ACRL, Day Two, Part Two

First, Jenny, seriously, media card readers at Annual!

Second, I did get a picture with John Waters at the booksigning. He was even kind enough to let me photograph his *tres* cool gold lame sneakers.

After the booksigning, I wandered by the poster session. During the break in my morning session, I stopped by and was caught up in the mass of humanity flowing through and didn't really get a chance to ingest any of the information presented. I did see a friend from grad school though. The afternoon session, at least when I was there, was quite pleasant. I think the morning session scared off a number of people. I got to listen to two presenters, one of whom was in my morning session. I think I need a bit more time to digest what I learned, but I really liked Simmons' MassBLAST intern program.

I then stopped by the ALA booth and talked with Cathleen Bourdon, the former author of the Librarian's Toolkit (?) column in American Libraries and who was on my flight out here and will be on the one back, and Mary Taylor, the Executive Director of LITA. Both are very nice ladies.

Next on my schedule was the session where David Silver was the speaker. Looking up title...oh yes, "Invited Paper: Digital Media, Learning and Libraries: Web 2.0, Learning 2.0 and Libraries 2.0". While there were some technical difficulties with the microphones in the beginning, Silver quickly fell into an engaging rhythm. He talked about his concept of AEIOU: Already Existing Information Optimally Uploaded. I'm still a little unclear on some of the theoretical details, but I think (and those who were there, please correct me if I'm wrong) it's a way to repackage/bundle content in a more accessible way. One of the examples he gave was library displays, in particular a display on graphic novels in his school's library. The library already had a collection of graphic novels, but they used this opportunity to publicize it, make people aware of graphic novels and what subjects they cover, and they invited -- through a suggestion box sitting on the main display case!! -- patron input on what titles they should consider buying.

He went on to talk about how "Web 2.0" is really collective intelligence, which is what a lot of people consider libraries to be. I would go a step further and say that it's collaborative intelligence. The other way he put it was the web is no longer a lecture, but a conversation. As librarians, we also need to think beyond the high technology of "2.0" and think of low technology: the suggestion box among other things. I thought this was very interesting because you're taking a concept that's been proven to work, but looking at it in a fresh way.

The room was packed (I have pictures to prove it, though I'm sure others have posted theirs already), and I know that he inspired a lot of the audience members.

To wind down, I enjoyed a walk along the Skywalk to the Inner Harbor. I'm glad I did it because I needed a little touristy time and the weather was nice! Tomorrow is another full day of sessions followed by two meets and greets.