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First Presidential Message - SALALM 68

First Presidential Message - includes important conference information

Colleagues -
I have to tell you that I am so happy to be writing this email. I get to talk with you – as your elected President – about some of the things that we, as an organization, are currently doing. And I get to share information about the next time we will all be together face-to-face after several years of only seeing pixelated versions of each other. 
 
First - the conference. We are so lucky that we are going to be able to get together face-to-face in the Washington, DC Area for our next conference! I was looking back at my email and the first email I sent to our DC Area colleagues asking them to consider hosting us was in the summer of 2021. In that email I mentioned the kernel of my theme: “Connection Development” and noted that DC is a hub of connections and, through a conference there, SALALM can tap into different networks and bring new voices into our ongoing conversations. More about the theme very soon, but I know you want to know the dates. 
 
SALALM Committee meetings will be on Monday June 5.  Our conference will officially open on Tuesday June 6 and conclude on Friday June 9. More details will follow as we create our program but please mark those dates on your calendars. The conference headquarters will be the Crystal Gateway Marriott located in Arlington, Virginia. The conference hotel rate is $249/night for a double (plus 14.25% tax). Please make your reservations early and tell them you want the rate for the SALALM Conference 2023. This hotel has a great location for us as it is right on a DC Metro line and offers a free shuttle from the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (airport code DCA). I am grateful to our tireless Executive Director, Hortensia Calvo, and the DC Local Arrangements Team: Suzanne Schadl, Library of Congress; Jade Madrid, Georgetown University; Alyson Williams, Dumbarton Oaks; and the newly-added Noa Corcoran-Tadd, Dumbarton Oaks. These folks did both the groundwork and the negotiating to secure us the dates and the hotel location. Some time this Fall I will make a site visit, and I will report back to you. 
 
I am still working on the formal conference announcement and call for proposals but the theme continues to be “Connection Development: Collaborations and Communities across the Americas, Iberia, the Caribbean, and their diasporas.” I look forward to connecting with some of the LIS programs in the area (American University and Old Dominion University) as well as some of the other entities in the region that work with issues connected to our profession and the regions and peoples we serve and represent. In keeping with the theme, we will be adding other opportunities for SALALM members and new potential members to participate in our conference. Our venue will have space for poster sessions as one way to increase how we connect with each other and with new ideas. Please be thinking about how you can contribute to this theme and how you might challenge yourself to try a new format (like a poster). Also talk with your colleagues and with students and contemplate what new voices you might be able to invite to join you.  
 
At the Executive Board 2 meeting I announced that I would create a Conference Accessibility Task Force. After discussion with the interested members we have decided instead to include those voices on the Conference Program Planning Task Force. The Conference Program Planning Task Force this year is comprised of the Executive Director (Hortensia Calvo) and the Treasurer (Peter Johnson) with the addition of the Past President (Antonio Sotomayor) the Vice President / President Elect (Christine Hernandez), a member of the local arrangements team (Jade Madrid), Bronwen Maxson (interested in Accessibility), and two members-at-large (Lisa Gardinier and Talía Guzmán-González). I suspect we are going to have fun working with Local Arrangements to put together this conference! 
 
I realize that not all of you were at the Executive Board 2 meeting and even if you were, you've had a summer of vacations, family events, and work meetings to dislodge the memories of everything I said so I'll remind you. The last comprehensive SALALM membership survey was conducted in 2007. Now that we are at a transition moment as an organization – with the Secretariat moving – it is an appropriate moment for us to again survey the membership. Back in 2007, there were more dedicated Latin American Studies positions in US academic libraries than there are today. Some of our members are still in these kinds of positions. Others might have collection responsibilities that align with SALALM but juggle these duties with other subject assignments. And there are also SALALM members whose professional passion is connected to our organization even though their day-to-day work is not. This membership survey will give us information to help us create an updated profile of our membership. The survey will also ask questions to help SALALM understand what our membership needs and wants from the organization. Right before the 2022 conference I asked Matt Hill as the incoming chair of the Membership Committee if he would chair a Membership Survey Task Force. I'm glad that he agreed. Matt has assembled a committee including Luis Javier Felix Acosta, Kathia Ibacache, Ryan Lynch, Pamela Espinosa de los Monteros, Alejandro Herrera (Enhacore Books), Alejandra Berenguer (HB Books), Karen Eccles, and Manuel Ostos. I appreciate the time and energy that this group is willing to devote to our organization. 
 
I also have fabulous news for you about the new SALALM website migration project. It has taken months and many meetings, as well as the tireless work of several SALALMistas–most notably Michael Scott!- and finally we are going to launch our new site! The transition to the new Naylor platform for the website will occur shortly after Labor Day weekend in September. The platform will not only house the new website, but also be a central point for finance, membership, and conference planning. Watch for more news in the next few weeks. 
 
When thinking of your membership renewal, remember that SALALM's fiscal year starts on September 1st. This year membership renewals will be conducted through the new website (Naylor platform) so please read the Secretariat's email carefully when you receive the instructions in the coming days. I also ask you to consider joining a professional librarian organization in a Latin American country so you can serve as a liaison between that organization and ours. 
 
Thank you for being part of SALALM and for making this organization what we are. My first SALALM conference was 2000 in Long Beach. Prior to 2020, there were only 2 years in which I did not travel to attend a SALALM conference to work together and learn with you, my colleagues. I am giddy at the prospect of getting to see you again. It's about time!
 
You will receive another version of this email in Spanish (thanks to Talía Guzmán-González).
 
Sincerely,
Anne

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