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BCALA NEWS Volume 41, Issue 3

Summer 2014

CAUCUS BLACK

American Library Association

For immediate release: July 11, 2014

Media Contact: Gerald Brooks

Office - (314) 539 - 0315 Cell - (314) 662 -1950

BLACK CAUCUS OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION TO HOLD 2015 NATIONAL CONFERENCE IN ST. LOUIS, MO

St. Louis – The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) will hold its 9th biennial National Conference of African-American Librarians (NCAAL) in St. Louis, Mo. from Aug. 4-8, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch hotel. The theme for the event is ‘‘Meet at the Gateway: Reimagining Communities, Technologies and Libraries.” The conference will offer information and professional development sessions for librarians, library staff and library supporters, as well as nationally recognized speakers, award-winning authors, vendor exhibits, and much more. ‘‘We are truly excited about bringing our conference to St. Louis, with its rich African-American history as well as being the Gateway to the West,” said conference planning team leader Makiba Foster. ‘‘BCALA has been and continues to be an integral part of the American Library Association during the 44-year history of our organization.” Foster, a librarian at Washington University in St. Louis, is leading the conference planning team alongside fellow conference co-chair Emily Guss of Chicago.

Featured keynote speakers and featured authors for the 9th NCAAL will be announced in the coming months. A conference website and registration information will also be released soon. Speakers and authors for the 8th NCAAL in 2013 included U.S. Congressman John Lewis, professor and MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, poet laureate Frank X. Walker, and former Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory.

For more information about the 9th NCAAL, contact conference team leaders Makiba Foster (314-935-6093, mfoster@wustl. edu) or Emily Guss (erguss@msn.com).

BCALA is a nonprofit organization supporting librarians and library support staff in different areas of librarianship, including school, public, academic, and special. BCALA also supports a variety of other information professionals, and has national and international membership. It supports various causes, including: Haiti earthquake relief, diversity scholarships, literacy initiatives, and health information literacy through various programming with the National Library of Medicine. In addition, BCALA bestows literary awards for African-American authors and sponsors the prestigious Coretta Scott King Book Award.

- ### - Find more information about BCALA at www.bcala.org.

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