Online Salon: ALA President To Discuss Creating Connections

Join ALA President Jim Rettig at the ALA Connections Salon, an online event scheduled for 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST Friday, Sept. 26.  

Online Programming for All Libraries (OPAL) Coordinator Tom Peters will begin the hour with an interview with Rettig, whose presidential focus is “Creating Connections.”  Rettig’s initiatives foster connections among libraries, library workers, the communities libraries serve and those who make library funding and policy decisions.  Rettig is particularly interested in fostering connections among ALA members and exploring new ways for members to benefit from and contribute to our association.  The ALA Connections Salon is one such exploration.  

Like its 17th and 18th Century European counterparts, the ALA Connections Salon offers a place for ALA members to gather and discuss professional topics of interest.  Following the interview, participants will be free to ask questions and engage with Rettig and one another about ways to make the most of their ALA experience.

The salon will take place in OPAL, a user-friendly site offering online rooms where participants can interact via voice-over-IP, text chatting, synchronized browsing and other functions.  The link for the salon is http://tinyurl.com/6ncakq, and a tip sheet for users is available at http://www.opal-online.org/firsttimetips.htm.  

Future salons will take place each month throughout Rettig’s presidency on from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST Fridays as follows:

2008

October 17 Kid Connections 

November 21 Political Connections 

December 19 Gaming Connections 

2009

February 20 ALA Connections

March 20 Next Generation Catalog Connections

April 17 Advocacy Connections 

May 15 Education and Recruitment Connections 

June 19 Future Connections

For more information about ALA President Jim Rettig’s initiatives, please visit http://jimrettig.org/content/initiatives/initiatives.htm .