Info Pros Gather in Cleveland for SLA 2019
Hundreds of information professionals from around the world began gathering in Cleveland, Ohio, this week to attend the Special Libraries Association’s 2019 Annual Conference and celebrate the 110th anniversary of the association’s founding.
The conference will feature three general sessions, more than 100 education sessions and business meetings, an exhibit hall with 100-plus vendors, awards presentations, networking events, tours, and social gatherings. The conference will be punctuated by a cake and champagne reception in the exhibit hall recognizing the 110th birthday of SLA, which was founded by John Cotton Dana.
The education sessions will span a wide range of topics, befitting an association whose members gather and manage information for use in businesses, law firms, government agencies, colleges and universities, nonprofit organizations, and other “special” settings. Session titles include the following:
- The Secret Sauce: Where You’re Probably NOT Looking to Find Your Competitive Intelligence;
- Creating an Information Center of Excellence: What the Best Information Teams Do; and
- Post-Master’s Residency Programs: Fostering Success and Diversity in Librarianship.
Two of the three general sessions will feature keynote speakers. At the opening session, on Sunday, June 16, Leon Logothetis, a stockbroker turned adventurer and author of two books on kindness, will share stories and lessons of his travels across the globe. At the closing general session on Tuesday, June 18, Safiya Noble, an associate professor at UCLA, will discuss her work on racist and sexist algorithmic bias in search engines.
At the general session on Monday, June 17, Hal Kirkwood will moderate a discussion about the information professional of the future with the deans of three schools of library and information science:
- Kendra Albright, Kent State University (Ohio);
- Jon Gant, North Carolina Central University; and
- Sandra Hirsh, SanJose State University.
Conference attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in tours of the library and archives of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland’s premier museum.
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