Dear SLA members:
SLA 2022 is only a few weeks away! Our dedicated team of 7 faculty and 55 student volunteers is looking forward to welcoming you to Boulder and on Gather. The team has been hard at work in organizing this gathering, which will bring together over 500 attendees from 20 different countries for 4 vibrant days of discussion and interaction.
When we conceived of SLA 2020, we were committed to making the conference accessible and affordable. As such, we made a deliberate decision to keep conference fees low, and set them at $130-$150 for professionals and $50-$70 for students. These reduced fees were made possible through generous support from the CLASP program and diverse departments at the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado College, Colorado State University, Metropolitan State University, and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, who have together donated nearly $20,000 in support of the conference.
However, our costs have risen significantly since the conference was first planned. We now have to cover Covid screening software, N95 masks, and canceled airfares from 2020. The most significant new expenditures are in the area of technology. While the original estimate for conference technology costs pre-Covid was $8500, the most recent estimate has grown to $35,000. This includes approximately $5000 for the virtual conference platform, Gather, as well as $30,000 in fees for the equipment and tech support necessary to conduct a conference with livestream and hybrid capabilities.
We are therefore writing to you, somewhat urgently, to ask for support to ensure that all members of our SLA community have access to this important conference. Your contribution will also help us to sustain accessibility at SLA events moving forward. You can do this in several ways:
1) Register for the conference at SLA 2022 Conference Registration.
2) Choose in-person registration in lieu of virtual registration, or switch from virtual to in person registration by emailing SLABoulder@gmail.com [note: in-person registration will give you access to all virtual events]
3) Make a tax deductible donation of any size to the SLA Equitable Access Fund.
With thanks for your continued support of SLA,
Bernard Perley, SLA President
On behalf of the SLA Executive Board and Extended Board