Alberta, for the third time since joining PNLA, hosted the last conference of the decade and millennium.  The century closed with a new mission statement, a reorganized and revised manual, a new communication plan and a revitalized action plan.

In the early years of the new millennium, PNLA, hosted both shared and standalone conferences.   Kelowna, BC, was the site of the 2000 conference, jointly hosted by the British Columbia Library Association and PNLA.  “Celebrating Excellence” was the conference theme, which featured Key Haycock as keynote speaker.  With the dissolution of interest groups, CANS Across the Border became a permanent part of conference programming, with a Cans and Corks event taking place for the first time this year.  The event quickly became known as Cans, Corks, and Pop and permanent feature of each annual conference.

Members of the Hawaii Library Association were invited to the 2001 conference in Corvallis, which featured John Perry Barlow as keynote speaker.   The YRCA, the oldest children's book choice award in the U.S. and Canada, to undergo something of a make-over.  In 1991, awards were given in both a Youth and a Senior category. In 2002 a third category, for Intermediate readers, was added.  Tens of thousands of votes are cast each spring and YRCA remains one of the association’s most recognized activities.

As early as 1967, president Rod Waldron wrote that PNLA should serve as the instrument of leadership in preparing the profession to meet the library service needs of present and future generations.  The first formal discussions for creating a leadership institute – long an interest of the association – began in earnest.  PNLA Leads is an IMLS grant funded institute project that provides leadership education and training for librarians and library staff in the Pacific Northwest.  In 2004, the first leadership institute took place at Dumas Bay, Washington, also the site of PNLA Board fall and spring meetings.  Leadership and mentoring experts Becky Schreiber and John M. Shannon led the first cohort of 36 attendees and 8 mentors.  A second and third institute took place at Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, Idaho and at Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Sandpoint, Idaho in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

Other recent activities of note include the move of PNLA-L to a Yahoo groups, The Quarterly is indexed in Ebsco’s LISTA database and is currently available in both print and electronic format.  Annual conferences, held in a different state or province each year, continue to provide solid and well-attended continuing education and networking activities in the region.   PNLA Board Officers, committee members, as well as state and provincial representatives carry on the tradition, started 100 years ago, of promoting library service in the Pacific Northwest by sharing resources, ideas and expertise.