CFP: LITA at ALA Annual, 2010
LITA Committee Chairs, IG Chairs, and other technically inclined library folk,
This year, the LITA Program Planning Committee, in an effort to modernize the workflow for planning programs for ALA Annual, has moved the process entirely online! The following is the form that you can fill out if you are interested in proposing a program via LITA for ALA Annual 2010, June 24-30th in Washington, DC:
http://tinyurl.com/LITAPrograms2010
The form will be available at the above link, on ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org/node/76611), on LITABlog (http://litablog.org/ala-annual-2010-program-proposals/), and anywhere else we can embed it.
Once you submit your program proposal, the Program Planning Committee will be in touch with you by the middle of August, 2009. The soft deadline for submitting proposals to LITA for a program for Annual 2010 is July 31st, 2009.
Questions
If you have questions about anything relating to programs at ALA Annual, there is a public discussion board on ALA Connect designed just for that:
http://connect.ala.org/forum/6608
You do have to have an ALA Connect login, but you do not have to be an ALA member...you can register as a non-ALA member and still ask questions of the PPC. If you are an ALA member, you can login to Connect using your ALA login information.
If you have any problems that the Connect group doesn't solve (or you have other issues), you can email me directly, Jason Griffey, at griffey@gmail.com or find me on Twitter at @griffey. But please try to use the forum first. :-)
What can you submit
I am well aware of the challenge inherent with planning technology programming a full year in advance of the conference. Feel free to be a general as you need to be in describing your program on first draft...we can always approach you and ask you for details as we move through the process. But you do not have to have every speaker booked, and every topic decided, to put forward a proposal. Have a topic area, a theme, an idea for where you think tech will be? Go with it.
Who Can Submit Proposals
There is one more difference in the process this year that everyone should be aware of. In the past, all programs were driven by Committee and Interest Group submissions, with each group effectively submitting one program. While the PPC is happy to get submissions from these groups, it is NOT NECESSARY to be backed by a group in order for LITA PPC to examine and forward your proposal for a program.
If you, as an individual member, have a great idea and want to be considered, please put in a proposal. If you and two friends want to throw your hats in the ring, please do. If you aren't a LITA or ALA member _at all_ and think you have the best idea for a program at ALA Annual in the history of technology, fill out the form!
Library Society of the World, Code4Lib, and other library groups: here's your chance! Please participate and share with us! Let LITA give you a stage for your ideas. If you have an idea worth putting in front of 300 people at the largest gathering of librarians in the world, we are interested in giving you that opportunity.
Bring it.
Jason Griffey
Chair, LITA Program Planning Committee
