(via Julia Esparza, Medical Library Association President)
Late on May 7, Oregon’s Governor Kate Brown announced the decision to limit gatherings to twenty-five people or fewer through September 2020. Unfortunately, this means that the MLA face-to-face annual meeting will not take place.
The 2020 National Program Committee (NPC)-led by Janna C. Lawrence, AHIP, and cochaired by Melissa De Santis, AHIP, with the MLA headquarters staff-is already hard at work developing a robust and exciting virtual meeting. The leadership and individuals on the NPC are innovative, and I know that they will make this an outstanding experience. Note that the proposed “virtual conference” (vConference) will include more content than any previous online offering for MLA annual meetings. The NPC and MLA staff are providing you with some preliminary details now, and much more will be coming in the future.
We know that you will have additional questions. The NPC and MLA team are working on the details of the vConference experience, and we will provide you with further details as those become available. Please watch MLAConnect communications and the MLA 2020 website for updates.
For urgent information needs, please direct your questions to Kate Corcoran, at corcoran@mail.mlahq.org.
I thank the NPC and especially the Local Assistance Committee for continuing their service well beyond the normal time and pass on that MLA regrets that we will not see the amazing in-person meeting they had planned.