The American Library Association's (ALA) Annual Conference, June 24?30, in steamy Orlando, drew 19,575 people, including 5,739 exhibitors, the lowest total since Miami in 1994, not counting the SARS-shadowed conference in Toronto last year (see statistics, p. 15). Although this years conference was filled with exciting events, this abstract is able to cover but a few, owing to space restrictions. A more detailed account of the numerous meetings and happenings is provided in the full text article. Top issues covered were funding and recruiting, as well as technology implementation, including the increasingly popular RFID. ALA began to confront some organizational issues, including a possible dues increase. National politics was a hot topic, too. A benefit screening of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 drew a nearly full house to a 2300-seat auditorium. At the Opening General Session, former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke, author of the best seller Against All Enemies, gave an impassioned speech, both lament and warning, about America's failure to confront its national security challenges. He criticized the USA PATRIOT Act and urged librarians "to continue to be outspoken." His remarks earned a sustained standing ovation. Other events at the annual conference included a panel discussion where a capacity crowd heard a members speak on "The Future of Libraries: Disappearing Libraries and Invisible Librarians." Clifford Lynch of the Coalition for Networked Information noted that libraries will diverge in maintaining the twin responsibilities of access and stewardship. He said that major research libraries are starting to ask how much they should invest in stewardship and how much they should "kick off" to national libraries. Lynch further observed that research libraries will devote much more effort to managing content that is created by scholarly communities but does not pass through publishers--including institutional repositories.