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By Kiyomi, June 30, 2010 12:33 PM

ALA 2010

Greetings  and salutations!

I hope that everyone reading this is doing well, and that my fellow attendees all made it home without incident.

So, what have I been up to?

June 12, 2010 I attended graduation at Drexel University and got to meet some of my fellow students, hurrah!

I also spent several days exploring Philladelphia with my husband, guided by my aunt and cousins before visiting Missy Harvey, the Computer Science Librarian for the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries in Pittsburgh.  We moved on to Harrisburg to visit the  National Civil War Museum, which I highly recommend seeing, and Gettysburg.  After that we moved on to New York, NY to visit my step-son and one of my oldest friends, and then turned south to Delaware.  I realized from the signage that I was near the University of Delaware and gave myself an impromptu campus and library tour, they have an awesome audio/video center in their library!  We spent a few days in Maryland relaxing with some friends, and then moved on to D.C. for ALA 2010.

A Few Washington, D.C. Highlights

Revisiting Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum (Twice!)

What can I say, you can’t take the science out of the girl and I always adore seeing the new takes on the NASA display and all the other changes, it really did take two visits to see all the new stuff and I still didn’t have time to see one of their IMAX presentations!

Spectrum Professional Options Fair

This event is part of the Spectrum Leadership Institute, I was there as a representative of ACRL’s Residency Interest Group.  The purpose of the event is for Spectrum Scholars to learn about various career paths and professional groups, and to provide general networking for them as well.  My group passed out flyers, business cards, pointed people toward other groups of interest at the institute and generally had a good time promoting Residencies, scholarship and mentoring opportunities, and librarianship.

ARL’s 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Intitative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce

As an ARL Diversity Scholar I was asked to attend this lunch celebration of the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce.  I showed up early to help setup with my husband and we helped out and generally had a good time.  Not only was the food excellent, but the speakers were as well.  I was particularly proud of my fellow 2009-2011 Diversity Scholar Jeff Cruz’s speech. Jeff also challenged us to see which of us would become the first ARL director.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a multi-way tie in the end, good luck to us all!

Sunday – Best day!  I’ll do a separate post on this next week

Privacy -

Monday as I wandered in tired and without a plan and only 2 hours to spare, I had the good fortune to run into Brian Leaf who suggested I go to a session with him on privacy issues.  I’m not sure what the name of the session was but I really enjoyed one of the speakers analogy for privacy issues, a black box sitting on a rotting net with a flag.

Exhibits Report

As per usual there was the usual assortment of people watching and free books.  I was especially impressed by the determination of the woman who brought her daughter to sit with bags and had 8 bags of books within about 30 minutes of the exhibits opening.  I myself snagged 8 which looked interesting, and even managed to snag a free copy of a book being sold Saturday by staring rather wistfully at a book as they were closing the signing and mentioning that I had the first book at which point the vendor gave it to me for free and I was the last person to have their book signed

I was disappointed in the selection of science related vendors, even the vendors with science products were not nearly as helpful as I had met at midwinter.  To that I say, science people want convention attention too!  If I ask about your science products and you are a representative for your vendor telling me you don’t have any handouts and only know that name of the products makes me wonder if you really want me to buy them.

In contrast I was very pleased to speak with the people from the Oxford University Press they were very helpful, interesting, and I learned about new products which were in my area of interest.  I was also very happy to meet up with Dave, Ryan, and the rest of the Mango Languages crew, if you haven’t tried their product yet see if you have access through your library and check them out!  I really love how they not only have lessons for English speakers to learn foreign languages, but also English as a second language lessons. (No I am not affiliated with them, I just like their product and want it to continue succeeding so I can continue using it!)

Poster Sessions

I really enjoyed the chance to see what people were doing to improve their libraries and their services.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other librarians and discover people with similar interest and specialties who I hope to collaborate with in the future.  Talks and presentations are useful, but if you don’t drop by the poster sessions when you can you’re missing a fun and highly useful opportunity to connect with your peers/future colleagues/future bosses.  Most interesting poster has to go to the librarians that created a virtual tour using adapted dolls, some model props, and photos to simulate  a library tour for online students in a video clip.  I also loved hearing about successful scavenger hunt strategies and brain storming for overnight mystery events in libraries.

All in all I had a great time, met great people, and learned a lot, if you have a chance to attend a convention I highly encourage you to go.

Attended ALA 2010 in D.C.?  What were your highlights?

Comments (1)

By Kiyomi, March 3, 2010 11:43 AM

Get to know your fellow professionals!

This post was written as a supplement to Conference Attendance Advice by Erin Dorney.   Erin’s post covers a lot of ground, but I have a few more additions based on my own conference experiences both locally, and at ALA MidWinter.  I suggested an addition in the comments section of Erin’s post, and I’ll start with that.

1. Invited Parties and Receptions: Try and attend all of the receptions/parties you are personally invited to, and if you can fit them in, try and attend some of the open invitation receptions/parties. The ones you are invited to are usually based on your membership in a group and will provide great semi-relaxed places to get to know others with similar interests. The open receptions are more intimidating, but the people are just as interesting to get to know. Of course you should keep in mind Erin’s #6 and pace yourself.
2. Talk & Panel Etiquette: If you are attending a talk or panel session you are probably very interested in the topic, so is everyone else in the room.  If you are uncomfortable sitting for long periods of time take a seat at the back or sides of the room so that you won’t disturb others when you need to stand.  Limit yourself to 2 questions per session, 3 absolute maximum in extenuating circumstances.  The speakers are there for everyone and it is not only rude to dominate the entire presentation, it makes it difficult for the speaker to present all of their material if they are being constantly interrupted.  If you have a lot of questions think about walking up to the speaker after the session is over, unless they are in a hurry most speakers enjoy speaking with enthusiastic listeners.  Again, be courteous, if you have a lot to talk about but there are other people waiting for the speaker exchange information and contact them at a later time.
3. Expo Goodies: If you like to read don’t bother bringing any books with you.  There are free and discounted books ($3-$5 paperback, $5-$15 hardback) in every genre.  Think about under packing on your way to a conference if you are a bibliophile, that way you won’t be over your weight limits on your way home.  There are plenty of reusable bags being given away if you want to save some space in your luggage.  The most giveaways are at opening and closing.
4. Take Care of Yourself: Erin touches on this in her #6 Make a Schedule, but I’d like to emphasize the importance of taking care of yourself at these events.  Drink lots of water, if water is provided and your table runs out don’t be shy about flagging down a waiter or grabbing some off of a deserted table.  Wear layers, hotels often have the heat set high in the winter, and the AC set for freezing in the summer.  A thin jacket or sweater that easily fits in your bag is ideal for personal temperature management.  If you are wiped out take a break and have a nap.  The only things you absolutely have to attend are your own committee meetings, and paid workshops, everything else is negotiable.
5. Add People You’ve Met to Your Personal Network: It is best to do this as soon as possible after meeting them.  I spent the morning I left adding the majority of the people I met.  Not all the people you will connect with will currently be librarians.  Several vendors and recruiters are former librarians and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to connect with them.
6. Be Generous With Job Leads: In this trying time a lot of librarians and library school students are searching for jobs.  If you speak with someone who is looking, and you know of a job that is a good fit, tell him or her, even if you are applying too.  You may be scratching your head at this point thinking, why would I give away a job lead?  This seems counter intuitive but ask yourself these questions:  Do you want to work for someone knowing that they settled for you instead of choosing you because you were exactly what they wanted?  If you are chosen because the hiring manager is settling how will your co-workers view you?  The best reason to pass on a job lead is because it feels good to help others.

I hope these tips, combined with Erin’s, help you have a fun and meaningful conference experience.  See you at ALA Annual!

Comments (1)

By Kiyomi, November 4, 2009 11:37 AM

It has been a while since I posted and I’m skipping this month’s frugal living post in favor of two separate posts.  This first post will let you know what I’ve been up to, and the second which I should finish writing by Monday will list my top picks for finding jobs in the library and information services world.

What have I been up to?

ACRL Residency Interest Group:
On October 1^st, 2009 I became the Web Editor and List Administrator responsible for maintaining and facilitating the flow of information on the website and the group mailing list.

ARL Initiative To Recruit A Diverse Workforce:
October 15, 2009 I was privileged to receive an acceptance letter and became a 2009-2011 ARL Diversity Scholar.

California Library Association Annual Conference:
Although initially unsure of what to expect I greatly enjoyed my first conference in library land.  While I did attend a few sessions, those seats are not made for people with short legs, I spent the majority of my time in the exhibit hall promoting the creation of, and application to, library residency programs.  I was very excited to learn more about California’s preservation programs, OCLC’s ContentDM, and Mango Languages.  I recommend checking all of these out.  Apologies to those who I missed in passing, hopefully I’ll catch up with some of you at MidWinter.

Drexel University:
As I continue in week seven of our quarter I am excited to be past the half way mark and accelerating toward completion of my degree in June.  As I finish with my required courses the main problem is choosing between all of the marvelous special topics for my four electives.  Next quarter I will be taking my first two electives Resources in Social Science and Instructional Role Information Specialist. 15 classes may seem like a lot but with the variety of offerings at Drexel I could almost do a second MSLIS degree, if I took everything that interests me.

Me:
For myself, I am grateful we are finally back on standard time.  I’m busy with my volunteer internship at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden’s research library, the end of the quarter, and the beginnings of holiday scheduling.  Additionally, I am working on an application for a library residency program, special thanks to Megan Perez for his editorial help!

They say that life is what you make of it, and right now life is great!