University to host Association of Christian Librarians Conference

(May 28, 2015) — Carson-Newman University will host the 59th Annual Association of Christian Librarians (ACL) Conference June 8-11.

About 175 librarians from Christian liberal arts colleges, bible colleges, seminaries and state universities will be on campus for the event. They will travel from all over the contiguous United States, Canada and even as far as Guam to attend.

Carson-Newman Technical Services Librarian and Associate Professor Lori Thornton will act as host librarian for the conference. She says Carson-Newman is the perfect place for this year’s theme, “blazing a trail through the mountains.”

“We’ve got a lot of activities that are set up to give our guests the Appalachian experience,” Thornton says. “We’ve been working on this for a couple of years now and we’re excited to have the people here and let them experience Carson-Newman, the Smoky Mountains and all we have to offer.”

The keynote speaker will be Tim Bucknall, assistant dean of university libraries and head of electronic resources and information technologies at UNC Greensboro. Named Academic/Research Librarian of the Year in 2014, Bucknall is a recipient of an IGI Global Technology Excellence Award and the North Carolina Library Association’s Significant Contribution Award.

Preconference speakers will be Libraries Are Essential Founder Kathy Dempsey and University of Tennessee Assistant Professor and Assessment Librarian Regina Mays.

Carson-Newman Electronic Resources and Instruction Librarian Alison Jones is a member of the ACL Board of Directors. She says hosting the conference will put Carson-Newman on the map for Christian librarians around the world.

“We’re on a different campus for every conference and that sticks in people’s minds,” Jones says. “It’s goodwill toward the University to host the conference because I’ve thought well of places we’ve had conferences before.”

The Association of Christian Librarians is an influential, vibrant, growing community that integrates faith, ministry, and academic librarianship through development of members, services and scholarship.