Core Forum
October 7-9, 2021 in Baltimore, Maryland
—–
Opening Keynote Presenter Announced: Nikole Hannah-Jones
The 1619 Project, an ongoing journalism project conceived by Nikole Hannah-Jones and published by the New York Times Magazine, commemorates the 400th anniversary of the date the first enslaved Africans were brought to the American colonies. The initiative aims to “reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” The school curriculum linked to the New York Times’s 1619 Project is the target of state censorship on the grounds that its critical reframing is a “misrepresentation” of American history. As a result, five states are attempting to bar its use in classrooms.
In addition to developing the 1619 Project, Hannah-Jones has written extensively about school resegregation across the country and examined the decades-long failure of the federal government to enforce the landmark 1968 Fair Housing Act. In 2016, Nikole Hannah-Jones co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, a training and mentorship organization dedicated to increasing the ranks of investigative reporters of color. She currently serves as the Preservation Week 2021 Honorary Chair.
In this dialogue, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Core President-elect Lindsay Cronk will explore the importance of access to knowledge, the value of critical consideration and reinterpretation, the connections between knowledge creators and library workers, and the need to challenge censorship and false neutrality claims.
For more information on Nikole Hannah-Jones and her work, visit https://nikolehannahjones.com/ and follow her on Twitter at @nhannahjones.
Nikole Hannah Jones Photo credit: James Estrin, The New York Times
——
Reminder: Call for Proposals Deadline is May 17, 2021
The October 7-9 Core Forum in Baltimore will provide an opportunity to engage the collective expertise of presenters and participants, facilitating thought-provoking conversations over two days of presentations, tabletop exhibits, and poster sessions. There will be opportunities to safely reconnect with colleagues during receptions, dine-arounds, and in the uncommons space. We do acknowledge that these are uncertain times, especially around funding for travel and development, however we still encourage you to put forward your proposal! We cannot know the future, but we know we want your voice at the Core Forum. We’re looking for proposals that are thought-provoking and highly relevant to practitioners in the following areas:
- Access and equity
- Assessment
- Buildings and operations
- Leadership and management
- Metadata and collections
- Technology
——
Call for Core Forum Sponsors and Exhibitors
Through Forum, you can reach every level of responsibility for the implementation and maintenance of core services, from the practitioners who keep things running day-to-day to the innovators going in new directions to those making funding decisions, as well as the library school students who will shape the future.
What do these folks have in common? They are all working to build and maintain the best spaces and services for their communities and staff. They come to Forum to share information, learn from each other, and go back to their organization with actionable ideas they won’t find anywhere else.
By supporting the Forum, you can help make connections and partnerships happen. If you attend, you can be part of the conversation and talk directly with library service and technology leaders to help them enhance their libraries and improve their communities.
We welcome your support! Sponsorship opportunities are listed below; to discuss sponsoring the Core Forum, please contact Kerry Ward at kward@ala.org or 312-280-5036.
