1. art and entertainment
2. books and literature

featured speakers
General Session I: Paula Poundstone is one
of the most original and imaginative comedians in the
country today. Her offbeat interpretations of everyday life,
including the peaks and valleys of parenting, come from
her own experiences and have led to an ever-increasing list
of accomplishments. Poundstone has also served as both
producer and vocalist on an award-winning children’s audio
book project titled Completely Yours, featuring a story about
Paula Poundstone
foster parenting called “A Mother for Choco” along with
nursery rhymes and songs. For this project, Poundstone enlisted the help of some of her
famous friends like Mary Tyler Moore, Bea Arthur, Kathy Najimy, Ed Asner, and Lily
Tomlin. She has also lent her unique blend of honesty and humor in support of libraries.
She is the national spokesperson for Friends of Libraries USA and has participated in
various public relations efforts to help promote libraries and equip local friends groups
with messages to market libraries. A talented writer as well, Poundstone wrote a column
for Mother Jones magazine from 1993-1998. She also appears regularly on National Public
Radio programming. Her latest work, There’s Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say,
showcases the wry humor and keen insight that has made her one of today’s
top entertainers.
General Session II: Gloria Steinem is a writer,
lecturer, editor, and feminist activist. An international voice for
gender, racial, and economic equality, Steinem is counted by
Biography magazine as one of the 25 most influential women in
America. Perhaps best known for her pioneering role in women’s
issues, she remains a strong force in American politics. She cofounded Ms. Magazine in 1972, has produced a documentary
on child abuse for HBO and a feature film about the death
penalty for Lifetime, and has been the subject of profiles on
gloria steinem
both Lifetime and Showtime. Her books include the bestsellers
Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions; Moving
Beyond Words; and Marilyn: Norma Jean. She has received the Penney-Missouri Journalism
Award, the Front Page and Clarion awards, National Magazine awards, an Emmy Citation
for excellence in television writing, the Women’s Sports Journalism Award, the Lifetime
Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and the
Society of Writers Award from the United Nations. Parenting magazine selected her for its
Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 for her work in promoting girls’ self-esteem. She now
lives in New York City and is currently at work on Road to the Heart: America As if Everyone
Mattered, a book about her more than 30 years on the road as a feminist organizer.
Betty Sue Flowers, director
affiliate, KLRU. Flowers has
served as a moderator for executive
of the Lyndon Baines Johnson
seminars at the Aspen Institute
Library and Museum, carries
for Humanistic Studies, as a
a distinguished academic
consultant for NASA, as a member
career and has been widely
of the Envisioning Network for
honored for her scholarship
General Motors, as a member of
and teaching. Among her many
the vision team for the National
accomplishments, Flowers
betty sue flowers
Endowment for the Humanities,
served as a consultant for the
and as a Visiting Advisor to the Secretary
nationally televised series, The Power
of the Navy. She has co-edited a book on
of Myth, as well as a host for the radio
the inner dimensions of leadership and
series, The Next 200 Years. Her 10-part
synchronicity, and she has recently jointlytelevision series, Conversation with Betty
authored Presence: Human Purpose and the
Sue Flowers, was aired on the Austin PBS
Field of the Future.
Texas Library Association 2009 Annual Conference
Holly Witchey is
currently director
of new media at the
Cleveland Museum
of Art and serves
as a member of the
Board of Directors
of the Museum
holly witchey
Computer Network
and is a member to
the National Committee for Archives,
Libraries, and Museums. From 2002-2007,
she served as a member, and eventually
chair, of the American Association of
Museum’s Media & Technology Standing
Professional Committee. As associate
curator of European Art at the San Diego
Museum of Art, she began developing
content rich projects for museums using
new technologies. In 2000 she left the
curatorial world to start the New Media
Department at the Cleveland Museum
of Art. Witchey writes and speaks about
museum ethics, accessibility, and issues that
have arisen as a result of the use of new
technologies in museum settings.
Jenny Levine is the Internet development
specialist and strategy guide at the
American Library Association, where she
splits her time between
the information
technology and
publishing units. As
part of her job, she
blogs, creates wikis,
bugs her colleagues
to instant message,
tests podcasting and
jenny levine
vodcasting, teaches
RSS, posts pictures on Flickr, explores
library services in Second Life, and
does similar work with other emerging
technologies and tools in general. Levine
is also the author of The Shifted Librarian
blog, a site that helps librarians understand
the coming impact of ubiquitous, alwayson Internet (and hence ubiquitous, alwayson information) on our profession. She
wrote the September/October 2006 issue of
Library Technology Reports titled “Gaming
and Libraries: Intersection of Services” and
is an avid proponent of gaming services in
libraries.
I
Michael Stephens
spent over 15 years
working in public
libraries. While
engaged in staff
training, longterm planning,
and management
michael stephens
initiatives, he
developed a passion for the practical
application of technology in libraries.
He published The Library Internet
Trainer’s Toolkit in 2001. Two years
later, he launched his weblog, Tame the
Web. In 2004, he began interdisciplinary
research on social software and blogging.
He currently writes a monthly Library
Journal column with Michael Casey:
The Transparent Library, exploring how
trends and technologies can enhance
libraries and make them participatory and
open to change. He joined Dominican
University as full-time faculty in 2006 and
has recently completed two ALA library
technology reports on Web 2.0 and also
created a graduate seminar on Library 2.0
theory and practice.
R. David Lankes
is executive director
of the Information
Institute of Syracuse
(IIS) and an assistant
professor at Syracuse
University’s School of
Information Studies.
David lankes
In 1992, Lankes cofounded the award-winning AskERIC
project, which is an Internet service
for educators that offers resources and
personal assistance for thousands of
teachers a week. Lankes founded the
Virtual Reference Desk project that is
building a national network of expertise
for education, and he is also one of
the architects of GEM, a standardsbased system for describing and finding
educational materials on the Internet.
He has authored, co-authored, or edited
eight books and other writings on the
Internet and digital reference. He has
worked closely with the National Library
of Education, Library of Congress,
Microsoft, American Library Association,
AT&T, OCLC, NEA, White House Office
of Science and Technology Policy, MCI
WorldCom, and more.
II
Sarah HoughtonJan, known in library
ranks as “The Librarian
in Black,” is the digital
futures manager for
the San José Public
Library. She also works
as a consultant for the
sarah houghton-jan
Infopeople Project,
serves on LITA’s Top Technology Trends
Committee, and speaks internationally
on library digital matters. She received
her MLIS from the University of IllinoisUrbana Champaign and an MA in
Irish Literature from Washington State
University. As she notes, “The Librarian in
Black” was “born out of my displeasure at
having to wade through dozens of websites,
blogs, & RSS feeds related to librarianship,
technology, webmastery, and current issues
to find those few posts that applied to me as
a Tech Librarian.” She actively develops this
site – which has become a Mecca for library
technology staff – as a one stop shop.
Opening Luncheon
Jon Scieszka, named by the Educational
Paperback Association as one of the top 100
paperback authors, has been writing books
for children since he took time off from
his career as a teacher. He wanted to create
books that boys would enjoy by enticing
them with witty humor. Many of his books
are “fractured fairy tales” where the story is
told from an unexpected point of view. The
results are invariably funny. He is the author
of the best-selling
picture books The
True Story of the Three
Little Pigs and The
Stinky Cheese Man.
In 1997, Math Curse
received the Texas
Bluebonnet Award.
jon scieszka
He has received
many other honors,
including mentions on the ALA Notable
Book and Publishers Weekly Best Children’s
Book lists, the Children’s Choice Award,
and the Caldecott Honor Medal. His
original trade chapter book series, the Time
Warp Trio, has sold over two million copies.
Fox, and Jerry
Bruckheimer films,
as well as television
pilots for HBO,
Dreamworks, and
Silver Pictures. She
was a fellow at the
Sundance Institute’s
attica locke
Feature Filmmaker’s
Lab and most recently completed an
adaptation of Stephen Carter’s The Emperor
of Ocean Park. A member of the Writers
Guild of America, West, she is currently at
work on an HBO miniseries about the civil
rights movement, based on the writings
of historian Taylor Branch. A native of
Houston, Locke’s debut novel, Black Water
Rising, is set in Houston during the 1980s.
Opening Luncheon
Joe Hayes is one of
America’s premier
bilingual storytellers, a
nationally-recognized
teller of tales from
the Hispanic, Anglo,
and Native American
joe hayes
cultures. Hayes grew up
in a small town in southern Arizona where
schoolmates taught him how to speak
Spanish. As he got older, he began reading
the work of folklorists and anthropologists
and gathering the old stories from the
Southwestern United States. His tales
are a combination of the traditional lore
of the American Southwest and his own
imagination. His books have received many
awards, and The Day It Snowed Tortillas was
chosen by the editors of The Bloomsbury
Review as one of their 15 favorite children’s
books published in the past 15 years. In
2007, his book Ghost Fever won the Texas
Bluebonnet Award. For many years, Joe
has been the resident storyteller at the
Wheelwright Museum of the American
Indian in Santa Fe and was designated a
New Mexico Eminent Scholar by the New
Mexico Commission on Higher Education.
closing Luncheon
Opening Luncheon
Attica Locke has worked in both film and
television for over 10 years. A graduate of
Northwestern University, she has written
movie scripts for Paramount, Warner
Brothers, Disney, Twentieth Century
Creating Communities of Ideals & Innovation
vicki myron
Vicki Myron was
born on a farm 15
miles from Spencer,
Iowa. At the age of
34, after a failed
marriage, single
motherhood, and
a stint on welfare,
she graduated
summa cum laude from Mankato State University and with a
master’s degree in library studies from Emporia State University.
She worked at the Spencer Public Library for 25 years (20 as
director), and that is where she met Dewey, the hero of her
library and her first book. A librarian and an author, Myron
does it all; and in her book, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat
Who Touched the World, she captures the essence of libraries and
communities as only an insider can. Myron is now a New York
Times Best Seller’s author, and her story is about to be made into
a full feature film starring Meryl Streep.
closing Luncheon
Philip Gulley is the author of Front
Porch Tales, Porch Talk, and the acclaimed
Harmony series, as well as the host of Porch
Talk with Phil Gulley on Across Indiana,
programming on the Indiana PBS affiliate.
A Quaker minister, Gulley was discovered
philip gulley
by Paul Harvey, Jr., the son of the radio
commentator Paul Harvey, who read one of Philip Gulley’s essays
from a congregational newsletter on air. A publisher overheard the
broadcast and signed Phil to a multi-book contract. Fourteen books
and nearly two million copies later, Gulley is noted for his depiction
of community life. The Wall Street Journal said Philip Gulley “has
a charming sense of small-town life – and a shrewd sense of life in
general.” His most recent work is I Love You, Miss Huddleston and
Other Inappropriate Longings of My Indiana Childhood.
Tuesday
Women of YA Lit + 1
If You Give a Kid a Book *
Wednesday
Tayshas: Hot High School Authors
Engaging YAs with Latino Short Fiction and Poetry
Tim Green*
Upclose and Personal with Walter Dean Myers*
Celebrate 20 Years of the Lone Star Reading List*
Thursday
Booktalking YA Reading Lists & YART Business Meeting
Lone Star Reading List Authors Shine
Texas Teens Booktalk 4 All
Readergirlz: Making Literacy Hip and Relevant for Today’s Teens!*
Texas Teens Read! – Fantasy Illustration with Emily Fiegenschuh*
Time Twistin’ TTR.09 – Texas Teens Read! program manual
presentation*
Friday
Mavericks of YA Graphic Novels
* Co-Sponsored Programs
Outstanding YART Authors include:
Joan Bauer, Walter Dean Myers, Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, Ally
Carter, Roland Smith, Gary D. Schmidt, Dia Calhoun, Lori Ann Grover,
Svetlana Chmakova, Terry Moore, Kean Soo, Derek Kirk Kim, Lisa Hernandez, Javier O. Huerta, Patrick Jones, Nancy Werlin, Cassandra Clare,
Margo Rabb, Lisa Klein, Sara Zarr, Melissa Marr, John Green
Texas Library Association 2009 Annual Conference
III
preconferences Tuesday, March 31
There will be no onsite registration for
preconferences. For prices and registration
instructions, see the preregistration form
on page 63; the preregistration deadline is
Monday, March 16, 2009. All preconferences
will be held at the Houston Convention
Center unless otherwise noted.
Research and Exploration Science, NASA,
Johnson Space Center.
Continuing Professional Education credits
In the continuing
series of leadership
programs by Mary
Beth Harrington,
participants learn about
two LeadershipPlenty™
Mary Beth Harrington
topics – valuing
evaluation and communicating for change.
Preregistration required.
TX State Library &
State Board for
Event
Number Educator Certification Archives Commission
CPE#123: SBEC 2.0; TSLAC 2.0
Program Title
8:00 - 9:50 am
CPE#201: SBEC 4.0; TSLAC 4.0
Do You See What Customers See?
A New Perspective on
Your Building
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
First impressions are lasting impressions:
how do people respond to your library?
Understand how people react to public
spaces and explore the importance of signs
that use the principles of wayfinding.
Evaluate and improve your library even on
a limited budget. Preregistration required.
Beth Avery, head of research and instructional
services, University of North Texas Libraries; and
Carolyn Davidson Brewer, assistant director, North
Texas Library Partners.
Conference Program Committee.
CPE#202: SBEC 7.0; TSLAC 7.0
Explore! Mars – Inside and Out
with NASA
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
A series of investigations about Mars
designed for ages 8-13 will acquaint you
with everything you need to know to bring
exciting programs to your community.
Educators and scientists from the Lunar
and Planetary Institute will share space
science information, free resources,
hands-on activities, and demonstrations
developed for librarians. Lunch is included.
Preregistration required.
Katy Buckaloo, education assistant, Education
and Public Outreach; Stephanie Shipp, education
department, Lunar and Planetary Institute (Houston);
and Kay Tobola, education specialist, Astromaterials
Children’s Round Table and Texas State
Library and Archives Commission.
CPE#203: SBEC 7.0; TSLAC 7.0
LeadershipPlenty™
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Mary Beth Harrington, director of membership and
community outreach, Texas Association of Nonprofit
Organizations.
TALL Texans Round Table.
CPE#204: SBEC 7.0; TSLAC 7.0
Web 2.0 Playground for
Library Media Specialists
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Houston Public Library, 500 McKinney
Librarians will demonstrate how wikis,
blogs, personal home pages, flickr, and
other 2.0 tools can be integrated into
library programming. Participants are
encouraged to bring their own wireless
laptop to experiment with online
collaboration tools. Some computers are
available for those without a laptop. Take
the TLA Shuttle route to the Doubletree
Hotel. Houston Public Library is about
a 0.2 mile walk from the Doubletree to
the library. Preregistration required: space is
limited. This preconference is not included
on the preregistration form. Registration for
members is $120 and non-members is $135;
lunch is included. To register, include a
cover letter with the name and address of the
registrant and whether registrant will bring
a wireless laptop. Checks, payable to TLA,
should be sent to Mary Jo Humphreys, 1102
South Gabriel Drive, Leander, TX 78641.
Dayna Dees, librarian, Bluebonnet Elementary; Emily
Gardner, librarian, Caldwell Heights Elementary;
Mary Jo Humphreys, director of instructional
technology; Lindsay Jones, librarian, Cactus Ranch
Elementary; Linda Kay, librarian, Ridgeview Middle
School, Round Rock ISD; and Barbara A. Jansen,
librarian, St. Andrews Episcopal School.
Texas Association of School Librarians.
IV
Creating Communities of Ideals & Innovation
CPE#253: SBEC 3.5;
TSLAC 3.5
Making It Happen:
Success with
Elected Officials
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
What would it take to
make your library more
Marci Merola
effective? An increased
book budget? A new library facility?
Retool your grassroots advocacy skills and
become more effective in talking with your
legislators and local officials in a special
ALA advocacy institute. Participants will
develop an advocacy action plan to take
home. Preregistration required.
Carol Brey-Casiano, director of libraries, El
Paso Public Library; Gloria Meraz, director of
communications, Texas Library Association; Marci
Merola, director, Office of Library Advocacy,
American Library Association (IL).
Legislative Committee and Library Friends, Trustees,
and Advocates Round Table.
CPE#207:
SBEC 3.0; TSLAC 3.0
PRESIDEN
T’S
Diversity Awareness
and Leadership
PROGRA
M
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
In this interactive session, speakers
emphasize techniques to enhance the ability
of managers to operate successfully with
people from various backgrounds. Learn
leadership strategies for moving beyond
political correctness and understand
changing demographic
trends that affect
management.
Preregistration required.
Richard Lewis, president,
Round Top Consulting
Associates (San Antonio).
Richard Lewis
Black Caucus Round Table
and Cultural
Diversity Committee.
CPE#210: SBEC 6.0; TSLAC 6.0
Bluebonnet
Community
Garden: Cultivate
Your Bluebonnet
Program
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Reap ideas large
and small from the
MIKE WIMMER
Bluebonnet Garden to introduce new
titles, integrate Bluebonnet books into
the curriculum, energize voting, and plan
Bluebonnet celebrations. Participants
will receive a CD of programming ideas.
Preregistration required.
Gayle Baar, librarian, La Villita Elementary, Carrollton
Farmers Branch ISD; Janice Carr, librarian,
West Central Elementary, Hereford ISD; Eddicka
Castañeda, reading specialist, Rodolfo G. Centeno
Elementary, United ISD; Jane Claes, assistant
professor, School of Library and Information Science,
University of Houston-Clear Lake; Ann Dilworth,
librarian, Faubion Elementary, Leander ISD; Analine
Johnson, librarian, Rodolfo C. Centeno Elementary,
United ISD; Susan Kralovansky, librarian, Bagdad
Elementary, Leander ISD; Sally Rasch, librarian,
Carroll Academy, Aldine ISD; Paulette Rodriguez,
librarian, Knowles Elementary, Leander ISD; Nicki
Stohr, librarian, Schertz Public Library; Mike Wimmer,
illustrator, I Do Art, Inc.
Texas Bluebonnet Award Committee.
CPE#211: SBEC 6.0; TSLAC 6.0
Connecting to Collections:
Constructing the Future
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Providing the best environment to care for
collections is challenging in any building.
When the building is itself part of your
historic collection, the challenges can seem
insurmountable. Join speakers to discuss
architectural, legal, and environmental
concerns in renovating historic buildings
and caring for unique collections.
Preregistration required.
Susan Bischoff, president, Houston Public Library
Foundation; Cynthia Brandimarte, director, Historic
Sites and Structures, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department; Elizabeth Butman, project reviewer,
Division of Architecture, Texas Historical Commission,
Kemo Curry, manager, Houston Public Library;
Elizabeth Martin, education/program coordinator,
The Heritage Society; Gerald Moorhead, Bailey
Architects.
Texas State Library and Archives Commission,
Archives and Local History Round Table, and
Disaster Relief Committee.
CPE#213: SBEC 6.5;
TSLAC 6.5
Baby Boomers Back
in the Library
9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
The “silver tsunami”
is almost here! How
will your library
ALLAN M. KLEIMAN
respond – as a challenge
or an opportunity? This workshop focuses
on developing programs for Baby Boomers.
Topics include: changing demographics,
technology, designing “senior spaces,” social
networking, in-library programming, civic
engagement, outreach, and marketing.
Take home a plan-of-action! Preregistration
required.
CPE#254: SBEC 4.0; TSLAC 4.0
Allan M. Kleiman, chief consultant, Consultant(s)-atLarge (Fords, NJ)
1:00 - 5:00 PM
Conference Program Committee and Public
Libraries Division.
CPE#214: SBEC 7.0; TSLAC 7.0
The Nuts & Bolts of RDA
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Explore a new approach to cataloging rules.
Barbara Tillett of the Library of Congress
and the Joint Steering Committee for
Development of RDA discusses RDA
implementation to
prepare you for the
future. Preregistration
required.
Barbara B. Tillett, chief,
Cataloging Policy and
Support Office, Library of
Congress.
Cataloging and Metadata
Round Table.
BARBARA B. TILLETT
Ask Doctor Teen: Partnering
with Teenagers on Health
Information Projects
How do teenagers make health decisions,
and what resources do they use? Libraries
can partner with teenagers on programs
that help their peers, as well as their
communities, identify reliable sources of
health information. Presenters will provide
examples of successful partnerships, and
teenage “peer tutors” will demonstrate the
resources they teach their fellow students.
Preregistration required.
Lucille Hansen, lead librarian/principal investigator,
Biblioteca Las Américas; Sara Reibman, librarian
& project specialist; Victor L. Schill, assistant
branch/children’s librarian, Harris County Public
Library; Karen J. Vargas, consumer health outreach
coordinator, National Network of Libraries of
Medicine, South Central Region; and Ann M.
Vickman, librarian & project director, Biblioteca Las
Americas, South Texas ISD.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Interest
Group and Public Libraries Division.
CPE#209: SBEC 3.0; TSLAC 3.0
CPE#255: SBEC 4.0; TSLAC 4.0
Planning and Assessing Instruction
Sessions Using Learning Outcomes
Creating Sustainable
Funding for Your Library
1:00 - 4:00 PM
1:00 - 5:00 PM
Learn about relating course assignments
to information competencies, identifying
appropriate learning outcomes, planning
activities to achieve those outcomes, and
creating tools to assess student learning.
Preregistration required.
Passion for your organization is the heart
of successful fundraising. This handson session introduces advocates, board
members, and staff to a systematic model
for sustainable funding. Learn to build
communities, identify lifelong major
donors, and energize advocates and board
members to speak
powerfully about your
library. Preregistration
required.
Michele Ostrow, head of library instruction services;
and Meghan Sitar, instruction and outreach librarian,
University of Texas at Austin.
Library Instruction Round Table.
CPE#256: SBEC 4.0; TSLAC 4.0
The American Community
Survey and the 2010 Census:
How Does Your Community
Fit Into the Future?
Terry Axelrod, founder and
CEO, Benevon (WA).
Library Friends, Trustees,
and Advocates
Round Table.
TERRY AXELROD
1:00 - 5:00 PM
Census Day is April 1, 2010. Will you and
your community be ready? Learn what’s
new and how the American Community
Survey covers the gaps between censuses.
Discover how to use the Census Bureau
website to access and create community
profiles and more. Preregistration required.
Paula K. Wright, partnership information specialist,
Dallas Regional Census Center, U.S. Census Bureau.
Government Documents Round Table.
Texas Library Association 2009 Annual Conference
V