2007 ALA Annual Conference
Contract with our Future
Featuring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Sunday, June 24, 2007, 3:30 - 5:30 pm
Washington DC
Join ALA President Leslie Burger as she welcomes Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for a discussion of the important role that our natural surroundings play in our work, our health, and our identity as Americans. In "A Contract With Our Future," the concluding program in the Annual Conference Presidential Transformation Track series of programs, Kennedy will explore why good environmental policy is good business policy, good economic policy, and good policy for posterity. By taking steps to ensure that our libraries follow sound environmental policies and procedures, we can contribute to the transformation of our communities, our nation and our planet, enabling future generations to live in an environment that is safe, clean, and beautiful.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems from a litany of successful legal actions. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine's “Heroes for the Planet” for his success in helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The group's achievement helped spawn more than 125 Waterkeeper organizations across the globe.
Kennedy serves as senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and president of Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a clinical professor and supervising attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Litigation Clinic and is co-host of Ring of Fire on Air America Radio. Earlier in his career, he served as assistant district attorney in New York City.
He has worked on environmental issues across the Americas, and has assisted several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in successfully negotiating treaties protecting traditional homelands. The New York City watershed agreement, which he negotiated on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers, is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development.
Among Mr. Kennedy's published books are the New York Times bestseller Crimes Against Nature (2004); The Riverkeepers (1997); and Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr: A Biography (1977). His articles have Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The Nation, Outside magazine, the Village Voice, and many other publications.
Please enjoy the captioned text of the 2007 ALA Annual conference President's Program.
2007 ALA Midwinter Conference
Learn to Fish!
Sunday, January 21, 2007, 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Seattle Sheraton - Grand Ballroom C/D
Seattle, Washington
Join ALA President Leslie Burger and Deena Ebbert, FISH! Philosopher, to help inspire organizational and cultural transformation in your own library. The FISH!Philosophy - 1) Be there; 2) Play; 3) Make someone’s day; and 4) Choose your attitude about how you come to work - grew out of Seattle’s Pike’s Place fishmongers who learned how to turn stinky, grueling 12-hour shifts into a unique customer and employee experience. Whether you are contemplating dramatic change or looking for opportunities to effect smaller but no less meaningful enhancements to your mission, programs and services, or building, this program will expand your thinking about how you do business and the impact you can have in your user community.
Please enjoy the captioned text of the 2007 ALA Midwinter Conference President's Program.