MAC Messages Number 101:
September/October/November/December 2003

Message from the Chair
By Beverly Murphy, 2003/04 MAC Chair

A "QuintEssential" Success!

Philadelphia was buzzing with activity on October 26-28 as more than 450 attendees enjoyed Collaborations, Partnerships, and Solutions: The QuintEssential Conference. Joining MAC at this historic event were participants from the New York-New Jersey, Philadelphia Regional, and Pittsburgh Regional Chapters of MLA, and the Philadelphia Chapter of SLA.

Kicking off the meeting on Sunday evening was a welcome reception with the exhibitors, followed by an opportunity to "dine around" Philadelphia. Monday's festivities began with keynote speaker, Robert S. Martin, Ph.D., Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington, DC, who talked about governmental collaborations and funding.

A variety of concurrent sessions were offered in the areas of partnerships, new and expanded roles, marketing and communication, and electronic publishing and archiving. Invited presentations included the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the NC Health Info and MEDLINEplus Go Local initiative. A feature of this year's meeting was the Master tutorials - interactive, mini training sessions on a variety of topics. The meeting also included 20 poster presentations that were selected from more than twice as many submissions from the five chapters.

At Monday evening's dinner, the benefits of humor in the workplace was the topic of humorist and returning presenter, John Morreall, Ph.D., a professor of religion at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and review editor for the International Journal of Humor Research. This fun-filled evening of laughter was the perfect end to a busy day of sessions.

Breakfast business meetings and roundtable discussions began the day's activities on Tuesday, which were followed by another set of breakout sessions. Wrapping up the conference was a luncheon talk and Q & A session with MLA President Pat Thibodeau and SLA President Cynthia Hill.

This year, continuing education courses were selected from the top ten suggestions made by members from the five chapters. Two full-day and five half-day classes were offered on Sunday, and two half-day classes were held on Tuesday.

As we relish the benefits of this unique experience, our focus now turns southward to Raleigh, North Carolina's capital city and the site of our next annual meeting. So as the Wright Brothers would say, "Let's soar in 2004!"

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