(06/01/05)

World’s Top Information Professionals Converge at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre

TORONTO, June 1, 2005 – More than 5,000 members of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) will converge at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) June 5-8, 2005 for SLA’s 2005 Annual Conference.

SLA members work as corporate, academic and government information specialists around the world, and this conference is the premier event for these professionals and their industry partners. More than 250 companies are expected at the SLA INFO-EXPO, where participants will see the latest technologies and services for the acquisition, organization, and delivery of information and knowledge.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Putting Knowledge to Work”, and a line-up of outstanding speakers will help attendees focus on how to learn more and think differently. Among the well-known thinkers and authors speaking at the SLA Conference are:

Business strategy legend Gary Hamel, an expert on innovation and management. Hamel is a highly successful business author, originating concepts such as “strategic intent”, “core competence”, “corporate imagination” and “industry revolution”. His landmark book, Competing for the Future, is the best-selling business strategy book of all time. The editors of The Economist have labeled him “the world’s reigning strategy guru”, and MIT’s Peter Senge has called him “the most influential thinker on strategy in the Western world.”
In the 2003 Global Ranking of Business Thinkers, the most recent survey available, Hamel ranked fourth, higher than notables such as Bill Gates, Stephen Covey, Jack Welch and many others. One of the world’s most sought-after management speakers, Hamel is Chairman of Strategos, director of the Woodside Institute, and a visiting professor of Strategic and International Management at the London School of Business.
Canadians Don Tapscott and Bill Buxton. Tapscott is an international authority on business strategy. Buxton is an international expert on the relationship between creativity and technology and one of the world’s foremost designers and researchers on the human aspects of technology. They will be joined by Dan Pink, an author who believes that the future belongs to “right brain” workers – those who stress inventiveness, empathy and meaning.

SLA Executive Director Janice R. Lachance said there is a great deal of excitement in the industry about this year’s conference. “This is our first event in Canada since 1995, and it marks a turning point in our growth as an international organization.

“The library and information profession has changed dramatically in the past 10 years, and the ability to adapt to these changes is directly related to professional development. Our conference is one of the best in that regard, and Toronto is the perfect city for us to continue that journey.”

“We are delighted to be welcoming this international group of information leaders to Toronto and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre,” MTCC president & CEO Barry Smith said. “Managing information and using the latest technology to access it quickly and efficiently is critical to the success of any organization, and we are pleased to host the world’s best.”

Smith added that the MTCC anticipates this major convention will produce significant revenue for Toronto’s hotels, restaurants, shops and entertainment venues, with an overall economic impact in the range of $12.25 million in direct spending.

About the SLA

Founded in 1909, the Special Libraries Association is a nonprofit global organization for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves more than 12,000 members in 83 countries. SLA members work for public corporations, private businesses, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, technical and academic institutions, museums, law firms and medical facilities. For more information about the SLA, please visit www.sla.org.