Charlotte Canelli is the library director of the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, Massachusetts. Read Charlotte's column in the January 14, 2016 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.
I belong to several professional organizations for librarians, and the largest of these is the American Library Association. ALA has been holding annual conferences in June since 1876. In fact, it held one of its first summer conferences right here in Boston in 1879 with its largest participation in its then five-year history – 162 members.
The numbers have grown, and currently, there are less than ten cities large* enough to host the annual ALA conference (held in June) with the highest number of attendees nearly 30,000 (Washington, DC in 2007). Other annual conferences destinations are Anaheim, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Chicago. (*Large conference cities are those who can house the attendees to area hotels and shuttle them back and forth between the event venues.)
In January of each year, the ALA holds its Midwinter Meeting, which is just a small conference that focuses on committee meetings and awards announcements such as the Caldecott, the Newbery, and the Carnegie medals. It also has lower attendance (around 10,000 – 13,000). Every decade or so, the ALA Midwinter Meeting is held in our “hometown,” Boston. Nearly the highest number ever of American Library Association members attended the Midwinter Meeting in Boston in 2005 – nearly 14,000. Some of the other winter destinations are Denver, Philadelphia, and Seattle.
By now, you might be wondering. Why do librarians travel to the hottest cities in summer and the coldest in the winter? Well, we are, by nature, frugal. Conferences prices are the driving factor. What conference goer wants to trek between hotels, restaurants, and events while sweating through the heat? Or pack boots and thick winter coats, enduring flight changes, and cancelations due to snow and ice? A penny-counting librarian, that’s who!
This year’s ALA Midwinter Meeting was once again held in Boston with nearly 13,000 attending. Librarians flocked to Boston from all over the country to attend over 2,400 meetings, workshops, and presentations during the five days. Events were held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) on the waterfront. (The BCEC is the largest conference center in the Northeast and opened in 2004.) More beautiful, new hotels have opened all around Boston. The Westin Waterfront, adjacent to the BCEC (and accessible by a covered walkway), has nearly 800 rooms. The other dozen hotel venues around the city, such as the Park Plaza and the Omni Parker House, sleep thousands of more attendees and are served by fleets of shuttle buses that run every fifteen minutes.
My favorite events at the national conferences (American Library Association and its affiliate, the Public Library Association, which holds its conference every other year in late March) are the early morning breakfasts offered by the publishers of adult books - Simon and Schuster, Perseus, Penguin/Random House, Harper-Collins among them. Panels of editors, authors, and marketing directors introduce us to hundreds of books slated for publication in the months ahead. Librarians are essentially kids in a candy store at these events, and we leave with handfuls of ARCs – or advanced reading copies.
Other events I always attend are the main keynote speakers who are scheduled each day. The presenters are not librarians but are inspirational and interesting Americans. (Senator Barack Obama was the keynote speaker at the June 2005 annual conference.) This year at ALA Midwinter in Boston, speakers were anti-bullying activist Lizzie Velasquez; United States Senator Cory Booker; filmmaker, Ken Burns; fashion guru Isaac Mizrahi; and vice-chairman of the Clinton Foundation, author Chelsea Clinton.
Full disclosure: these speakers have usually published books (or are scheduled to publish) within a year of the conference. Librarians are, after all, a key reading audience.
I was lucky enough this year to catch Ms. Clinton, Ms. Velásquez, and Senator Booker in the BCEC’s main ballrooms that seat thousands.
On Sunday, I was incredibly amazed by Senator Cory Booker, once mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is passionate, charismatic and articulate. He shared stories of his family, his work, and his dream for America. His book, United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good, will be published in March.
On Monday, I was equally impressed with Chelsea Clinton. Her eloquence, her ease on stage, and her passion were immediately obvious the moment she walked on stage. Her book for young adults, It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going! hit the bookshelves last September. Clinton answered many questions about her current work and childhood, both of which she speaks lovingly about. After her appearance, Ms. Clinton welcomed hundreds of librarians and autographed a complimentary copy of the book for each and every one of them who could stand in line. She also asked them for recommendations for children’s books to read to her daughter, Charlotte.
On Saturday, I was simply moved to tears by Lizzie Velásquez, who has written three books (for adults and children) since 2012. Be Beautiful, Be You (2012), Choosing Happiness (2014), and Lizzie Beautiful (2010), co-written with her mother, Rita. The DVD, the A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velásquez Story, was released last year and can be viewed on Hoopla! (A free streaming service available through our library here in Norwood). Lizzie, who suffers from a genetic disorder that does not allow her to gain weight (thereby disfiguring her body and facial features) was bullied mercilessly as a young woman and called the “ugliest woman in the world” on the Internet. Lizzie’s pride, her strength, and her courage, while exemplified in her writing and her life story (on DVD), were a gift that I received in person.
I’m so fortunate to be a part of several professional organizations for librarians. These annual conferences never cease to inspire and exhaust me. I invariably leave reinvigorated, and I can’t wait to share the knowledge from workshops and courses, the stories from books that have been highlighted, and the enthusiasm of the keynote speakers.
