Where we got the blue cartoon shirts

For those who asked me on the floor today or saw others wearing the blue "She Blinded Me with Library Science" cartoon shirts, we got them from Questionable Content. A very funny webcomic with some very funny t-shirts.

QC Merchandise - it's about the third shirt down

ALA - Day Four

I know I haven't summarized yesterday for you, but I promise to do so by the end of the weekend. Today was the day my ALA wrapped up for the most part. I had the NMRT Executive Board meeting first thing this morning. While it was tough to get up so early, later I was glad to have it out of the way. I got back to the convention center in good time thanks to the Metro for the start of Wikiing the Blog and Walking the Dog. Unfortunately, the room was PACKED. I camped out by the dais on the floor for an hour before I decided to leave. I had to find a space in which to attend my online class. Thanks to ALA for providing wireless access, and thanks to LITA for providing the blog room.

Afterwards, I hit the exhibit hall. I needed to talk to a few vendors about a couple of programs we do out of our office. That took a little longer than I expected...partially because the vendors I needed to talk to were so spread out. I also visited with one of my former teachers who works for the Library of Congress now. It was good catching up with her. She had been at Seattle for Midwinter, which is where we met up again. I'm hoping she'll be at the other ALA conferences I'm attending for the foreseeable future as she was one of my favorite teachers. I also picked up a few advanced reader copies (ARCs) while I was wandering. I'm quite proud to say my bags, while a bit heavy, aren't completely full. I may end up in the exhibit hall tomorrow morning after breakfast with a few friends, but if I get any more stuff, it's going to be limited to a carry-on bag so I don't have to repack the suitcases. Honestly, I wouldn't have picked up all of these ARCs, except most of them are to look over for consideration for the awards committee I'm on. This is why I packed a mostly empty (and larger) second suitcase.

ALA Annual - Day Two

1. Remember to check the Flickr group for pictures: ALA Annual 2007


2. I hit the exhibits first thing as I decided not to go to the session I'd originally planned on attending. I've got a few exhibitors I need to ask questions of for work, and after I got my Darwin bobblehead from Greenwood, I got some leads to follow up on from one of the vendors. I also ended up with a lot more items than the two I planned on leaving with. Pretty much the extras are all ARCs, but dang, they're heavy!


3. My first session today was "Participatory Networks: Libraries as Conversations". I honestly had no clue what I was getting into with this session. It turned out to be a great kick-off session. Speakers included John Lester from Linden Labs, Eli Neiburger from Ann Arbor District Library, Kitty Pope from Alliance Library System, and Angela Semifero from Marshall District Library. All of them had very interesting things to say about how libraries can initiate conversations with people who may not normally come to the library. I think one of the truest comments came from Kitty Pope: extended services do not fit in with every community. Bonus: I got to meet Abby from LibraryThing as she was sitting right behind me.


4. Next was a brief lunch with friends before heading off to the BIGWIG Social Software Showcase. This was a great event organized by the BIGWIG group of LITA. Once again, this was absolutely wonderful! I got to meet Tim Spalding, creator of LibraryThing. I Tweeted with the Davids during introductions. And, I got to talk with Simon Spero about authority and taxonomy and folksonomies. What Simon had to say was extremely fascinating, but admittedly, a bit over my head. Definitely check out the Showcase's Wiki for ongoing discussions and presentations.


5. After dropping off my haul from the exhibit hall this morning at the hotel, I headed back to the Convention Center for the session called Trit Trot to Washington which was on Early Childhood Literacy techniques and exercises. This was a nice complement to the workshop I went to back in April that was led by Saroj Ghoting.


6. To cap off the day, the LISNews.com get together at the Capitol City Brewery. Much fun was had with friends, and the BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich was fabulous.

Sleep is now direly needed, so I'm off to bed. One last comment though: some very nice bags are to be had at this conference. It's kind of funny when you're on one of the shuttle buses and you're comparing bags from the current conference with past conferences with other librarians.

ALA - Day One

Well, other than not wearing enough layers to keep me properly insulated in the room where my committee was meeting, today was a productive day. We managed to get our work done early enough for me to make it over to the convention center in time to check in and go to the NMRT 101 session. While I was making my way to the session, I stopped into the Emerging Leaders Poster Session. I wish I could have stayed longer than the five minutes I did, but I got to meet Jane! The NMRT 101 session was great. I got there too late to grab a seat, so I found a seat along one of the walls close to the podium. Reiterating something I said during the 101 session: just show up. If you want to be involved in ALA, show up to the programs and meetings you are interested in. You control your level of involvement, so don't be shy! Now, I'm off to the NMRT Meet & Greet.

Made it in one piece

When your day starts out with a call saying "Um, we cancelled the flight you were supposed to be on, but we've put you on one at the same time but at the complete other side of the city. Call this number to confirm." Then you call the number, and you're pretty sure you confirm, but when they start trying to assign your seat, you get a recorded message saying "sorry, we've got too many calls and can't deal with you and you're puny problems, call back later." Well, you're not quite sure if it's an omen or a portent of things to com. The rest of my travels went fairly smoothly, though it did seem to take an inordinate amount of time for things to occur. I finally got into my hotel room about 6pm Eastern, about 9 hours after I'd left the house.

Tomorrow is my RUSA award committee meeting. Afterwards is some NMRT events. I'm looking forward to both as I'll get to see quite a few people I enjoy spending time with.

ALA Bound

Just a note that I'm working my way east to DC. Tomorrow is the flight first to Detroit and then on to DC. Expect somewhat daily updates. But seriously, the best conference investment: a backpack with a laptop sleeve. I have to carry my laptop around with me on Friday and Monday, and throwing my shoulder out is not in my plans.