Conference Handouts are being updated as we receive more materials.

Selected photos from the conference are available on ULA's flickr page.

The ULA Bylaw Changes have been approved.

“Rallying Your Community: Mobilizing the Grassroots” will be the topic of a free webinar sponsored by ALA’s Committee on Library Advocacy from 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, May 2.
In a difficult economy, the citizen voice is more important than ever. Learn how two community organizations, the Sustainable Library Citizens Coalition of Indianapolis-Marion County (Ind.) Public Library and Urban Librarians Unite of New York City, have used their voices to impact library funding.
 
Laura Johnson, deputy director, public services, of the Indianapolis Public Library and Tara Seeley, senior grants officer, Central Indiana Community Foundation, will share their story of engaging the Indianapolis community to successfully advocate on behalf of libraries and librarians.
 
Lauren Comito, director of communications and operations, Urban Librarians Unite, will describe this group’s radical tactics for promoting and supporting libraries in the New York area.
 
Marci Merola, director of the ALA Office for Library Advocacy, will moderate the webinar and demonstrate practical applications of resources from the ALA Office for Library Advocacy.
 
Registration is mandatory.  Visit https://ala.ilinc.com/register/thvbchx to sign up today.

Stephanie Bertin, Salt Lake County Library Services, Kearns Library, Kearns UT; Lori Brassaw, Utah State University - College of Eastern Utah Library, Price UT; and Holly Cole Okuhara, Weber County Library System, North Branch, Ogden UT were recently selected to attend the Mountain Plains Library Association (MPLA) 2012 Leadership Institute. Only 30 were chosen to attend from over 60 applicants in 12 states.   

Adriane Juarez (Utah), Director, Utah Regional School of Library and Information Management with Emporia State University and Manager of the Day-Riverside Library; and Robert Shupe (Utah), Director, Logan Library will serve as Leadership Mentors.

The Institute will be in Estes Park, Colorado, May 6-11, 2012.  Institute facilitator is Maureen Sullivan, President-Elect of the American Library Association.
For full details, read the attached press release.

The ALA Public Programs Office, in partnership with the National Center for Interactive Learning at Space Science Institute, the Lunar Planetary Institute and the National Girls Collaborative Project, announces a new traveling exhibition opportunity for public libraries. Following a competitive application process, eight public libraries will be selected to host an interactive exhibition called Discover Tech: Engineers Make a World of Difference. Public libraries in rural areas and those serving rural populations and underserved groups are especially invited to apply. Online applications must be submitted to ALA by May 1. To apply, visit www.ala.org/programming/discovertech.
Discover Tech is made possible through the support of the National Science Foundation. The exhibition and its educational support materials and outreach opportunities are part of the STAR (Science-Technology Activities and Resources) Library Education Network (STAR_Net), a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities.
Discover Tech will tour from September 2012 to June 2014, visiting each of the eight selected sites for a period of eight weeks. The exhibition requires approximately 750 square feet of space for optimal display. Each site will be awarded a grant of $1,000 to support public programs related to the exhibition. Each host library will also be asked to join a national Community of Practice (CoP), accessible at http://community.discoverexhibits.org, and is expected to take part in project evaluation. For more information about Discover Tech, STAR_Net and the CoP, visit www.ala.org/programming/discovertech.     
The Discover Tech exhibition will focus on a number of timely topics that are essential for understanding the nature of 21st  century technology and engineering—both high and low tech— and their potential for helping to solve many of the world’s problems. Through interactive elements and displays, visitors to the Discover Tech traveling exhibition will understand that engineers are real people who, through a creative and collaborative design process, arrive at practical solutions to help solve society’s problems in the U.S. and throughout the world. Exhibit visitors will also learn about the fundamental principles of energy, become aware of their own energy use, and understand the impact of engineering on societies over time and place.
 
******************************
ALA Public Programs Office
www.ala.org/publicprograms
publicprograms@ala.org