Adventist Librarians to Gain “the Oakwood Experience”

The annual conference of the Association of Seventh-day Adventist Librarians (ASDAL) will be held on the campus of Oakwood University, June 16-21, 2010.  This year’s theme -- Libraries 2020: Visioning and Planning for the Next Decade -- challenges ASDAL members to envision and develop an action plan for leaders and services available in the near future.  Attendees represent libraries in Canada, the Philippines, South Africa, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nigeria.

While in Huntsville, in addition to holding their meetings on Oakwood’s award-winning campus, attendees will have the opportunity to tour the Birmingham Civil Rights District, Cathedral Caverns and the Marshall U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

ASDAL was established in 1981 at Pacific Union College. The association holds an annual conference, publishes ASDAL Action, awards the D. Glenn Hilts Scholarship, and is a sponsor of the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index.

ASDAL exists to enhance communication between Seventh-day Adventist librarians, serve as a forum for discussion of mutual problems and professional concerns of Seventh-day Adventist librarians, promote librarianship and library services to Seventh-day Adventist institutions, and uphold the principles of Seventh-day Adventist librarianship. The Association contributes to the Adventist Church through the “Adventists and Ellen White Classification Scheme” (based on the Library of Congress Classification Scheme), the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index and the Obituary Index. ASDAL also facilitates discounted database subscriptions for Adventist institutions domestically and internationally through the ALICE Consortium (Adventist Library Information Cooperative).

Anyone interested in Seventh-day Adventist librarianship, media services, information science or archival management may become a member of the Association by complying with the Bylaws.  More information is available at:  www.asdal.org

~Ashley Batiste, student writer in the Public Relations Office