-------------------- N E W S  R E L E A S E  --------------------

            Auburn University - University Relations
                         (334) 844-9999
----------------------------------------------------------------

4/21/95                  Jamie Brown

GROOM TO ADDRESS ALABAMA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONVENTION
     AUBURN -- Winston Groom, author of the best-seller and Academy
Award-winning Forest Gump, will be the keynote speaker at the
Alabama Library Association's annual meeting at Auburn University
on April 26-28.
     The convention, which will have a theme of "Stepping Out:
Connecting Beyond Four Walls," will be at the AU Hotel and
Conference Center.
     Groom will speak during the first general session, which
begins at 9:30 a.m., on Wednesday, April 26.
     In addition to Groom, another key speaker at the convention
will be AU Distinguished University Professor Wayne Flynt, a
co-author of the Pulitzer Prize - nominated Alabama: The History of
a Deep South State.  Flynt will speak during the President's
Program, which begins at 4 p.m., on Wednesday, April 26.
     Groom has written for magazines, a newspaper and published
several books. His novel Forest Gump was adapted into a popular
motion picture and his nonfiction book, Conversations With the
Enemy, was nominated for a Pulitzer.
     Although Groom, a Vietnam war veteran, was born in Washington
D.C., he has spent much of his life in Alabama. He attended
University Military School in Mobile and graduated from the
University of Alabama in 1965. Groom received a 1982 Alabama
Library Association fiction award for As Summers Die.
     Here is a schedule of key convention events: 
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26
     9:30 a.m.-11 a.m., First general session.
     12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m., Beta Phi Mu luncheon with presentation
          of Librarian of the Year Award.
     1 p.m.-3 p.m., Research forum.
     4 p.m.-5:30 p.m., President's Program.
     5:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Silent auction. THURSDAY, APRIL 27
     7 a.m.-11 a.m., Series of breakfast meetings and workshops,
          including sessions on the government printing office, the
          Internet, the "Information Superhighway," multimedia
          copyright laws, public relations, school libraries and
          Myers-Briggs testing in the workplace.
     Noon, Leah Rawls Atkins, director of the AU Center for Arts
          and Humanities, speaks on "Writing Alabama's History."
     Afternoon sessions on various topics.
     5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m., Awards and President's Reception.
     7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., Authors Awards Banquet FRIDAY, APRIL 28
     8 a.m.-11 a.m., Breakfast meeting with Daniel Barron,
          professor and school library media program coordinator at
          University of South Carolina, speaking on "The Virtual
          Classroom Meets the Virtual Library" (panel discussion to
          follow). 
# # # april95:alalibrary
     CONTACT: Kayla Barrett, 334/1706; or Marcia Boosinger,
334/844-1740.