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(Sunday through Wednesday in 2025)
Sunday, May 18 - Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Timberline Lodge: One hour east of Portland, Oregon on the slope of Mt. Hood
Greetings!
We’re excited to announce the call for proposals for AITL 2025: our small, informal, and stimulating gathering in a convivial and glorious Pacific Northwest setting, focused on the methods and innovation of building and managing library collections.
Additionally, to help attendees budget and plan for AITL 2025 we have updated the cost estimates on our website. Last year, the AITL organization operated at a financial loss to run the conference. While we wish we could maintain our pricing from previous years, inflation has increased the cost for all services related to the institute. We are increasing our registration rates to ensure that we are able to offer a high-quality institute for years to come. Please see the “Costs” section on our FAQ webpage for transparency of costs and ballpark costs for lodging. For the 2025 conference, registration (including all meals) is $675. Discounted presenter registration is $475.
Cost saving strategies:
Book alternative lodging and travel to the Lodge each day. Although the “experience” of staying at the Lodge is unique and special, we take pride in the high quality of presentations as the major value of our conference. In the past, self-organized carpools have offered a positive experience for attendees not staying at the Timberline Lodge. Rates for the Best Western in Government Camp are generally lower than those at the Lodge. If you do choose to stay down the mountain at Government Camp, be prepared for the six-mile winding mountain road each way.
Conference room share. We understand the appeal of having your own room, but sharing lodging cuts costs, and we always try to match individuals looking for room shares.
As always, we value the engagement and participation of our attendees and look forward to your continued interest! Please read on for the call for proposals.
Proposals due December 30, 2024.
WHAT IS The Acquisitions Institute?
- Since 2000, the pre-eminent conference located in Western North America on acquisitions and collection development, held at the Timberline Lodge.
- A three-day conference focusing on the methods and innovation of building and managing library collections.
- A small (capped at 80 attendees), informal and stimulating gathering in a convivial and glorious Pacific Northwest setting.
WHAT TOPICS are we looking for?
The planning committee is seeking submissions on all aspects of library acquisitions and collection management. Presenters are encouraged to engage the audience in discussion, whether the presentation leans more toward the practical "here's what we did" sessions or toward the more abstract "here's what we think" sessions. The committee may also seek to achieve balance in the program by bringing individual proposals together to form panels, or by recommending that a proposal be converted to a table talk. We invite you to indicate whether or not you'd be interested in these opportunities on the submission proposal form.
Topics we and/or prior year's attendees are interested in include (in no particular order):
- Assessment tools, methods, and projects (e.g., linking collections with learning outcomes; usage studies)
- Collection strategies including new models for selection and managing liaison programs
- Government, special, or academic library perspectives in acquisitions and collection development
- Sustainable models for publishing/pricing
- Effective management of collections with constrained resources
- Vendor and publisher evaluation, including business skills to determine financial viability
- Diversity, inclusion, representation, and social justice in acquisitions and collections
- Negotiation skills and how to use them, including during library-vendor and library-publisher meetings
- Innovative vendor-librarian relationships and/or partnerships
- Staffing, training and development, and recruiting issues, challenges, successes (e.g., onboarding new acquisitions and/or collections staff)
- Using data visualization techniques to tell our stories (e.g., budget, collections, staff successes, etc.)
- Impacts of Open initiatives on acquisitions and collection development
- Data curation, including Big Data, and management and other new roles for subject and technical services librarians
- How Generative AI impacts our work
The DEADLINE for submitting a proposal is December 30, 2024. NOTE: Maximum of three presenters per proposal.
Please use our 2025 proposal submission form.
COVID-19 Policy: In the interest of keeping everyone safe, the Institute will adhere to local, state, and federal health and safety protocols related to COVID-19.
Important Dates
Fri 12/30/24: Proposals due
Mon 1/20/25: Review of proposals complete, and presenters notified
Fri 1/24/25: Presenters confirm commitment to present
Early February: Registration scheduled to open
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The 2025 Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge Planning Committee is:
- Damon Campbell, University of Oregon
- Selena Chau, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Randyn Heisserer-Miller, Colorado State University
- Elsa Loftis, Portland State University
- Kasia Stasik, Harrassowitz
