The Southern Part of Heaven awaits you for the 2011 SEMLA Annual Meeting in Chapel Hill, NC, home of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to our excellent conference, we will be celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the UNC-Chapel Hill Music Library. You can learn more about the UNC-Chapel Hill Music Library at the Music Library homepage and its Facebook Page. Mark your calendars for October 20-22, 2011, a lovely time of year in central North Carolina, to join us for this festive time together.
Chapel Hill was named a 2011 Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. If possible, allow yourselves some time to visit Chapel Hill's "Don't Miss Destinations". The Triangle region (Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh) offers a wide variety of events, as you can see at the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau event calendar, triangle.com, and Independent Weekly. And eating in "America's Foodiest Small Town," as crowned by Bon Appétit, is a gustatory joy! You can study your dining options organized by location and price range at our conference website's restaurant guide. While Chapel Hill is home to many excellent restaurants, two in particular were recently singled out for acclaim by the James Beard Foundation: Crook's Corner received one of the 2011 America's Classics Awards, and Lantern's chef and owner Andrea Reusing was honored as the Best Chef in the Southeast. Luckily for you, both of these restaurants are located on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill, easy bus rides from campus and the hotel, and walking distance from campus for those who enjoy a nearly-mile walk on a nice fall day.
Registration this year will be $40 through September 20, 2011 for regular members, and $15 through September 20 for students. After September 20, regular registration will be $50, or $20 for students. Single day registration will be $20.
This year also marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the UNC Music Library. The anniversary celebration begins on Thursday October 20, 2011 with the opening of an exhibition in the Melba Remig Saltarelli Room on the third floor of the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. The exhibition, entitled "Curating Sound: 75 Years of Music Collections at UNC" will feature materials from the Music Library, the Southern Folklife Collection, and the Southern Historical Collection of the University Library. On display will be items as diverse as Palestrina prints, libretti from the Florentine Camerata, Lully manuscripts, historic sound recordings, rare concert posters, and even Andy Griffith's guitar. The exhibition will open with a reception at 5 pm, a keynote address by Prof. Tim Carter, the David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music, and a short concert featuring works from the collection.
The Friday night banquet will be held at the Siena Hotel. Menu selections will include meat and vegetarian options. The banquet cost will be $30.
And don't forget about the Pauline Shaw Bayne Travel Grant to support travel to the conference. Music library paraprofessionals, support staff, and library school students are encouraged to apply. Application deadline is August 26, 2011.
Please take a moment to thank the members of our local arrangements committee for all their help in making the conference all that it can be.
We hope you will enjoy not only our conference and your SEMLA colleagues on your visit to Chapel Hill, but some of the attractions of the area as well.
