Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been to the best conference in my expierience.
Unfortunately, I missed the first day due to my travel insanity (thank you Delta & Hartsfield-Jackson). I arrived late Monday night and was up early the next morning to dive in. I attended:
Challenges of Cyberinfrastructre & Choices for Libraries
Podcasting & Videocasting
MySpace & Facebook (presented)
Partnerships in Archiving
Web Presence for Internet Librarians
Technology Training in a Library 2.0 World
Training Tutorial Tour & Tips
Comparing Book Search Engines
Social Computing & the Info Pro
Rather than do a blow-by-blow of all the sessions I attended, let me tell you what I gleaned from this experience:
- If possible, plan out every last little detail of your trip the moment you know you’re going. Get flights, hotels, restaurants, wifi access, and all that jazz done as soon as possible. And then immediately throw out all the plans (emotionally, at least), because it will all change the moment you leave your house.
- The conference is about learning things, yes. But more important than that is meeting cool people–of which there were an abundance at this conference. I was able to walk up to any group of people and immediately start carrying on conversation about what we are doing well, what we want to change, and where we think all this stuff is going.
- I’m not the only one with my attitudes/thoughts/opinions. A lot of folks share the same ideals about usability, accessibility, user-centered service, and the future of technology in libraries.
- The vendor representatives will listen if you gripe about their databases–most of them gave me their cards and an opportunity to contact them for more support. They should be listening to us, their users, for what would be useful in their databases, and which parts of their interfaces suck.
- There are a lot of non-librarians who are interested in our work, our needs, and our services.
- There are a lot of awesome librarians doing some amazing things to provide users with tools and services that they need in innovative ways.
Videos are up on YouTube and pics are on flickr.
Everyone smile and say “Promotion & Tenure!” Go to flickr and note yourself in this photo!
Posted by Cliff on October 29th, 2006
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This is why I don’t EVER check any luggage–if I did, it would always gets to my destination without me. :)
This is day 2 of my being in transit. My flight out of Valdosta was an hour late, so by the time I got to Atlanta, I was put on standby–twice. I eventually rebooked and went to a hotel (at my own expense of course, because Delta won’t pay for anything). I came to check in this morning, and I wasn’t the only one–security took two hours, making me miss my morning flight. I’m now confirmed to get to Monterey–at 10:00pm tonight. So I’m missing the first day of the conference, but at least I’ll be able to present (maybe, I may not be worth much in the morning). I’m going to *try* to get put on standby in Salt Lake City, and maybe I’ll get an earlier flight, but I don’t expect it. Eight hours layover is plenty of time to go over my presentation notes, right?
My normally chipper attitude has been chipped away. Although I’m maintaining a sense of perspective regarding the whole thing (things *could* be a lot worse!), I do believe that my sense of humor is now officially gone. So I am grateful that things aren’t worse than they are, but I’m not exactly upbeat about it!
Oh, and did you know that changing any sorts of plans in a trip is expensive? Rebooking/cancellation fees for my hotel room, having to PAY for wifi access at the airport, crappy meals eaten while I’m running down concourses, well, you get the picture.
Ok! Enough complaining from me! Keep me in your thoughts today–I think I’m going to need it!
Posted by Cliff on October 23rd, 2006
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The days are counting down till I leave for IL2006! I’m working to get everything finalized (hence the lack of posting). The biggest difficulty with a trip like this isn’t speaking in front of a crowd, or even fear of flying–it’s paralysis at being unable to decide which presentations to go to! I’m interested in ALL the topics, so I hate that I have to pick from the selection! But since I have to pick, a preliminary schedule is available on my page at the IL2006 wiki.
I’m reading the IL2006 wiki to get familiar with Monterey, and finding where I need to post my blog entries for my review. I’m kind of intimidated/excited that so many techie librarians are going to be there. I don’t want to seem like some fanboy doe-eyed front-row librarian geek, but somehow in my heart of hearts, I know that’s what I am, and will be.
- Wrapping up things at home:
- I’ve cancelled swing dance class for next Wednesday (and realized that the class wasn’t liking Lindy Hop, so we’re returning to East Coast after I get back from the conference).
- Things at work are covered. I even have someone to water my dinosaur plant!
- Must clean the house so that I don’t come back to insanity.
- I’m taking along massive amounts of reading that I need to get done.
- I am going to carve pumpkins for the Reference Desk upon my return…
Posted by Cliff on October 20th, 2006
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