With the 2009 spring conference season about to begin, RSC Publishing staff will be spread around the globe at a number of major conferences over the forthcoming weeks.

Meet RSC staff at Pittcon in Chicago, US, from 8-12 March. This comprehensive annual meeting on laboratory science this year celebrates 60 years of service to the scientific community. Visit the RSC at booth #3410 and meet Niamh O'Connor, the editor of Analyst and JAAS, the market leader in spectrometric techniques. Pick up free copies of RSC journals and enter our competition to win an iPod touch when you sign up to journal e-alerts. Keep up-to-date with forthcoming RSC Pittcon announcements at www.rsc.org/publishing

The RSC will also be at the American Physical Society (APS) meeting in Pittsburg, PA, US, from 16-20 March, where around 7000 scientists gather to share research on a wide range of physics and physics-related topics. Visit us at booth #117.

Salt Lake City, US, hosts the 237th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, from 22-26 March. Enjoy the rich programme of scientific papers on a variety of multidisciplinary topics, including thematic programming around nanoscience. Visit RSC booth #1525 to view the best selling book Nanochemistry by Geoff Ozin (a speaker in the Naturally Nano session on Tuesday 24 March). The 2nd edition highlights the latest breakthroughs using more than eighty new case histories, problem sets and teaching principles.

If you're travelling to these or other conferences, look out for RSC Publishing staff - they will be happy to meet you. Visit our stand and pick up sample copies of journals, look out for special offers on the RSC book collection and keep up-to-date with the latest developments and exciting new announcements from  RSC Publishing.

Faraday Discussions, the long-established series of meetings providing unique international views on newly acquired physical chemistry, chemical physics and biophysical chemistry results, has increased its frequency this year from three to four meetings. These meetings take a special format, in which papers are distributed to all participants in advance of the conference and almost all of the meeting is devoted to discussion of the papers. Previous Faraday Discussions volumes are available to buy online at www.rsc.org/books.

Faraday Discussions' latest impact factor is 5.0, emphasising its highly cited and well respected accounts by world-class experts in physical chemistry. Philip Earis, editor for Faraday Discussions comments: 'The unique format of Faraday Discussions, and the world-class speakers that discussions attract, lead to outstanding and stimulating debate in topical areas of physical chemistry.'

2009 sees the discussion of Cold and ultracold molecules; Soft nanotechnology; Multi-scale modelling of polymers, colloids, mesophases and membranes; and Frontiers in physical organic chemistry. Registration is now open for the first meeting in April which will be held at Durham University, UK.

2009 begins with the publication of the Microbiology Handbook (Diary), shortly followed by other exciting new food titles including Nanotechnologies in Food (from the RSC's landmark Nanoscience and Nanotechnology series) and Handbook of Culture Media for Food and Water Microbiology. These titles will be complemented further by other exciting projects to be published throughout the year.