Skip to content

Category: Libraries and Librarians

Final Thoughts on ACRL

Final Thoughts on ACRL

Published by Iris on Saturday, April 7th, 2007

Looking back at ACRL, random impressions flash through my mind, connected only by my vague impressions of how well or poorly they impacted my experience.

  • iPods – not cool: (Unless you win them from vendors, of course, but that never happens to me.) It seemed counter productive to have people going from session to session, or wandering through the exhibits, with ear buds stuck in their ears. I love my iPod, but when you’re at a conference I thought the idea was that we could randomly exchange thoughts on sessions while walking from place to place. Plugging in defeats this almost entirely.
  • Colds – not cool: If you’re sick, feverish, oozing anything from any orifice of your body, hacking up a lung, or wheezing, don’t sit next to me and don’t take over half my seat. Absolutely do NOT then decide to lean over and read the notes I’m taking, even though it’s strange and interesting to see us crazy young-uns taking notes on laptops.
  • Free wireless – very cool: The coolness of free wireless needs no explanation. And the signal was always strong, and all of us bandwidth hoggers didn’t clog the system. Very cool.
  • Clickers – awesome: I’d never used a clicker before the session on federated search. In fact, I had always thought of them as kind of silly gimmicks. But I’m changing my tune. They’re FUN, and they really did get us involved in the content of the presentation.
  • Misunderestimitating food – not cool: Sitting for an hour while everyone else eats isn’t fun, especially when you’re going to a ticketed event. Shouldn’t they have known how many tickets they sold?
  • Aquarium reception – cool: What’s better than colorful fish, information desks turned into bars, and lots of librarians with whom to shoot the breeze?
  • Poster session mosh pits – not cool: I went to the first poster session, couldn’t move, couldn’t get in or out without elbowing people, and never went back. I know I missed a bunch or really amazing posters, and I even missed posters presented by people I knew. I just couldn’t make myself go back.
  • Vendor post cards – not cool: I’ve already written about this. Now it’s starting again for CIL. Grrr.
  • Injured cheer leaders – not cool: I saw too many young girls carried away or pushed around in wheel chairs, tears streaming down their cheeks. Every time I heard sirens I shuddered to think what had happened to another girl downstairs.

I have a bunch of notes from sessions, but what I don’t have is jottings down of the little things. Things like the confused sparrows. Things that I now wish I could remember better (and it’s only been a week!). So next time I travel, I’ll try to do better at taking notes on those fleeting moments.

Technorati technorati tags:

3 Comments

5 Library Heroes

Published by Iris on Friday, April 6th, 2007

I’ve been of several minds about posting this. I read a ton of amazing blogs by people I respect and admire. I know my aggregator’s feed count doesn’t compare with a lot of other people’s, but it’s more than enough to keep me busy, most days, and if you’re in my aggregator, you’re definitely one of my heroes. I’m pretty ruthless about weeding out feeds that I don’t actively look forward to viewing every morning before breakfast, every day when I get the chance, every evening after dinner, and every weekend. So my five blogs list is more about personal connections than about professional value (which is not to say that these have no professional value, of course).

So here they are in what I’d call chronological order:

  • Meredith Farkas: I met her by accident at CIL 2006 when we were both part of a group that famously defected from a dine around without realizing that this might cause our dine around host some difficulties with the restaurant. I had no idea who she was, but people were talking about her blog the same way my fellow English majors talked about Shakespeare. So when I got back to my hotel that night I Googled her, read most of her blog all in one sitting (yes, I was up very late), and decided to figure out this “aggregator” thing I’d heard people talk about so that I could keep up with her. And she’s continued to impress me with her thoughtfulness, genuineness, and kindness.
  • Walt Crawford: I’d been blogging for about a month when he popped into my comments and said really nice things. (I’m a sucker for people saying really nice things to me.) Then mid way through this year of blogging, he did the same thing when I was having blogging doubts. He’s even mentioned me a couple of times in C&I, putting my name right next to the names of other bloggers I respect no end! And you’ve gotta love a guy who takes both the content and the look of the printed word so seriously.
  • Steve Lawson: I’d been reading his blog for a few months when all of a sudden he popped on IM one day to relieve my workplace isolation (all my co-workers were at ALA). Good thing he couldn’t see as I tried to collect myself off the floor and reacquaint my jaw with the rest of my scull! It was my first total fan-girl experience. And the rest is history, as they say. I’m constantly learning how to blog by reading what he writes. He’s got the tone and voice that I aspire to. And beyond that, he’s just a good friend to me.
  • And speaking of friends, Mark Linder has become quite a good one. And he’s almost always online, so when I’m frustrated or lonely or bursting with news that I just need to tell someone, he’s the one I bug.
  • Dorothea Salo: I’m not an IR person, or a systems person, or anything like that. (We all know how much trouble I have grasping basic HTML and CSS. Evidence of ignorance.) But Dorothea’s authorial voice keeps me coming back for more, no matter the content. I’m equally happy listening to her talk about the weather or about mysterious tech-ish script-ish things that I don’t understand at all.

So that’s five, though there are about 10 times that many that I could have included. And I promise not to get this sappy on all of you again (at least, not any time soon). If you don’t like it, blame Walt for getting us all started. :P

7 Comments

My Supervisor in the News

Published by Iris on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

Carolyn Sanford (i.e. “Best Supervisor EVER”) and her ACRL presentation on our First Year Information Literacy in the Liberal Arts Assessment (or FYLLAA, pronounced “feel-ah”) got into Inside Higher Ed (article here). I didn’t go to that session, but it’s good to hear it was so well received.

Comments closed