ALA - Fully Recovered
Wow! It's been two weeks since I returned from the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA, and I think I'm finally fully recovered. The first week back was spent shaking off the jet lag; week 2 was plowing through the pile on my desk and in my inbox...
Before I left, I mentioned that this is my first ALA as a 100% contributor rather than as a receiver. I think I radically underestimated how much this would truly change my conference-going experience. A quick re-cap of my days...
Thursday - After one airplane re-route (I consider just one a success these days), I arrived at LAX (which was not my initially intended destination) around 5pm Pacific...Two hours and a Disneyland bus ride later got to my hotel, which was quite thankfully right next to the convention center. Late dinner. Bed.
Friday - Up, registered. Immediately ditched the hideous orange tote. (Funny thing about those: ALA always advises us to blend in with the locals so as not to be mugged....). Beth was arriving at 2pm, had no meetings to attend, so took the opportunity to visit Downtown Disney. Looked close on the map. Was not close. Must've walked 6 miles...and it was hot. Was the first and last time I set foot in Disneyland.
Beth arrived on time and we made a few tweaks to our presentation plans for the next day. Attended the ACRL/IS soiree where we met up with some other Penn Staters. ALA is a great time to network w/ them, as we don't get to see one another often enough, even though we work @ the same University. Ended the night with dinner @ PF Chang's (If there is a non-chain, non-resort in Anaheim, I did not succeed in finding it!).
Saturday - Meeting with RSS/EPDRC from 8 a.m. until 10:30, then RSS exec with new chair orientation until 12:30. Everything they told us could have been accomplished with a web page, as most of it was just a list of links to look at later. Nevertheless, was very interested to see how things operate in an exec. meeting. Of the 30 people present, 6 were eligible to vote...and then they had to take things up the chain to the RUSA exec. committee, which would take things to the ALA exec... Food chain is very long, bureaucracy deep. I hear some committees are looking at meeting virtually. I hope they succeed in getting that through...
At 4 p.m., Beth and I facilitated a discussion group for ACRL/IS dealing with how to use the Social Web to promote and enhance information literacy. The room was full and discussion intense. It's always hard to get people to share with the group...if you ever want to see a nervous person, ask an instruction librarian (who presents in front of people regularly) to share something with his/her peers! It seemed like people learned a lot. Many shared their notes with us, and we'll be working with Emily now that we're all back to incorporate the discussion notes into our discussion paper. I'll let you know when it's published!
We scheduled a dinner at Alcatraz Brewing that night to celebrate. AB was about 3 miles from the convention center...far enough to warrant a cab. Problem was cab drivers in Anaheim seem not to know anything outside of Disney! It took 30 minutes, several phone calls, and much yelling to arrive at the restaurant. Shaking my empty wallet at the cabbie, I swore never to leave the resort premises again, unless walking or driving the car myself! (Hey, that'd be a great business! "Short trip car rental" Maybe I'll look into it...) Alcatraz was okay. Definitely a chain, and definitely not the authentic experience I'm used to getting at a brewery, but so nice to see colleagues from PSU and other libraries around the country. Also had a surprise visit from a friend who's stationed in CA at San Diego...very good to see him!
Sunday - Another 8 a.m. This time a breakfast with my co-winners of the EBSCO travel awards. It was really an honor to be among this great bunch of people. Went from this to another meeting...recap of Sat's RSS/EPDRC with my co-chairs. One's cycling off as co-chair, I'm coming on board. I"m excited...this is a fabulous committee that wants to do work to provide professional development opportunities for colleagues in the field! Had some extra time, so had an impromptu meeting with Rob, a colleague at UT - Austin who wants to work on establishing a leisure reading collection at her campus. I'm very excited about this, as we're committed to working together, though long-distance, to tread and hopefully conquer this new ground for academic libraries.
After lunch, I presented a poster that Wendy and I created about going "beyond library walls" and strengthening your library's out reach programs to campus communities. I was thrilled with how many folks attended the session. And how many great contacts I made while there! I have to admit that I'd been skeptical about the benefits of presenting in this format, but the informal atmosphere set the stage for great conversation, business card exchange, and ideas to be born. I'm sold on it :)
Packed up the poster and went back to the hotel for one more coffee, this time w/ the outgoing chair of the RUSA award committee I'm on (I'm incoming for this one too). Once we'd finished with our torch passing, and catching up on our libraries' goings on, I was definitely ready to crash. Mexican dinner with friends first (after another lost cabbie cuz I didn't learn my lesson last time).
Monday - Airplanes all day. Last leg delayed and then luggage lost. Didn't care...glad to be home...bed @ midnight.
Impressions: Being a contributor seems to make for a more social (in the professional sense) conference...lots of networking, informal meetings, brainstorming. I did miss hearing good presenters a little bit, but have had such a hit-or-miss experience with them in the past that it probably wasn't the biggest loss. I do hope to make it to at least one next time! Anaheim is a concrete block...no desire to go back unless it's as a day-trip from San Diego, to which I would return promptly. Posters are a fabulous opportunity to both share and learn.
Before I left, I mentioned that this is my first ALA as a 100% contributor rather than as a receiver. I think I radically underestimated how much this would truly change my conference-going experience. A quick re-cap of my days...
Thursday - After one airplane re-route (I consider just one a success these days), I arrived at LAX (which was not my initially intended destination) around 5pm Pacific...Two hours and a Disneyland bus ride later got to my hotel, which was quite thankfully right next to the convention center. Late dinner. Bed.
Friday - Up, registered. Immediately ditched the hideous orange tote. (Funny thing about those: ALA always advises us to blend in with the locals so as not to be mugged....). Beth was arriving at 2pm, had no meetings to attend, so took the opportunity to visit Downtown Disney. Looked close on the map. Was not close. Must've walked 6 miles...and it was hot. Was the first and last time I set foot in Disneyland.
Beth arrived on time and we made a few tweaks to our presentation plans for the next day. Attended the ACRL/IS soiree where we met up with some other Penn Staters. ALA is a great time to network w/ them, as we don't get to see one another often enough, even though we work @ the same University. Ended the night with dinner @ PF Chang's (If there is a non-chain, non-resort in Anaheim, I did not succeed in finding it!).
Saturday - Meeting with RSS/EPDRC from 8 a.m. until 10:30, then RSS exec with new chair orientation until 12:30. Everything they told us could have been accomplished with a web page, as most of it was just a list of links to look at later. Nevertheless, was very interested to see how things operate in an exec. meeting. Of the 30 people present, 6 were eligible to vote...and then they had to take things up the chain to the RUSA exec. committee, which would take things to the ALA exec... Food chain is very long, bureaucracy deep. I hear some committees are looking at meeting virtually. I hope they succeed in getting that through...
At 4 p.m., Beth and I facilitated a discussion group for ACRL/IS dealing with how to use the Social Web to promote and enhance information literacy. The room was full and discussion intense. It's always hard to get people to share with the group...if you ever want to see a nervous person, ask an instruction librarian (who presents in front of people regularly) to share something with his/her peers! It seemed like people learned a lot. Many shared their notes with us, and we'll be working with Emily now that we're all back to incorporate the discussion notes into our discussion paper. I'll let you know when it's published!
We scheduled a dinner at Alcatraz Brewing that night to celebrate. AB was about 3 miles from the convention center...far enough to warrant a cab. Problem was cab drivers in Anaheim seem not to know anything outside of Disney! It took 30 minutes, several phone calls, and much yelling to arrive at the restaurant. Shaking my empty wallet at the cabbie, I swore never to leave the resort premises again, unless walking or driving the car myself! (Hey, that'd be a great business! "Short trip car rental" Maybe I'll look into it...) Alcatraz was okay. Definitely a chain, and definitely not the authentic experience I'm used to getting at a brewery, but so nice to see colleagues from PSU and other libraries around the country. Also had a surprise visit from a friend who's stationed in CA at San Diego...very good to see him!
Sunday - Another 8 a.m. This time a breakfast with my co-winners of the EBSCO travel awards. It was really an honor to be among this great bunch of people. Went from this to another meeting...recap of Sat's RSS/EPDRC with my co-chairs. One's cycling off as co-chair, I'm coming on board. I"m excited...this is a fabulous committee that wants to do work to provide professional development opportunities for colleagues in the field! Had some extra time, so had an impromptu meeting with Rob, a colleague at UT - Austin who wants to work on establishing a leisure reading collection at her campus. I'm very excited about this, as we're committed to working together, though long-distance, to tread and hopefully conquer this new ground for academic libraries.
After lunch, I presented a poster that Wendy and I created about going "beyond library walls" and strengthening your library's out reach programs to campus communities. I was thrilled with how many folks attended the session. And how many great contacts I made while there! I have to admit that I'd been skeptical about the benefits of presenting in this format, but the informal atmosphere set the stage for great conversation, business card exchange, and ideas to be born. I'm sold on it :)
Packed up the poster and went back to the hotel for one more coffee, this time w/ the outgoing chair of the RUSA award committee I'm on (I'm incoming for this one too). Once we'd finished with our torch passing, and catching up on our libraries' goings on, I was definitely ready to crash. Mexican dinner with friends first (after another lost cabbie cuz I didn't learn my lesson last time).
Monday - Airplanes all day. Last leg delayed and then luggage lost. Didn't care...glad to be home...bed @ midnight.
Impressions: Being a contributor seems to make for a more social (in the professional sense) conference...lots of networking, informal meetings, brainstorming. I did miss hearing good presenters a little bit, but have had such a hit-or-miss experience with them in the past that it probably wasn't the biggest loss. I do hope to make it to at least one next time! Anaheim is a concrete block...no desire to go back unless it's as a day-trip from San Diego, to which I would return promptly. Posters are a fabulous opportunity to both share and learn.
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