Month: June 2011

Find Me at ALA 2011 (Tentative Schedule)

Conference image bad that reads I'm speaker June 22-28, 2011 New Orleans American Library Association conference.
ALA New Orleans

Greetings! If you will be attending ALA 2011 here are some places you might find me. I only guarantee to be there if I’m speaking since plans can easily change on a dime at conference time.

Thursday 6/23

7:30-9:30pm Spectrum Professional Options Fair (ACRL RIG Table) 300 Bourbon St, Grand Ballroom

Friday 6/24

9am Breakfast w/Jennifer Waller

8am-12pm ALA Town Hall on Diversity RM 265 Convention Center

4pm – 5pm Sci/Tech Librarians & Friends at PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans, Near Lafayette Square.
~0.5 miles/10 minutes from the convention Center
If you want to attend let me know, so far it’s a small group 4-5 people, but I want to make sure we don’t outgrow the venue.
PJ’s Coffee, 644 Camp St, New Orleans, LA 70130-3424

5:30pm Exhibits Open

5:30pm – 8:00pm LITA Happy Hour Howlin’ Wolf Den Tbl 1, 907 S. Peters St. (Cash Bar)

6:30pm Dinner W/Jen Lanzing & Friends

7:30pm-8:30pm NMRT Mentoring Social, DOUB Rosedown A

10 pm- Midnight ALA Dance Party, Oz New Orleans, 800 Bourbon St

Saturday 6/25

10:30am – 12pm Sociology Librarians Discussion Group (ACRL ANSS) – Marriot- Mardi Gras f-g, Panelist – Promoting Your Institutional Repository to Faculty

3pm-5pm Diversity and Outreach Fair Room 260-262 Convention Center

5pm-6pm Former Diversity Scholars Meetup

5:30pm-7pm ACRL University Libraries Section Netowking Reception Pirates Alley, 1622 Pirates Alley

7pm-9pm Tweetup Bar Uncommon

7:45pm-10pm JCLC Fundraiser, Hilton Riverside, 2 Poydras, River Room

9pm-2am Facebook After Hours Social Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop 941 Bourbon St. (This is a great place to meet people, esp around midnight when other things are shutting down, it makes a good last stop before bed.)

Sunday 6/26

7am Breakfast w/Bohyun Kim

8am – 10am ACRL RIG Meeting

8am – 10am LITA Emerging Tech
Lost in Translation: the Emerging Technology Librarian and the New Technology, Convention Center Rm 274
Speakers: Bohyun Kim, Florida International University, Jacquelyn Erdman, U.S. Green Building Council

10:30am-12pm Data Panel Sheraton Borgne Room

(Lunch w/Placement Center)

1:30pm-3pm ALA Placement Center Networking in a Tough Economy: Using Social Media to Build Your Personal Brand and Improve Your Chances of Getting Hired. Speaker: Pt 3 Putting it together: being professionally consistent online and in person.

7pm-10pm Creole Queen STS/HSIG Dinner Cruise

Monday 6/27

8am-10am LITA Emerging Technologies Interest Group Convention Center RM 341

Unconventional Inspiration

Image of an open office door titled Doors: Walk Through Them
Doors: Walk Through Them

Perhaps you’re ambitious, or maybe you just want to get through the day and do the 150 things you need to finish before going home due to layoffs / eliminating positions when people retire.

Your office has a door that goes two ways for a reason, make sure that you use it!

You could go to a coffee shop and sip a cup of tea, or go for a walk and observe the local squirrel population. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you focus on something other than work.

If you take a short break once a day I guarantee that you will feel better and be more productive afterwards. Taking a total break is one of the best ways to inspire inspiration but it’s pretty traditional.? Here are some unconventional ways to find some inspiration.

Play for the Future:

TEDxBG Steve Keil: A Manifesto for Play, for Bulgaria and Beyond

While some might say I take my work overly seriously what many people miss don’t realize is that I’m probably one of the silliest people they know. I just save all my silly for my home life (apologies to my husband for my excessive silliness, but not really because he knew what I was like before we got married). I enjoy silly things and was once told my propensity for being silly was only exceeded by the silly people I gathered around me. One silly friend and I once presented our summer research as a fairy tale complete with chocolate loving witches. No matter how serious I may appear at times, play and fun are just as important to a happy balanced me. Don’t take my word for it, listen to Steve’s talk complete with facts to support our anecdotal belief that play is essential to inspiration, innovation, and a healthy work environment. (This is good I listened to it twice!)

Novel Sources of Inspiration:

The Anthropologist
Although this website is managed by Anthropologie, this site is not commercial. Rather it is a site dedicated to inspiration and imagination. Through video and pictures with captions they tell their stories. Lose yourself in their stories, from the video of the beautifully talented dance of The Little Ballerina, to Urnatur a photo and video journey showcasing the woodland home created by Hakan Strotz, forester, and his wife Ulrika Krynitz, biologist and modern designer.

Exploring Others’ Sources of Inspiration

Etsy

Etsy is a website that features handmade goods direct from the creators. You can buy everything from bath soap to original oil paintings and wood furniture. I always like to see what’s featured on the front page, if you scroll all the way down you can see recently added items in a constantly moving stream. Want to find out what inspires those who sell and create? Check out the Etsy blog, frequently updated with stories about potters, artists, master woodworkers, etc.

What do you do for inspiration? Please share in the comments.

(Comments with links are moderated but approved unless they are spam.)