Speakers

Friday, May 1, 2009 Morning keynote speaker: Stephen Abram Information Fluency in a Virtual World - Presentation (.pdf)
Stephen Abram, MLS, is the immediate past-president (2008) of SLA and the past-President of the Canadian Library Association and Vice President Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute. He has been VP of Corporate Development for Micromedia ProQuest and Publisher Electronic Information for Thomson. He ran libraries for Suncor, Coopers & Lybrand, Smith Lyons Torrance Stevenson and Mayer and Hay Group. Stephen has been listed by Library Journal as one of their first "Mover and Shakers", the 'key' people influencing the future of libraries and librarianship.  He has been awarded SLA's John Cotton Dana Award as well as being a Fellow of the SLA. He was Canadian Special Librarian of the Year and Alumni of the Year for the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Information Studies. He was President 2002 of the Ontario Library Association.  He gives over 100 international keynote talks annually to library and information industry conferences and writes articles and columns for Information Outlook, Feliciter, Access, Multimedia & Internet @ Schools, and Library Journal.  He is the author of ALA Editions' bestselling Out Front with Stephen Abram and the Stephen's Lighthouse blog.
Friday, May 1, 2009 Dinner speaker: Jimmy Santiago Baca Even If It Doesn't Make Sense, It Works Life & Times Of A Poet
Born in New Mexico of Indio-Mexican descent, Jimmy Santiago Baca was raised first by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage. A runaway at age 13, it was after Baca was sentenced to five years in a maximum security prison that he began to turn his life around: he learned to read and write and unearthed a voracious passion for poetry.  During a fateful conflict with another inmate, Jimmy was shaken by the voices of Neruda and Lorca, and made a choice that would alter his destiny.   Instead of becoming a hardened criminal, he emerged from prison a writer. Baca sent three of his poems to Denise Levertov, the poetry editor of Mother Jones.  The poems were published and became part of  Immigrants in Our Own Land,  published in 1979, the year he was released from prison. He earned his GED later that same year. He is the winner of the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award and for his memoir A Place to Stand the prestigious International Award. In 2006 he won the Cornelius P. Turner Award. The national award recognizes one GED graduate a year who has made outstanding contributions to society in education, justice, health, public service and social welfare. Baca has devoted his post-prison life to writing and teaching others who are overcoming hardship. His themes include American Southwest barrios, addiction, injustice, education, community, love and beyond. He has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in prisons, community centers, libraries, and universities throughout the country.
Saturday, May 2, 2009 Morning plenary speaker: Susan Deese-Roberts Blazing Trails: Leading Student Learning - Presentation (.ppt)
Dr. Susan Deese-Roberts has long been intrigued by the question:  How do students learn?  Beginning with her dissertation research in 1983-84 and continuing into her post-retirement teaching, Dr. Deese-Roberts has studied numerous learning style theories and curriculum design systems.  In roles as library instructor, faculty developer and teaching assistant trainer, she has distilled several approaches to learning styles into practical techniques and strategies for the classroom.  In her presentation, she will share her insights into what students are thinking while we are teaching and how we can lead that thinking. Dr. Deese-Roberts is Professor Emerita, University Libraries, University of New Mexico.  While pursuing her doctoral studies, she established the University's undergraduate tutoring center.  She held positions in the University Libraries as Director of Zimmerman Library Public Services and Director of Tireman Learning Materials Library.  She was  the first director of faculty development at the University and also coordinated the Teaching Assistant Resource Center.  After retiring in 2005, she continues to teach in the Freshman Learning Communities program each fall semester; teaching a seminar class linked to a writing course.  Dr. Deese-Roberts served as President of the College Reading and Learning Association and a member of the American Library Association and the Association of College and Research Libraries.