Dear
Colleagues,
I am writing to you in my position
as Chair of the Library Service to an Aging Population Committee, of the
Reference and User Services Association (a division of the American Library
Association).
President Bush has called for the
next White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) to be held in
Washington, DC, on October
23-26, 2005.
WHCOA Policy Committee Chair
Dorcas R. Hardy urges the conference to look at aging in terms of today and
tomorrow. “We must identify emerging trends and make appropriate
recommendations to help our nation prepare for the changes anticipated over
the next decade.”
In addition to addressing the
issues of today’s elders, the 2005 Conference (http://www.whcoa.gov/) will, for the first
time, have a mandated focus on the 76 million baby boomers whose aging will
change the face of America.
At each of the previous White
House Conferences on Aging (1961, 1971, 1981 and 1995), the Library Service to
an Aging Population Committee has been a catalyst working within ALA and with
other interested library groups and organizations to take an active role in
the promotion of services and programs that libraries provide to older adults
and their families.
This upcoming conference will be
no different! Already in place to
help plan are staff and representatives from the Reference and User Services
Association (RUSA), the Office of Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) and
the Public Library Association (PLA).
Our planning and strategy session
is scheduled at ALA Midwinter Boston on Friday, January 14th from
8:30am-11:30am prior to the Midwinter
Conference. It is a working
meeting that will include Committee members, liaisons from other Divisions
within ALA, ALA Staff, representatives from
library related organizations as well as other interested
participants.
At this meeting we expect to
discuss plans for a variety of activities to take place throughout 2005,
leading up to and including a forum on “Libraries, Lifelong Learning,
Information and Older Adults” to be held prior to the Annual Conference in
Chicago on Friday, June 24th, from 8:30am-11:30am. A report of the outcome from this
forum will include recommendations to go forward to the WHCOA in October.
For some background from the past
WHCOA in 1995, I would suggest that you take a look at the recommendations
at: Towards the White House
Conference on Aging: Defining
Priorities and Policies for Library and Information Services for Older Adults,
February 3,
1995. This can be found at: http://www.nclis.gov/libraries/whcoarec.html.
The activities associated with a
WHCOA only happen once every ten years.
This is an opportunity for all of us to get the word out to the aging
community, policy makers and Congress that “libraries make a difference in the
lives of millions older adults!”
It’s time we let more people know, don’t you
think?
I hope that you or someone from
your organization will be able to join us for this important meeting. Please
RSVP to me by December 13th at: [log in to unmask] with a cc: to [log in to unmask].
If I can answer any questions,
please feel free to e-mail me or call.
I look forward in seeing you in Boston on Friday, January
14th!
Sincerely,
Allan
Allan M.
Kleiman
Chair, RUSA Library Service to an
Aging Population Committee
C/o
Westfield Memorial
Library
550 East Broad
Street
Westfield, NJ 07090
908-789-4090,
x4122
908-789-9021
(Fax)
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