Information New Wave

 This year the conference took place at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City. Library workers and students met on May 16 to share ideas network and listen to presentations about Information without borders: multicultural and multilingual collections in the digital age.
 
For the fifth year, REFORMA Northeast Chapter welcomed colleagues from the American Indian Library Association (AILA), Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), Black Caucus of the American Library Association and Chinese American Librarians Association.
 
The event included a tour of the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian by Mary Ahenakew.  Keynote speaker Homa Naficy, Manager of Multicultural Education and Outreach Services Hartford Public Library shared information about how to provide citizenship and passport related services for the community.
 
Two panel presentations covered topics such as Diversity in collection Development, and Literacy in the digital age and online resources for diverse populations. Speakers included librarians from University of Manitoba in Canada, Rutgers University in New Jersey, Brooklyn Public Library, New Jersey City University, Westchester Library System and a student from Queens College.
 
It was great to see REFORMA Co-founder and JCLC Steering Committee member, John Ayala and Dr. Ganga B. Dakshinamurti, also a JCLC Steering Committee member. Diana Morales from Houston Public Library attended the event along with other four! librarians from Houston. 
 
I’ve said this before and I am going say it again:
 
I would like to see more of this type of conference in other regions of the nation. It involves a great deal of coordination, but it is possible! It is one of best alternatives for librarians to attend conferences. Most times, attendance to national conferences depend on library budgets, but regional conferences with free lunch and registration make possible for colleagues to exchange ideas with others, and stay up-to-date regarding library issues and services. Regional library leaders, consider a joint conference as a future initiative. It will boost membership and it will give library workers the opportunity to attend a conference at a local level.
 
Kudos to the Northeast Chapter and its 2009 Organizing Team: Tess Tobin (REFORMA Northeast Chapter President), Libbhy Romero (Program Committee Chair), Lisa Melendez (Program Committee), Douglas Cooke (Treasurer)
 
Pictures on the flicker widget on the right column.
 
Video here. You can also search for the video in Vimeo= tags: Loida,  REFORMA, AILA, APALA, BCALA , CALA, ALA, American Library Association