ALA Conference Attendance Lags Slightly

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 6/23/2008

• Pre-registration numbers exceed those for Orlando 
• ALA overall membership rises 
• Some dips in ACRL, LAMA membership, but PLA up

Pre-conference registration figures released yesterday by the American Library Association (ALA) show that the totals (11,514) for the Annual Conference this week in Anaheim are down significantly from those at the robust confererence last year in Washington, DC (14,196), and the 2005 conference in Chicago (13,407), but they exceed the pre-conference figures in New Orleans in 2006 (9,047) and Orlando in 2004 (10,127). The numbers may be a function of the location of the conference on one coast but not in a major city. 

Also, ALA released statistics showing that, while total membership as of May 31, 2008 (64,190) has risen steadily above the figure a year earlier (61,806), there have been some declines. For example, the number of organizational members has slipped from 3,537 to 3,377. Also, there several divisions showed losses, including the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), declining from 13,639 to 13,039 and the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), slipping from 5,406 to 5,239. However, membership in the Public Library Association (PLA) continued to surge, from 11,049 to 12,183.