Just about all the responses I have received so far have been, YES, I
WOULD PERSONALLY LOVE back-to-back SLA - AALL conferences, BUT, would it
fly with leadership and could it really be done logistically? Suggestions
and possible problems were identified and I list them below.
I haven't yet proposed the idea to SLA membership or leadership directly,
or to AALL leadership. I know that AALL leadership tries very hard not to
interfere with the free flow of information and ideas on LAW-LIB. My plan
is to gather as much information and as many ideas as I can from law-lib
colleagues and to then present, if warranted, a proposal to AALL leaders
for their consideration.
VARIATIONS ON A THEME
- Have a joint conference periodically, modeled perhaps on the BIALL /
AALL / CALL biannual (?) joint institute
REASONS FOR AND AGAINST A SANDWICHED EXHIBIT HALL/BACK TO BACK CONFERENCE
PRO
- Need to work more together to make ourselves heard in the very noisy
and fast moving world of legal publishing and information technology
- Librarians limited to one conference a year could attend both
- Members of each organization get to benefit from programs of the other
- More varied and larger exhibit hall offerings
- Fund raising opportunities for both organizations may increase
- SLA and AALL programs complement each other
- Speakers participating in both could consolidate costs and travel time
- Possibility of better hotel or travel bargains
- Increase bargaining power with vendors
- Intangibles: increased energy, shared information, shared resources,
networking, job exchanges
CON
- Possibility of merged organizational identities
- Opposition from leadership of both organizations
- Might be harder for libraries to cover home-office if all librarians go
off to joint conference
- Fund raising opportunities for both organizations may suffer
- There are a limited number of cities that can accommodate the larger
number of librarians, especially during the overlap days
Please feel free to email ideas as they come to you. And THANK YOU to
everyone who has responded so far. I apologize for not sending individual
messages to all of you. I will post updates as needed.
Laura
Laura Orr
Visiting Reference Librarian
Willamette Law Library
Salem, Oregon
email: lorr@willamette.edu (after December: laura.orr@yale.edu)
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