There are librarians from universities, from public libraries, from school libraries and special libraries. The FORO conferences feature breakout sessions where the participants have opportunities to discuss their specific needs, their projects, their hopes and their problems. The FORO features ongoing, simultaneous interpretation so that if you have a language handicap, as I do, you have help with the language barrier. One distinctive aspect of the FORO is that it is a model of partnering between librarians and vendors that sell materials to libraries. This is a wonderful example of coming together around common interests.
Vendors have much to gain from libraries success.
It is in their economic interest and therefore, often they are very willing to support library initiatives. It s economical and political, but libraries have joined in and have made their voices known. Again, this is a wonderful example of librarians cooperating, partnering, connecting for combined power and promotion of common ideals. In conclusion I wanted you to know about some of the activities that I am pursuing as president-elect of the American Library Association. It is the tradition of the American Library Association for the newly elected president to take a year in which to decide upon a theme and to set up some planned activities.