It’s Never Too Early to Start Planning an Annual Meeting Program

Although the 2009 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., is over a year away, it’s not too early to begin thinking about program proposals. Proposals will be due shortly after this summer's meeting in Portland.

If you’ve never submitted a program, check out the program planner’s handbook for the Portland meeting at http://aallnet.org/events/ProgramPlannersHandbook.pdf. While a new handbook will be written for the 2009 meeting, it will explain the general process.

Not sure where to get a program idea? Try these sources suggested by ALL-SIS members:

• Attend conferences (e.g., AALS, LWI, ASIL) and local chapter meetings. A speaker or program may give you an idea for a program on a similar topic.
• The next time an issue comes up at work that you don't understand or when a problem arises again and again, jot them down. Talk to other librarians to see if they experience the same problems. If so, it might make a good program.
• Check AALL Annual Meetings:  An Annotated Index of the Recordings to see whether a program presented five or ten years ago could be updated.
• Monitor legal and educational blogs, newsletters (including chapter and SIS newsletters) and other publications. Especially recommended by ALL-SIS members were:  Educause (http://www.educause.edu/), Information Today (http://www.infotoday.com/), ACRLog (http://acrlblog.org/), and The Shifted Librarian (http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/).