Pacific Union College hosted the annual meeting of the Association of Seventh day Adventist Librarians (ASDAL), June 19-24, 2001. More than fifty librarians from SDA colleges and universitites in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, the Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States attended this special twentieth anniversary conference on the Angwin campus.

Seven of ASDAL’s charter members attended the meetings, including Joel Lutes, Public Services Librarian of Nelson Memorial Library. Also present was Adu Worku, chair of library services at PUC and president elect of ASDAL.

The theme of the conference, “Bridging the Past and the Future” provided an opportunity for the librarians to reflect on the history of the association. A desire to combine past experience with present goals to create a more dynamic future fueled the six-day event.

The first meeting of ASDAL was held at PUC in 1980 when a group of Seventh-day Adventist librarians gathered to dialogue, plan, and initiate a professional organization. Twenty years later, attendees left the anniversary conference inspired to continue their work fulfilling the mission of Adventist higher eduacation.