On Tue, 5 Jul 2005, S B wrote: >I have noticed that at least 5 of the last 11 conventions (Chicago, 1995; >La Jolla, 2001; Denver, 2002; Brooklyn, 2004; Oakland, 2005) have been >held in hotels that are part of the Marriott chain.
Steve, Many hotel chains (including Marriott, of course) are located in most US and many other North American cities. I'm not sure that with the size of our organization and number of attendees, we could work out a multi-year deal with Marriott or any other major hotel chain. I believe each hotel (whether part of a chain or not) negotiates such deals on its own, anyway. I'm certainly willing to be corrected if wrong. BTW, although your list about h.m. times we've been at Marriott hotels since 1995 (1994 in Atlanta was, too), was certainly a useful reminder of this fact, unless I'm not privy to a recent acquisition by Marriott, Adam's Mark, where we met in 2002 in Denver is _not_ part of the Marriott chain and is a chain of 8 hotels unto itself, but then again, if we add 1994 in Atlanta, we can still say that 5 of the last 12 Conventions have been at Marriott hotels, maybe not as high as 5/11 (45.5%), but still an impressive 42%! As someone who is also (generally) past the age where I want to stay in dorms or hostels (too many bad experiences in my dotage), I vote again to mainly continue holding Convention in decent hotels, as well as for the sake of being a professional association. I will confess that in those years when I couldn't afford the high hotel costs, I have stayed with friends or in lower-priced hotels as close to the Convention site as possible and my have to do so again. At my first Convention (as I have remarked in previous posts when this annual discussion inevitably arises) in 1991 in Miami Beach, I footed the entire bill myself, so I stayed at the Miami Beach International Hostel, sharing a room with 3 (or was it 6?) other guys (all strangers to me) for $13/night (it included a $3 surplus charge for air conditioning), and took city buses to and from the Fontainebleau (which was then priced at what now seems reasonable at $95/night but at the time was way beyond my means). Since the beginning (or at least 1991) to me, it has always been important enough for me to go to Convention that I always find a way and this was even before I became a Judaica librarian (from 1991-1996, I was a general reference librarian and a serials librarian in a Christian seminary library at the time of my first AJL Convention). I certainly empathize with those on tight budgets because as I said above, I can't always afford the hotel costs even with funding from my institution. But anyway, if we held one on the moon, I'd probably figure out a way to get there! Even if I couldn't pay for the Marriott Downtown Lunar City! I applaud Nancy's incredible courage (some might use another noun, not I!) in offering Hawai'i for 2007 Convention. I'm all for it! That said, Baltimore, if feasible, is also very appealing: 1) because, like Hawai'i, we've never met there (albeit the 50th State has some other unique and alluring features!) and 2) with ALA in nearby Washington, DC from June 21-27, 2007, it would make it so easy to attend one right after the other. And Alba's graciousness in proffering Valencia--among other floating sites!--has its charm as well. But, a strong, coordinated team, as others have noted, on site is vital to making Convention work well. Possible title to read as we contemplate where we will meet in 2007: Do They Keep Kosher on Mars? And Other Pressing Questions of Jewish Life / by Sol, the Answer Man (New York: Collier Books; Toronto: Collier Macmillan Canada; New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1990)! Getting giddy in the wee hours, Elliot >Elliot H. Gertel 111-C Hatcher Graduate Library North >Irving M. Hermelin Curator of Judaica Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1205 >The University of Michigan [EMAIL PROTECTED] >University Library Area Programs 734-936-2367 (phone) >Near East Division 734-763-6743 (fax) > http://www.lib.umich.edu/area/Near.East/judaica.html > http://www.lib.umich.edu/rrs/egertel 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: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
