served on numerous Mars missions as a spacecraft navigator for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. His expertise in space object detection, tracking, identification, and characterization will make for fresh and engaging connections to familiar topics for information professionals.
The SLA Annual Conference draws thousands of special librarians and other information professionals from the academic, corporate, government, and non-profit sectors around the globe and provides unrivaled opportunities for information professionals to develop essential skills, network with colleagues, explore noteworthy trends in knowledge and information management, and seek out the foremost product and service providers within the information industry. For more information or to register, visit our conference website.
Members of the press who are interested in covering this can’t-miss event should contact Kate O’Donnell, SLA’s vice president of content and brand strategy.
About SLA
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a nonprofit international organization for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves information professionals in more than 60 countries and in a wide range of working environments, including business, academia, and government agencies. SLA promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy, and networking initiatives. SLA’s annual conference will boast 200 plus sessions, business meetings, networking events, and other activities. For more information, visit sla.org.
Contact:
Andrea Bomar
+1.703.647.4900
abomar@sla.org
