Keynote Speaker for 2008 Convention announced

Dr. Ellen Frankel, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of the Jewish Publication Society (http://www.jewishpub.org/), will be the keynote speaker at the 2008 convention. Her appearance at an AJL convention will coincide with JPS's 120th anniversary. The topic of Dr. Frankel's talk will be announced later. Anyone interested in the history and development of the Jewish Publication Society is urged to read Jonathan Sarna's JPS: THE AMERICANIZATION OF JEWISH CULTURE, 1888-1988.

AJL 2007 Convention was HOT!

Literally - it was well over 100 degrees every day in sunny Phoenix!

I had a great time at my very first AJL convention, and I am even more excited about having the convention here in Cleveland next June. If you did not make it to Phoenix and you would like to experience the convention virtually, click here http://www.ajl2007.blogspot.com/ and read all about the convention. People were blogging live during the convention, and in addition, some people were also calling in "phonecasts" so you can hear their comments online. Andi Davidson, Jean Lettofsky, and I called in a phonecast on Tuesday night. To hear it, click on the link above, go to Phonecasts in the sidebar, click on "posts" and open up the first one that is dated June 19, 2007. Make sure your speakers are on!

To promote the Cleveland convention, we had luggage tags made with the 2008 Convention logo. Each attendee received a luggage tag in his/her convention bag. In addition, a Conference Announcement and Call for Papers was printed on the back cover of each convention program. We have already received one proposal for a program for next year!

I gave a brief presentation promoting Cleveland during the lunch on Tuesday. If I can figure out how to post a Powerpoint presentation with my comments, I will post it here on the blog.

Update to the logo

For some reason when I uploaded the logo to the blog the convention's theme disappeared. The theme, "Jewish Libraries: Tradition, Text and Technology," is supposed to be in between the two burgundy lines below the logo. You'll just have to picture it until I can figure out how to remedy the situation!

Logo

Thanks to Debbie Friedman, the Director of Communications at The Temple - Tifereth Israel, we now have a classy logo for the 2008 Cleveland Convention. The above logo will be used on letterhead stationery, postcards, and the bags we will give away at the convention.

2007 Convention Information

This year's annual convention will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona. All of the latest information is posted on the AJL's convention page: http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/conventions/convention2007.htm

So far Andi Davidson, Wendy Wasman, Jean Lettofsky, Heather Lenson, and Lee Haas will be representing the Greater Cleveland Chapter at the 2007 convention. Please let us know if you are going, too! Remember - tell everyone you meet to "Save the Date: Cleveland in '08!"

We are refining the logo for the 2008 convention. When it is ready, I will post it here on the blog.

Planning Update

The Convention Planning Committee has been working hard to reorganize some of the sub-committees, come up with a theme for the convention (see next post), and make contacts within the local community for potential sponsors, exhibitors, volunteers, etc. Stay tuned for future updates which will include more details.

We have a theme!

The theme/slogan for the 2008 AJL Convention will be:

Jewish Libraries: Tradition, Text and Technology