The GOLD conference was a blast, once again. This year I presented the keynote, The Evolving Library: Taking Action and Getting Results (view/download), as well as a session Crafting the User-Centered Library (view/download). The crowd was awesome, there were great questions afterward, and several folks mentioned that they will walk away with a handful of tools to use at their own libraries–awesome! Pictures and video are available, as well. A big thanks to Sarah & Stacy for getting the photos and video!
If you didn’t go, you missed Jason & Rachel‘s presentation on podcasting for instruction. Wow. I didn’t think that it would be possible for me to ever want to do podcasting, but they actually got me excited about it. Sweet! (and congrats, Jason, on the MLIS and commemorative tattoo!)
Posted by Cliff on August 2nd, 2008
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Thanks again to everyone from Brazil for the opportunity to speak at the 4ª Conferência de Wicca & Espiritualidade da Deusa. Here are some pictures from my session, as well as an awesome t-shirt and book I got as “thank you” presents! Sweet!
Saturday I was picked up from the airport by friends and we went to see Margaret Cho at the Tabernacle; as always she had me laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. We then went out dancing, and finally got to sleep at about 2:30am (a great way to round off a day of international flights!). After a few hours of sleep, we woke up early and drove back to Valdosta so that I could speak to the 4ª Conferência de Wicca & Espiritualidade da Deusa. I gave a speech on Karma and Responsibility via Live Messenger. Rose and Lulu did a great job of translating for me, and Claudiney (as always) was excellent at coordinating the presentation. Although I was unable to see the audience, they were able to see me, and luckily some of my jokes successfully translated. There were great questions after the presentation, and I hope that one day I will get to meet all these great Pagans in person!
Rather than boring everyone to death with a play-by-play of the conference, here are the things that I learned from my trip. Videos are here, photos are here. Check out the ACURIL website, the conference page and the conference blog. I really enjoyed ACURIL; if you get the chance, go!
Things I learned about librarianship:
- Librarians are the same everywhere. We all face the same problems, and all have our own quirks. And we generally like meeting other librarians.
- US libraries/librarians and ALA are pretty much like a clique on a very large playground. They ignore (and are pretty much ignored) by the rest of the kids on the playground, who are all hanging out with each other. The only ones losing out are the US; no one is looking to us for inspiration. It is I who have been inspired.
- A master’s degree isn’t necessary to be a librarian. Librarianship is a skill that is learned through practice, regardless of the degree in your hands.
Things I learned about Jamaica/the Carribbean:
- Everything starts about 15-20 minutes late…”Jamaica time.” I felt right at home.
- Walk on the left. Since people drive on the left, they walk on the left. If you walk on the right, you stop traffic. I finally got this down by the end of the week.
- Lots of camera, few laptops. I realized very quickly that I was among librarians when there were more people recording the cultural events with their cameras than there were folks just watching; after all, we’re in the business of preserving history & culture! Hey folks who took pictures, share them on the ACURIL2008 Flickr group!
- People are cold and unfriendly at first, but they’re quick to warm up once they realize you’re not a self-inflated tourist or American jerk.
- It’s “yeah, man” not “yeah, mon”
- It’s “persons” not “people”
- Don’t believe everything you read. The poverty, crime, etc. won’t eclipse the amazing people you’ll meet. Positive news stories don’t sell papers.
Things I learned about traveling:
- It’ll take some time to adjust to the accent. Be prepared to ask people to repeat themselves.
- You don’t *really* need all that stuff that you pack.
- Doing travel laundry is ok for manmade fabrics, but it’ll make cotton stiff.
- Time your meals and showers–there’s always a rush on both at certain times.
- Check the iron before you iron your clothes. Rust can be quite a surprise on a new white shirt.
Things I learned about myself:
- A vacation alone isn’t really a vacation. Experiences are meant to be shared.
- My idea of a great holiday is sitting around watching cartoons and napping (i.e. letting my brain rest). Not sitting in the sun. There’s no need to feel guilty for not wanting to hang out on the beach.
- I value the people in my life, and really do miss those I love, no matter how independent I believe myself to be.
Following up on Meredith’s blog post about the challenges of speaking gigs in the library community (and the awesome conversation that followed), I’ve created the Library Speakers Anonymous wiki. This wiki will allow individuals to post their experiences of speaking at conferences anonymously (or not, if they wish).
Folks who speak at library conferences talk to each other about how much they are compensated and how well they are treated. The word spreads somewhat informally through conversations, blogs, IMs and emails (whether conference organizers realize it or not). And yes, there are inequities in compensation and treatment. Hopefully this wiki will help bring some of those to light.
So if you’ve spoken at a conference, feel free to tell how you were compensated, how you were treated, and whether you’d do it all over again!
EDIT: The wiki is now *officially* anonymous. A shared username and password has been created and posted to the wiki homepage, preventing your IP address from displaying.
