Conferences and Conference Options

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Three years ago, at the ALA Annual Conference in DC, I wrote this blog post. I was a month into a new job and trying to find my way into the impenetrable depths of the seemingly endless ALA.  My past experience in other associations told me that Woody Allen was right when he said that eighty percent of success is showing up: associations like ALA and its chapters and divisions depend on volunteers to get business and planning done, and there are never enough volunteers.  So, looking back, what have I learned?

What makes for a good conference? It’s tempting to reduce it to a simple equation: C+P+L=E. Content plus people plus location equals experience. I’m just back from three consecutive conferences and in addition to my annual sense of wonder at the librarian obsession with conferencing, I’ve been mulling over conferences in general, and technology-oriented conferences in particular.

Content, people, and location are all important, but I’d add expectations, technology level, format, and focus to that equation. Computers in Libraries was one of the first conferences I attended and it is, in many ways, my mental model for a conference. However, every year (and this year was no exception), I talk to an attendee who expected more “under the hood” tech. I’ve come to think of CiL as if it were a more tech-focused section of a large conference like ALA. The daily keynotes give big-picture “state of libraries and technology in the world” talks and the sessions focus on presenters’ projects and pet passions. It’s not a good venue for detailed technical discussions – the shorter sessions don’t lend themselves to it and even if the sessions were longer, the audience’s diversity is a complicating factor. Read More »

“I’ve found my tribe.” Read More »

As part of our continuing partnership with WebJunction, ALA TechSource presents WordPress for Library 2.0 and Beyond, a Webinar with Joshua Dodson and Laura Slavin on Wednesday, February 10th at noon Eastern. Read More »

It’s been my experience as a librarian responsible for supporting and implementing technology that I spend more time on the “technology” bit rather than the “librarian” bit. You know, the things people think that one would do as a librarian--dealing with books, their use, and their longevity. Your mileage may vary, of course, and I think the percentages spent doing one or the other will vary with each organization and position. So how can librarians like me, who might be focused solely on the implementation and support of technology, feed our inner librarians?
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As many of you know, the 2009 LITA Forum took place this past weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah. While we didn't have a physical presence at the conference, modern technology and networking softened this barrier a bit for us. Throughout the week, we'll providing some coverage and highlights from a number of different perspectives. To start things off, we're proud to syndicate some coverage from American Libraries' Sean Fitzpatrick, who covered the weekend like a blanket for Inside Scoop.

Sean started by summarizing the keynote address from Joan Lippincott, Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information: Read More »

I spoke this past week in San Diego, at the San Diego Law Library Association's Fall Conference, and one of the members asked me the following question (paraphrased for brevity):

How do you make decisions about what technologies to offer or support at your library? With the explosion of Web 2.0 over the last 5 years, how do you decide what to offer your patrons?

I decided to share my suggestions on how to make those decisions in your library. Read More »

Internet Librarian and Computers in Libraries are two of my favorite library technology conferences.  All of the programming focuses on the application of technology in libraries, they have great keynote speakers, and feature shorter "Cybertour" presentations in the exhibit hall--quick, 15-minute introductions to whet attendees' appetites.  This year, the organizers of Internet Librarian are trying something new and different: before the conference begins, attendees and anyone else who signs up on the wiki have a chance to attend LibCamp Monterey, a half-day "unconference" on library technology.  I had the opportunity to catch up recently with organizer Amy Buckland about LibCam Read More »

It was the best of Twitter, it was the worst of Twitter, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.

Okay, that’s 140 characters.  While I used to be ambivalent about the value of Twitter, now, based on a whole bunch of tweeting that I observed during a recent online conference, I have become strongly ambivalent about Twitter.  Twitter is a good tool for some things, but in some ways, I find it deeply troubling. Read More »

ALA Publishing staff working on RDA:Resource Description and Access are watching for library innovation building on bibliographic records.  Shirley Lincicum has offered some fantastic coverage of a technology that had catalogers excited at this year's annual conference.
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