ALA 2010 Midwinter Meeting: The Price To Participate

While the library economy continues its downward slide, the cost of attending the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting seems as high as ever. That is the price of professional participation. These days it seems a bit too high and tends to limit involvement in the old association to librarians in the higher echelons of the field. Many of them are subsidized by their employers, but the young from the lower ranks are not.

Member registration costs $165–$190. The conference hotels range from (the lowest one) $135 a night to $159–$213 at the three conference HQs (Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston Marriott Copley, and Renaissance Boston Waterfront). Add your travel and dues, and you have little money left to eat, drink, or be merry and probably none at all to pay for the very expensive preconference “Institutes and Optional Events,” on the Midwinter Friday program. Only two or three of these come in at less than $150, meaning that hardly any are worth their price. We opted to list only a couple of very inexpensive ones here.

You can save on cabs because the conference is located at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (not the old Hynes Center) at 415 Summer Street, an easy walk from the three HQ hotels. From all the others you can use Boston's easy public transportation and Gale Cengage Learning's shuttle buses. ALA will also help parent registrants by reimbursing them for child-care costs in the amount of $25 per day per child up to a maximum of $50 per day per family. Any fully registered parent can take advantage of this benefit. See the program for details.

By ALA policy, the primary purpose of Midwinter is to expedite ALA business through sessions of governing delegates on boards, committees, and ALA Council. Programs for continuing education are reserved for the annual conference. Despite that prohibition, there is plenty for the “unelected” to do at Midwinter, including attending more than 200 discussion groups featuring a variety of speakers throughout the meeting and hitting the Exhibits (see p. 56).

At the ALA/ERT Author Forum, “From Book to Big Screen” (Fri., Jan. 15, 4–5:15 p.m.), you can hear best-selling thriller author Eric Van Lustbader (30 novels including the Jason Bourne series, The Testament; The Ninja), Chuck Hogan (The Standoff; Prince of Thieves), Tracy Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring; Burning Bright), and Julie Powell (Julie & Julia). They will tell about the process of converting best-selling books into movies.

Don't miss the Sunrise Speaker Series, (Sat. & Sun., Jan. 16-17, 8–9 a.m.; Mon., Jan. 18, 9–10 a.m.). On Saturday, hear Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love; Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, Jan.). On Sunday, surgeon Atul Gawande (Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance; The Checklist Manifesto) is featured. Monday brings Adriana Trigiani (Big Stone Gap series; Very Valentine).

At the ALTAFF Gala Author Tea (Mon., Jan. 18, 2–4 p.m.) you can meet and hear a fine array of hot authors. Marilyn Johnson (The Dead Beat) will discuss her new book coming from Harper in February, This Book Is Overdue! How Libraries and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. Also on tap are Holly LeCraw (The Swimming Pool), Janice Y.K. Lee (The Piano Teacher), ex-Marine and Rhodes Scholar Karl Marlantes (Matterhorn), and Teri Woods (Dutch II: Angel's Revenge).

The 11th Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture (Sat., Jan. 16, 1:30–3 p.m.) brings former Vice President and Senator Al Gore to Midwinter. Author of best sellers (Earth in the Balance; An Inconvenient Truth; The Assault on Reason) and a foremost authority on the climate crisis, Gore was a corecipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Many featured authors will be on hand at the Adult Literature Spotlight in the Exhibits (Sat., Jan. 16, 2–4 p.m.) to autograph books and free galleys.

Yohannes Gebregeorgis, founder and executive director of Ethiopia Reads, will focus on the literacy work of his organization at the ALA President's Program (Sun., Jan. 17, 3:30–5:30 p.m.).

The Technology Showcase (Mon., Jan. 18, 10 a.m.–1:15 p.m.) consists of free concurrent programs where companies highlight the latest trends in library technology. Complimentary refreshments will be served.

Provided by the ALA Office of Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR), the Placement Center available at Midwinter will assist job seekers and employers and provide career assistance. Job seekers should register and search for jobs on the JobLIST web site (www.joblist.ala.org). Free to job seekers, registration is not required but is recommended to give employers access to your résumé and allow for direct communication. Employers can contact Beatrice Calvin at 800-545-2433, x4280.

A program on Careers in Federal Libraries (Federal Libraries Round Table, Fri., Jan. 15, 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m.) will help those looking for a job as a federal information professional. Tips and practical advice from federal librarians, who will tell of opportunities for internships. Tickets are free, but registration is required, Event Code: ALA1.

An Advocacy Institute on “Surviving in a Tough Economy” (Fri., Jan. 15, 1:30–5 p.m.) says libraries can make it through the economic crisis, and some will even thrive. Success stories, tips, and how to advocate for your library in this difficult financial time will be the focus. Tickets might be worth the $50 price. Event Code: OLA1.

The Midwinter Exhibits show, second in size only to that at the ALA annual conference (this year in Washington, DC), is your most important opportunity to learn at the conference. Beginning Friday, January 15, in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center's Halls A and B, the show opens with a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at 5:15 p.m., followed by the All-Conference Reception from 5:30–7:30 p.m. The reception will feature food, music, and more than 30 gift baskets (valued at over $75 each) given by exhibitors on Friday only. To register to win a basket, visit the exhibitor's booth during the evening. Exhibit Hours are Friday, January 15, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday, January 16–17, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; and Monday, January 18, 9 a.m.–2 p.m.

ALA's Washington Office has scheduled only one briefing session at Midwinter (Sat., Jan., 16, 8 a.m.–noon), and it looks to be an important one. It will cover the library legislative waterfront, from new developments in the Google Book Search affair to new stimulus funds that may be available for libraries. Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. John Kerry have been invited.

If you want to sit in on the process of governing ALA, you can attend any of the 2000-plus meetings of its boards, committees, units, and divisions, including ALA Council and Executive Board (check your program for times and locations).

Candidates for president and treasurer of ALA will debate at Midwinter (Sat., Jan. 16, 11 a.m.–noon). Sara Kelly Johns, school library media specialist for grades six to 12 at Lake Placid Middle/High School, NY, and former president of the American Association of School Librarians, is running against Molly Raphael, recently retired director of libraries at Multnomah County Library in Portland, OR, and former director of the District of Columbia Public Library. Candidates for ALA treasurer are Alan Kornblau, director of the Delray Beach Public Library, FL, and James Neal, VP for information services and university librarian at Columbia University.

It does cost a lot to participate in and to attend conferences like ALA's Midwinter Meeting. You must decide for yourself whether you can justify it as part of the price of being a library professional. While few resent that many in ALA's higher echelons are subsidized for their participation, people in librarianship's lower ranks need more help with the costs of conferences. If you find a job during Midwinter, or learn new skills and make important professional contacts, it will be worth the price. If you meet your spouse or lover, even better. But for the young in our field, the price of professionalism is too high. It is time to seek ways to make participation much more affordable. If you go to Midwinter and can afford it, take a young librarian to lunch or dinner and help a little with that process. We'll be in Boston, and we plan to do that, too.