Dear 2021 SAIL/Cyamus Joint Virtual Conference participants, presenters, and guests:

            On behalf of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL) Gunter Library, University Libraries, The University of Southern Mississippi, and the members of the Conference Program Committee, it is our distinct pleasure to welcome you to this Zoom conference in the virtual world. 

            We are excited to bring together libraries, art, and science as we highlight new knowledge, insights, and cooperative understanding that unites these disciplines. We hope you will be engaged, learn something, and enjoy some social networking in this virtual environment. Over the next two days, we will hear from professional librarians, a newly minted scientist, and a gifted artist about their best practices, discoveries, and award-winning projects. From deep marine sediments to the skies of the red knot, and all the libraries between, we will discover and explore new topics and emerging issues.  We will talk about how diversity, equity, and inclusion can impact collection development and learn how a marine laboratory is addressing recruitment, support, and retention of underrepresented minorities. 

            We will take a virtual tour of the site in Ocean Springs where we “would have” been meeting in a non-covid world. Guided by GCRL Marine Education Center Director Dr. Jessica Kastler, we will virtually explore the Lake | Flato designed buildings and the natural setting that was preserved during the construction of this award-winning facility. Opened in 2018 as the replacement for the JL Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium that was lost in the storm surge and winds of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Marine Education Center was recognized in 2020 by the AIA Committee on Environment with a 10 Ten Award. See https://www.lakeflato.com/ and [more info].

            When I agreed to host the SAIL annual conference in 2018, I had no clue at how different our world would be in 2021.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of “East-West Connections: Bridging the Continent/Connecting the Seas” and help guide the effort from start to finish. While working with the conference program committee, I made new friends, tried the patience of more than one member, and discovered one member had visited Gunter Library and GCRL in 1985, and another worked at LUMCON in the early 1990s. I thank all of them for their kindness, professionalism, and faith that we could make this happen despite distances and three time zones. Please visit our virtual program created by the very talented Amanda Whitmire and specifically view the page highlighting the wonderful group who shared so much of their time to help create and build our buffet of presentations. https://guides.library.stanford.edu/jscac2021/committee

            Thank you all for your time and patience as we spend the next two days together in a Zoom world. Thank you to the GCRL Marine Education Center’s tech expert and all-around great person, Megan McKenzie, for managing the Zoom for us. Thank you to Janessa Ullendorf who created our beautiful conference logo. A special thank you to Sue Gardner who fixed the mess of a schedule I gave her and to Amanda Whitmire for turning a hundred emails with text and pictures and everything between into a wonderful virtual program. Anne Moser and Mary Markland did a great job of keeping me straight and on task several times a day—bless them both. Thank you to John Conover who handled all the abstract submissions and created the google form and spreadsheet. And my sincere thanks to Beth Avery, Katie Lage, and Ruth Gustafson for their kind support, thoughtful comments and suggestions, and patience with the process. Finally, thank you to Martha Brown for her skilled proof reading and editing help. 

            Please visit our partnerships page in this program guide. Both SAIL and Cyamus worked together to find sponsorships for the conference. Our partners include in alphabetical order:

• Digital Commons 
• Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (The University of Southern Mississippi)
• Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Marine Education Center
• ProQuest

            I wish all of you were here in Ocean Springs, going on some cool field trips, taking a ride on the Miss Peetsy B, seeing some local art, and closing out the conference with a delicious banquet.  And we are about 70 miles from New Orleans…always a great destination. Maybe a future SAIL…

• https://www.nps.gov/guis/index.htm
• https://gcrl.usm.edu/research_vessels/miss.peetsy.b.research.vessel.php
• https://www.walterandersonmuseum.org/
• https://www.gulfcoast.org/coastal-communities/ocean-springs/ocean-springs-restaurants/

The Committee thanks you and wishes you all the best!

Joyce M. Shaw, Chair