Message from the Chair

Categorized | Bulletin

Posted on 18 May 2012.

Article 1 of 13 in PAM Bulletin Vol 39, No 4

PAM Bulletin Vol 39, No 4

This is the last Bulletin issue before our Annual Meeting in Chicago. I am delighted to share with you a sneak preview of the 2012 PAM Division’s program. The whole program is coming together through the goodwill of librarians, publishers, and SLA staff. PAM staff proves what I knew all along. The goodwill of people is the only thing that matters in any business. It’s a joy to witness it from start to end and to be a part of it.

I am especially excited because this year we are celebrating a milestone birthday for PAM. This year marks the 40th Anniversary of PAM. Ruth Kneale and Sharice Collins have been communicating and brainstorming fabulous ideas to celebrate our anniversary at the hospitality suite. I will not spoil the surprise by revealing their fantastic plans. Please check out our 40th anniversary banner at our website and drop a thank you note to Ruth for coordinating the creation of this terrific banner for us.

The conference week will start with our traditional Early Bird Dinner on Saturday evening. Jill Postma booked a private room for us at Blackie’s at 6:00 pm. Blackie’s is an original place — when legends like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Frank Sinatra were in town in the early 1940s, they ate at Blackie’s. Jill will be sending an invite with RSVP instructions to PAMnet soon. Be on the look-out for your invitation and don’t miss this wonderful annual gathering.

Our Division Hospitality, sponsored by IOP Publishing, will be in the South Building of the Convention Center in meeting room S404A. In order to avoid the inconvenience of taking a shuttle or a taxi to the hospitality suite, Louise C. Leckner of IOP Publishing has worked very hard to reserve a room within walking distance to the conference center. As you probably know, this year’s conference hotel is not within walking distance to the McCormick Place. I very much appreciate Loiuse’s efforts to work around the challenges to provide open houses within close proximity to McCormick Place. Please take a moment to thank her in Chicago.

Our Open House, sponsored by AIP, will be at the Hilton Hotel in Williford Room A.Mary Ann Gross of AIP is currently working on the reception menu. For details of all other sessions please see the conference schedule, which is available online at http://sla2012.sla.org/conference-planner/.

I am very much looking forward to meeting the 2012 PAM Travel Stipend winners, sponsored by IOP Publishing. This year’s winners are: Elizabeth Cheney, Librarian at the UCLA; John Kromer, Physical Sciences Librarian at the Miami University; Laurie Hunter Physical Sciences Librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH); and Rebeca Befus, Mathematics Librarian at the Michigan State University. They will be presented with their awards at the Business Luncheon, sponsored by APS, on Monday at noon. Hope to see you there.

The conference week will end with a tour of the Adler Planetarium on Thursday. Once again many thanks to Jill Postma, who so generously offered to provide free admission to the museum and give a one-hour of tour. After the guided tour, participants will be on their own, leaving whenever they wish. You may want to stay for lunch at the museum’s café, as it has the best view of the city at ground level. Note that we have not arranged for transportation as the hotels are scattered. We will meet at the South Entrance at 9:45 am. Jill will be sending an invite with RSVP instructions to PAMnet soon.

As always, we couldn’t prepare this program without generous support of our sponsors. Many of them have been our steadfast supporters for so many years and others are new. Please take time to thank all of them in the Exhibit Hall: