This option has also been discussed in years past. There are a number of reasons why I don't think it would work:
(1) AJL conventions are three-and-a-half days long -- two full days of sessions, preceded and followed by business meetings. It might be possible to compress the schedule by half a day at most, but it would be difficult to do so. Think about the implications of that, in terms of starting the AJL convention on a Tuesday afternoon in mid-December. Shabbat travel would definitely be a problem. (2) With AJL either preceding or following AJS, those of us who attend both conventions would be cooped up in a single hotel -- and attending sessions -- for a week or longer, possibly over two weekends! Having just spent four nights in the Hyatt, off Michigan Avenue (no hot running water in the morning, for starters), I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. (4) On the other hand, were AJL to overlap its convention with AJS (I realize this is not what Shelli is suggesting), that would result in a conflict for the R&S librarians who regularly attend both conferences. (Partial analogy: Scheduling AJL at the same time as ALA.) (5) "Their" exhibits and "our" exhibits are not identical - not even close - and most AJL members (day school and synagogue librarians) are not likely to be fascinated by the latest publications of the University of California Press. Exhibits among other things help to subsidize AJL conventions. (6) Inclement weather often affects travel conditions in mid- to late December. Also, families like to go on winter vacation then (and they have only a window of two weeks to do so). (7) By tethering itself to AJS, AJL would lose most of its autonomy in terms of choice of convention venue and ancillary arrangements. AJS would call the tune, let there be no mistake about that. Zachary Baker Stanford University Libraries Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
