Location

At least 18 months before the meeting will be held, the Preliminary Organizing Committee (POC) solicits offers from volunteers who want to host the conference. Note that in the early days of LISA conferences, finding even one volunteer to host the next meeting was quite difficult. Institute's resources are scarce, and it can be a difficult task to convince directors that the funds invested on a librarians' conference are well-spent. However, things have gotten somewhat easier over time. For LISA IV, there were four sites competing to host the meeting! We hope that this favorable situation will continue also for future conferences.

Factors POC should consider in the selection process are:

• LISA meetings require enthusiastic and capable local librarians
• conference location must be accessible at reasonable air fares from many parts of the world, in particular from resource-poor countries
• supported (administrative, financial, technical) from the local institution is essential as well as
• technical and administrative support staff before as well as during the meeting
• an auditorium with appropriate technical equipment should be available on site or nearby
• adequate local infrastructure to accommodate the meeting (e.g. meeting rooms, nearby hotels and dormitories, various levels of restaurants)
• the infrastructure in the hosting country must be adequate (e.g., transportation); political stability and cultural openness are mandatory

See also: LOC Meeting rooms and technical equipment and Lodging

A survey among potential attendees may help to find a solution that will suit a high number of colleagues. However, this tool should be used to get general feedback, not for making a decision by vote. The POC will then weigh pros and cons of potential locations and take the final decision.

Once the location is selected, notifications must be sent as soon as possible to all candidates:

• Colleagues at the chosen location
• Colleagues at locations that were turned down
• potential attendees, i.e. the community of colleagues previously surveyed

Related documents

Surveys among colleagues

LISA II Pre-conference questionnaire

LISA IV Presentation of volunteering sites: "Preferred Site Poll"

Notification about selected site

LISA IV PAMnet announcement of selected site