Topics of particular interest include assistive technologies; fundamentals of serving special populations, such as those with autism and spectrum disorders, the deaf and hard of hearing, developmental disabilities, mental disabilities, mental illnesses, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and/or vision disabilities; children or young adults with disabilities; managing volunteers with disabilities; what trustees need to know about accessibility; the basics of prison/correctional facilities librarianship; Web accessibility; and consortial approaches to ebooks. Submissions are also welcome for other topics that would be of interest to ASCLA members or are relevant to the library services ASCLA members provide.

A complete list of criteria is available in the Professional Development section of the ASCLA website. In summary, successful proposals will:

• Include a description, main topic outline and an estimate of length of the proposed course, webinar or webinar series
• Outline the audiences who will be interested in this topic, including job titles as appropriate
• Address the direct competition for this course/topic that already exists in the online professional development marketplace.
• Provide a description of the instructor/presenter and their relevant experience, e.g. education, job history, that illustrates their expertise in the proposed topic area.
• Include a writing sample if the proposal is for an online course.

Proposals should be submitted via e-mail to ascla@ala.org as MSWord or PDF attachments. Presenters for accepted proposals will receive compensation for their time and will also receive training for the software used to deliver the online learning experience. Questions can be directed to Liz Markel, ASCLA marketing specialist or Susan Hornung, ASCLA executive director at lmarkel@ala.org and shornung@ala.org, respectively.

ASCLA, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is a diverse organization of librarians, information science professionals and support staff who work in academic and public libraries, state agencies, specialized libraries and multi-type cooperatives, as well as those who are self-employed. For more information about ASCLA, visit www.ala.org/ascla.