Library Associations: Brand new MLA Conference organization

Things will be a little different for the Medical Library Association (MLA) 2010 Annual Meeting.

Firstly, the Keynote Speaker, Daniel Pink has created a web page Dan Pink’s invitation to MLA ‘10 , where he invites all concerned to brainstorm ideas on issues, they would like to discuss at the conference. Thus, he is going to frame his presentation within this context.

Another change to MLA is connectivity.  This meeting will be more online allowing for more people to attend virtually and view things remotely.  This is the first time the annual meeting will have an online conference community portal.  The Conference community is an online experience being built around MLA 2010 that allows attendees (both in person or virtual) to interact and share through various online social tools. In the past many of these online social tools were used but now MLA is pulling them together, adding new owns, and making them part of a cohesive conference community portal.  One of the things that will be in the portal will be Daniel Pink’s presentation.  It will be videotaped and available within 24 hours.

Several weeks after the conference, Pink will participate in a live Webcast to continue the discussion and reflect on how the medical libraries might apply all these innovations. 

MLA Conference organizers hope that all its members will come up with initiative and submit their ideas on what they think there should be in the portal to make the Association more significant and useful to its members.