ALA Annual registration information

 ALA Conference Registration Opens March 1, 2021

If you wish to participate in the virtual conference, SD&T must receive your completed and signed funding requests by  

5 p.m. on Friday, April 8, 2021

Visit the ALA website to view registration rates and get more information about the virtual conference.  You can also register for email updates on this page.

https://2021.alaannual.org/registration/registration-rates

The conference program is not complete at this time, so try to be as specific as you can in your goals statement without this information.  What is your overall goal of participating?  What do you expect to learn?  What do you hope to do with the knowledge you receive?

Supervisor signatures can be provided by email if you are not currently working on site.  Contact SD&T if you have any questions.

ALA announces 2021 Annual Meeting will be Virtual

 The following message is sent on behalf of American Library Association President Julius C. Jefferson, Jr.

CHICAGO — The American Library Association’s Executive Board announced today that the 2021 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition scheduled for June 23-29 in Chicago will take place virtually.

“We hoped that by this summer, it would be safe to meet again in person. However, that is clearly not the case. Despite the promise of vaccines, the pandemic continues to devastate our country. For the safety of everyone involved, we will be moving our Annual Conference to a virtual format,” said Julius C. Jefferson, Jr., ALA president.

Jefferson continued: “Given the success of our just-wrapped virtual Midwinter meeting, I am confident that Annual will be just as dynamic, engaging and inspiring. As always, we will have big name speakers, a full online exhibit floor, and more events and opportunities to network, learn and grow that I know participants will love.”

ALA Annual attracts some of today’s most highly regarded keynoters and authors, and speakers will be announced early this spring along with additional information on programs, sessions, meetings, and exhibits. Registration will open March 1, 2021, and advance rates end April 16. In the coming weeks, presenters who submitted program proposals will be contacted by ALA representatives with more information about next steps for the online format.

“COVID-19 has profoundly changed the library world – and, of course, the wider world around us. But I’m buoyed by the incredible determination, resilience and community-building I’ve seen in the past year,” ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall said. “As a body, ALA has proven nimble and unflappable in the face of adversity and we will continue to prioritize safety, even as we strive to innovate the digital conference experience to widen attendance and deepen engagement well after this period. Based on the incredible response that Virtual Midwinter 2021 received, we look forward to a dynamic Annual Conference program guaranteed to illuminate, inform and inspire.”

Julius C. Jefferson Jr.

2020-2021 ALA President

New email for program announcements -- epfl.classes@prattlibrary.org

 As SD&T continues to expand our online/webinar/virtual training options, it seems our email output is becoming an issue.  To help mitigate this problem, SD&T collaborated with the Systems department to create a new email for offering these non-Pratt training opportunities.

The new email is epfl.classes@prattlibrary.org, and you now receive program and webinar announcements from this email.  This is also the place to send program announcements for us to share with the staff.  Registration requests, funding paperwork, and any other questions still go to me or to the training email as usual.

We are also trying to put the announcements in a digest form, so that you receive one email sent once a week rather than one email for each announcement.  This should make it easier to differentiate important SD&T announcements and internal programs from general course announcements and find the program information that is of interest to you.  

SD&T will continue to send individual emails for time-sensitive events, conference deadlines, and for programs suitable to age-specialists and other groups.  

I hope this makes it easier for you to find interesting and helpful programs and webinars.

Lisa