8th International Congress on Medical Librarianship

London 2000: Learn and Loaf

It is now less than two years until the 8th International Congress on Medical Librarianship takes place and most of the basic arrangements have already been signed and sealed. The QEII Conference Centre has been booked, including an exhibition area that overlooks the statue of Martin Luther King in Westminster Abbey's newly unveiled Martyrs of Conscience frieze, and gives views of Big Ben in the background. Additional registration information will be forthcoming.

Learn
The finishing touches are being put to the Call for Papers and Preliminary Announcement, which will be distributed in the fall - giving plenty of time for colleagues round the world to submit proposals for the contributed paper programme. Many professional organisations will be providing sessions to the Congress with a regional or special subject-interest slant.

The international programme committee is very pleased to be able to announce that five internationally eminent health librarians have agreed to chair the five plenary sessions: Masaaki Tonosaki, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo; Elisabeth Husem, University of Oslo; Regina Shakakata, WHO Africa; Derek Law, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow; Lois Ann Colaianni, National Library of Medicine. (Please goto Programme and view the preliminary schedules.)

Loaf
The social programme is extremely well developed, with the main social event almost certain to be an evening cruise down on the river Thames, from the Palace of Westminster to the Palace of Greenwich and beyond into the Eastern hemisphere. There will also be a range of optional events and receptions, including an evening event at the new British Library.