91´«Ã½

CHICAGO—The submission deadline has been extended to Monday, Sept. 20, for proposals for the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies’ (ASCLA) 2011 Virtual Convergence—a series of professional development webinars that will be held in January 2011 immediately following the 91´«Ã½ 2011 Midwinter Meeting.

The Virtual Convergence is an inaugural webinar series presented by ASCLA on topics of interest to both ASCLA members and the broader library community. It offers librarians, library staff and library supporters of all types an opportunity to, for one week, focus on acquiring important knowledge that will enhance and improve workplace performance and effectiveness. The event will be held from Tuesday, Jan. 18 through Friday, Jan. 21, with webinars scheduled throughout the day. The division currently seeks proposals for these sessions. Proposals may be submitted directly by presenters or, similar to the conference planning process, may be submitted by member volunteers who will coordinate presenter recruitment and/or facilitate a panel of speakers.

Successful proposals will:

• Show plans for presentations that fit within the 90-minute session blocks, including at least 15 minutes for Q&A.
• Show how the presentation addresses a topic either of interest to ASCLA members, or represents an area of ASCLA’s expertise that benefits other types of librarians. This may include but is not limited to: financial management; strategic planning; grant writing; services to special populations including the blind, deaf and hard of hearing and the incarcerated; and library consulting. Past topics addressed by ASCLA programming are listed in the , as well as .
• Include an outline of the points the presentation will cover.
• Outline the audiences that will be interested in this topic.
• Include a description of the presenter and his/her relevant experience, e.g. education, job history, that illustrates their expertise in the proposed topic area.

Proposals must be submitted no later than close of business on Monday, Sept. 20, 2010. Presenters for accepted proposals will receive compensation for their time and will also receive training for the webinar software. Questions about ASCLA or the Convergence can be directed to Liz Markel, ASCLA marketing specialist, or Susan Hornung, ASCLA executive director at lmarkel@ala.org and shornung@ala.org, respectively.

More information about the Virtual Convergence schedule, registration rates and other event details will be posted on the and in mid-October, 2010.

ASCLA, a division of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½), is a diverse organization of librarians and support staff who work in academic and public libraries, state agencies, specialized libraries and multi-type cooperatives, as well as those who are self-employed. Not an ASCLA member, but interested in discounted registration rates on conference, ASCLA preconferences and other ASCLA events? Join, renew or add ASCLA to your 91´«Ã½ membership at .