ALOHA!

     We welcome members of the Western Association of Map Libraries (WAML) to celebrate your 35th anniversary in Hawai`i, November 6-7 in Honolulu and November 8-9 in Kona. The conference planning committee (Mabel Suzuki and Ross Togashi of the University of Hawai`i-Manoa and Riley Moffat of Brigham Young University-Hawai`i) has organized a full program of speakers on topics ranging from the mapping of "accidental tourists" in Hawai`i to intellectual property issues for spatial data in the post September 11 era. We are fortunate to have Gary Fitzpatrick of the Map and Geography Division at the Library of Congress bring us up to date on LC projects and Mary Larsgaard has graciously agreed to reprise her popular cartographic cataloging workshop.

     Following the Early Bird Picnic at the Ala Moana Beach Park on Tuesday evening, November 5, the formal portion of the conference will be held at the University of Hawai`i-Manoa Campus Center Ballroom on November 6 and 7. A walk through historic Waikiki is planned and the Honolulu portion of the conference will end with a banquet at the Willows Restaurant, a kama`aina (oldtimer's) favorite on Thursday evening. Then on Friday, the planners have organized a trip to the Big Island of Hawai`i for an excursion up to the summit of Mauna Kea and a visit to the Keck Observatory.

     We look forward to hosting this meeting and seeing all of you in sunny Hawai` i!