The Fall 2012 issue of the CALL Bulletin provides several first-hand accounts of the 2012 AALL Annual Meeting in Boston. CALL grant recipients Clare Gaynor Willis and Joe Noel recount their experiences in Boston, which give evidence of the return on CALL’s investment in travel grants and the value of professional activity by newer librarians both locally and nationally. In the Tech Buzz column, Ben Carlson and Carla Wale summarize some of the highlights of the “Cool Tools Café” session. And, Deborah Darin reports on the session about the National Declassification Center, a four-year initiative established by a 2009 executive order and conducted by the National Archives, which attempts to tackle the enormous backlog of federal documents awaiting declassification.
Deborah’s article provides a nice bridge to two other articles on the theme of government relations. Connie Fleischer writes about her participation in the Illinois Government Depository Council, which is coordinating the participation of federal depository libraries in Illinois in the nationwide strategic planning process undertaken by the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), and Kevin McClure gives a defense of why the FDLP still matters even after the advent of digital publishing.
Be sure to check out Maribel Nash’s invitation to the ORALL meeting in Valparaiso, Indiana in October, and Julienne Grant’s summary of the CALL Leadership Retreat held in August. This issue also covers committee annual reports from 2011-2012, and roundups of CALL Board meetings and the May business meeting.
– Margaret Schilt and Kevin McClure, Co-Editors
