It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 71st Annual Meeting of the Southern Chapter of the Medical Library Association! We will again be meeting virtually instead of our previously scheduled joint meeting with the SCCMLA in New Orleans.  (Hopefully, next year’s meeting will be live in Montgomery where we can again meet each other in person.)  But for now, we can come together while we continue to socially distance and do our part to slow the spread of COVID.  And don’t let the virtual format discourage you from attending: last year’s post-conference evaluations were very positive about the virtual format.  

But back to the present: the Program Committee (Skye Bickett, Chair) is doing an excellent job planning the meeting, with the theme Embracing the Future: Creating Adaptive and Inclusive Environments.  So be sure to register, mark the date in your calendar, and enjoy the vast array of activities, all the while connecting with your colleagues from across the Chapter.

I look forward to meeting up with you virtually in October.

Warmest regards,

Trey Lemley, MLIS, AHIP
SC/MLA Chair, 2021

The SC/MLA Annual meeting will be October 4-7, 2021. The Program Committee has planned a thoughtful and engaging meeting that you don't want to miss. This year's theme reflects what we've been through and what we hope will follow – Embracing the Future: Creating Adaptive and Inclusive Environments.

This year was another year of change as we had to move our in-person meeting to virtual for the second year in a row. We had terrific feedback from members who attended the conference last year and used that information to create a program that will be fun and enlightening.

The meeting kicks off with CE courses, which are free for all conference attendees, and the day ends with our first social hour. Tuesday, October 5th, begins with the first general session, Creating Inclusive Environments: Learning from the Experiences of Others, designed to celebrate and encourage inclusive practices in health science libraries. The amazing panelists will discuss what they wish they and others knew about the physical and invisible barriers in the workplace, scholarship, volunteering, etc.

If you're a new member, a speaker, or just like to meet new people, please join us at the New Member Welcome during the lunch hour. Following lunch, please attend the Hospital Librarians Symposium, which will feature novelist Anne Fadiman speaking on the topic of clear communication. We'll close the day with vendor presentations, the MLA and NNLM updates, and a social hour book club.

Wednesday, October 6th, will start with the poster session and our 1st paper session. We love supporting our colleagues and seeing what members around the region are doing to support users and improve our field! After lunch, we'll have our 2nd general session, Representing the Rainbow: The Impact of Diversity in Children's Literature for a Brighter Future, with Jonathan Hamilt and Mary Elise and featuring Amazing Grace. After this wonderful session, we'll get to hear from more of our vendors and finish the day with our final social hour. Thursday, October 7th, is our last day. We'll close out the conference with our business meeting and the 2nd paper session.

We hope you enjoy the meeting, and we can't wait to see everyone in person again.

Skye Bickett, DHSc, MLIS, AHIP

SC/MLA Program Chair, 2021