2011 Conference Planner’s Report from Philadelphia

Via NewsLib...

For SLA 2011, the News Division held or co-sponsored 12 events, on- and off-site. There were 2 tours during the weekend: one of the Philadelphia Inquirer, led by Michael Panzer, and the other of the Rosenbach Museum and Library, organized by Kathryn Pease. We also held our regularly scheduled events: a meeting of the executive board & the annual business meeting. There was also the News Division Open House and Silent Auction, held in the Philadelphia Convention Center Marriott.

As we have moved away from offering a CE course, this year’s ticketed session was held Monday morning, and was led by the Division’s Derek Willis, on the top of linked data and newsroom archives. There were 10 tickets sold as of the week before the conference and attendance was over that.

We had four other topical sessions that were well-attended -- two required either breaking down airwalls or shifting the set-up of the room to accommodate more chairs. Those sessions, and their co-sponsors, if any, were:

• Intentional Misinformation on the Internet (co-sponsored by the Advertising and Market Division)



• Researching Privately-Held Data (co-sponsored by the Competitive Intelligence Division)
  Taxonomies and News (co-sponsored by the Taxonomy Division)



• Opening Up the Special Library



• In addition, News was one of a number of co-sponsors of a Spotlight Session: Creating Your Future the Peter Drucker Way.

There was also the delightful News Division Awards Reception, held at the College of Physicians (which also holds the famous Mütter Museum of medical curiosities): award recepients included Peter Johnson, Kee Malesky, Shira Kavon, Amy Disch (in absentia), Michelle Quigley (in absentia), and Donna Scheeder. The reception was well-organized by Kathryn Pease.

Thanks especially to Leigh Montgomery, Kathryn Pease and Catherine Kitchell for providing incredible amounts of support, thanks to all of the presenters, and thanks to all of you, those who were able to attend the conference and those cheering on from home. Next year’s conference will be in Chicago, IL, and I hope to see many of you there.

Eli Edwards
News Division 2011 Conference Planner