Dear Safranim, Many of you don't know me because we cannot send multiple people to participate in the annual AJL Convention. Given the high registration fees, the high hotel costs and then the travel to the location, a very limited representation comes from the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, where we have 15 librarians and 10 subject specialists.
Over the past five years I, along with at least two or three other members of our staff, have attended the NAAUG (North American ALEPH Users Group) conference. Each year it is on a college campus. There is the option of staying in dorm rooms or in local hotels of all price ranges. The food, which includes specially ordered vegetarian or kosher food, is provided by the University. The meeting rooms are ample and are well equipped by the conference center of the University, and the atmosphere is extraordinarily congenial on a college campus. This year's conference was at the University of Maryland in College Park. The library staff was deeply involved in working on the conference. They did a fabulous job. The program is organized by a nation-wide conference committee, not by a local committee. The cost is $250 for a 3-day conference including some meals. The dorm rooms, as I recall, were $54 per night. Alternatively, there were numerous hotels where people stayed. The meeting were held in the student center and in the library. The group was cohesive. There were about 300 people in attendance. I highly recommend utilizing the resources of many large academic libraries or alternatively one of the retreat centers mentioned by others. We are librarians whose role is to provide information to as many people as possible. By changing the format of the AJL conference it will enable more of our colleagues to participate, learn, network and spread their knowledge and skills learned to their users. Making a change in the venue can make a change in the profession. I would be willing to work on such a project. Naomi M. Steinberger Director of Library Services Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary 3080 Broadway New York, NY 10027 phone: 212-678-8982 fax: 212-678-8891 Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
