CHICAGO—Attend Annual Conference from your desktop this year with the American Library Association’s (ALA) new Virtual Conference. ALA is offering 10 interactive Web sessions on Monday, July 13, and Tuesday, July 14, at the closing of the 2009 Annual Conference in Chicago.

Interact with speakers and other attendees during each of these hour-long sessions on a variety of exciting topics.

These interactive programs from ALA’s Washington Office, the Office of Intellectual Freedom and several other divisions and offices will be the next best thing to being right at the Annual Conference itself.

Topics will include accessing stimulus money for broadband deployment, greening your library and best customer service.

Some of the featured programs are:

* “Conversants”— explore a new way of looking at librarianship as centered on learning and enhancing the conversation of communities.
* “Be My Guest: Customer Service from the Best,” presented by ASCLA—learn ways to make library patrons feel welcome and have a positive experience.
* “You Got Me, Do You Like Me? Evaluating Next Generation Catalogs,” presented by RUSA—hear from a panel of academic and public information professionals who have been evaluating their open source and off-the-shelf next generation catalogs.
* “Overview of the Broadband Deployment and Infrastructure Development: How Libraries Can Access the $7.2 Billion,” featuring John Windhausen, Jr., president of Telepoly Consulting.
* “Small Scale Green”—learn how to “green” existing library facilities without having to start anew.

The Virtual Conference is perfect for those who can’t make it to Chicago this year or for Conference attendees who missed sessions due to busy or conflicting schedules.

All full registrants for the ALA Conference will have access to these sessions after the conference. Those not attending Conference in-person can register for the Virtual Conference online through the ALA Web site. The cost is $215 for ALA members, $210 for division members, $120 for student members, $145 for retired members, $298 for non-members and $215 for institutional members.

Libraries or schools can also receive the following special group rates: $300 for one to three employees; $500 for four to nine employees; and $1000 for 10-plus employees. Register online at http://ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/reg/index.cfm.