A one-time Vancouver conference opportunity with SLA June 8-10th
By Christina de Castell and Patricia Cia.

At long last, the SLA Annual Conference is coming to Vancouver from June 8-10th, 2014. Information professionals, knowledge managers, librarians, researchers, analysts – whatever the title – will be visiting Vancouver to learn, network and discuss issues relevant to working in specialized environments. In British Columbia SLA members work in government and crown agencies; mining, forestry and engineering companies; law firms, universities, colleges, and as independent consultants, to name a few.

The conference theme “Beyond Borders” reflects the internationalization of the profession and encourages innovative ideas and solutions, as well as networking across all forms of librarianship.

This is the first opportunity for BC library workers to explore specialized aspects of their profession by attending the SLA conference close to home. The keynote speaker this year is John Wilbanks, Chief Commons Officer for Sage Bionetworks. John has also worked at Harvard's Berkman Centre for Internet & Society, the World Wide Web Consortium and Creative Commons. Pre-conference workshops on Saturday, June 7th, will cover negotiating contracts, managing consultant-client partnerships, presenting information in visual formats, copyright, and competitive intelligence.

Registration includes keynote, spotlight, roundtable and general sessions, networking events, and access to Info-Expo. Here’s a session sampling:

• It's a brave MOOC world: Challenges and opportunities for librarian
• A.D. (After Digitization): Managing and marketing your digital content
• Data for dinner: Data mining from farm to table
• Win-win contract negotiation
• Information overload: Taking advantage of taxonomies
• Academic libraries: Supporting innovation and entrepreneurship
• Working across cultures
• Developing and leading a knowledge sharing culture
• Borderless CI: Researching international intelligence
• Library marketing 101: The three things you really should be doing
• Leadership in a time of disruption: Reconnecting intellect and practice
• Choices just get harder: Making career transitions when money is not the motive
• The science and politics of sustainable seafood
• Government information access in the U.S. and Canada: Implications for librarians

Local presenters include: Carla Graebner (SFU), Ken Haycock, Hyoshin Kim (Douglas), Shannon LaBelle (Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre), Christina Neigel (UFV), Cynthia Ng (CILS), Heather O’Brien (UBC iSchool), Trish Rosseel (UBC), Sandra Singh (Vancouver Public Library), Ann Stevenson (UBC Museum of Anthropology), Cecily Walker (Vancouver Public Library), Liam Whalen (BC Libraries Cooperative), Joyce Wong (Langara), and Donovan Woollard (RADIUS, Simon Fraser University).

There will also be sessions from the always popular: Mary-Ellen Bates (Bates Information Services), Jane Dysart (Dysart & Jones), Lesley Ellen Harris (Copyrightlaws.com), Ulla de Stricker (Ulla de Stricker and Associates).

Registration, housing, FAQs and Online Planner available at the SLA website: http://www.sla.org/attend/2014-annual-conference/

Local information from the Host Chapter Committee at: http://vancouver.sla.org

Christina de Castell and Patricia Cia are SLA 2014 Host Chapter Committee Co-Chairs.