My View From the ALA Expo Floor - Part 1

It has been a few years since I graduated. Life and the general economic situation has lead me to unexpected paths away from brick and mortar libraries. I stay connected by dipping into the cyber equivalents.

I thought going to see the exhibits at the conference was a good way for me to re-connect. I have to say that I felt like an interloper.  Maybe I was, I'm not a librarian.

Which is the number one question I got when I stepped up to a table. "What library are your from?" "Who do you represent?" "Are You A Librarian?"

Totally understandable.

It would have been misleading to add the school library to my badge. I'm not a student any more. I don't work at a library. I can say that I have been applying what I have gained in the program to communicate and share information with various on-line communities that won't step foot in a physical library.

They should. They won't. I meet folks where they are.

But what about the other stakeholders in literacy, technology and freedom of information advocates? Should we not have come?

As I walked through the convention center (and it was huge) I had people flash a look at my badge. If it didn't display what they wanted to see they looked away, hoping I wouldn't walk over.

Why Would a Non-library Person come to ALA?

Beyond my personal reasons,  I could see what has changed and not changed since the last time I visited. Paper books are still important. There are vendors selling and librarians wanting audio CDs for their patrons. E-book vendors getting a bit more space on the floor.

A lot of things to think about and to share.

Conference website: http://www.alaannual.org/

Early Bird Registration is open:
ALA Student Member** (All Access 6/22-6/26. Excludes Preconferences and Ticketed Events).
** Join online: http://www.ala.org/membership/aladues
Student membership: $33; Library Support Staff membership: $46.
Early Bird student Registration (by May 13): $95; Advance (by June 14): $120; Daily Fees (Paid onsite only): $92 .

ALA Annual Conference attendance tips from YALSA:
5 Ways to Return Triumphant

[NOTE: these are also useful tips for job applicants!]

From YALSA Blog: Direct link to post:
http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2012/03/23/ala-annual-5-ways-to-return-triumphant/
reposted from From: [calix] "Jane Gov" <jgov@beverlyhills.org>

With only three short months until the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, we hope you’ve taken advantage of Early Bird Registration ($215 for YALSA members until May 13) and marked your calendars for June 21 – 26.

With all of the great programs and events offered by YALSA at the conference, you’re going to soak up a fantastic amount of new and exciting information.
Coming back from ALA Annual, it is typical to be overloaded with two things:
ARCs and ideas.

Conference presentations are inspiring, and the exhibit hall always a place of dreams, but as with anything, the devil is in the details. Here are five tips for making the most of your ALA Annual experience once you return to your library.

1. Know Your Library System
A program that worked beautifully for a rural library that serves a population of 3,000 might need tweaking for your suburban, six-branch systems that serves 30,000. If possible, either during or right after the conference, think of ways to adapt the idea. Going to your supervisor or manager with a way to make the idea/program work for the community you serve, rather than “this worked at Library X!” will increase the likelihood of it happening.

2. Know Your Library’s Hierarchy
What is the management style of your library or library system? Good or bad, most places have a chain of command that should be followed. Jumping a person (or two, or three) makes it less likely that the new Summer Reading Program you’re dying to try will happen. Be respectful of the hierarchy. If your system requires you to inform your immediate supervisor, so that she or he can inform the next person up, and so on, follow every step– even if the Director of your system knows you personally.

3. Know Your Library Community
Implementing a Spanish story time is not going to go over well if the population you serve is predominantly Japanese. However, adapting the idea (see suggestion #1) for your Japanese community could go over very well.

4. Keep Contact Information
Most presenters and vendors are more than happy to give out their contact information. If you’re having trouble getting people get on board with your idea, or you need more information about a product/service/database that you think your library must have, use that contact. Ask the presenter if they have advice, ask the vendor for statistics, take them back to the appropriate channels, and be prepared to do it all again.

5. Be Persistent
The most important thing is to not give up. Follow through with ideas. It may be that your supervisor is happy to implement a new hold shelf method the day after you get back, and it may be that your Summer Reading theme won’t be used for years. Keep at it. You’re adaptable, you know your system, you know your community, and you have all those contacts to make things a success, and you can make it happen.

And in a few years, after you present your brilliant program at ALA, you might get a phone call or an email from another librarian, asking you how you got it done.

See you in Anaheim!

--Posted by YALSA Local Arrangements Committee 2012


**"Student members of ALA are enrolled in MLS/MLIS, NCATE and LTA programs. They are studying to be public, academic, school and special librarians. Some are furthering their studies with post-degree certifications while others are pursuing terminal degrees like doctoral programs. All are eligible for our discounted Student membership dues and each are invited to participate fully in ALA membership during their studies. Student members, whether full- or part- time, are also given the best rates for conference registration – often at discounts as high as 75% off. http://www.ala.org/membership/whoisala/students

CLA-CSLA Annual Conference and Exposition

Earlier this month I had the privilege to attend the CLA-CSLA Annual Conference and Exposition in Pasadena. I was given a pass to the exhibition hall and took a few pictures as I visited different booths. This was my first visit to the conference and I learned a great deal from talking with vendors and booth staffers.

I was also able to speak with vendors likeShowcases for technical services to see what new and innovative products they had to offer. The staffers at the University of North Texas booth were very friendly and explained what their library science program had to offer. I also visited the San Jose State University booth and learned a little bit about their graduate program.

I met a friendly booth staffer named Jozi at the Better World Books booth. She was very helpful in explaining how her company works with libraries to find new homes for their discarded books at no cost. In doing so the net proceeds are shared between the library and a non-profit literacy partner.

Baker and Taylor (their mascots are on the bag above) very informative. I’d learned a bit about them in class before regarding acquisitions, but I learned at the booth that Baker and Taylor has other services to offer such as RFID tagging and cataloging services. I also came across a booth showcasing a service called HealthyCity, which is a website-based portal that helps a user find different types of social services and cultural programs locally in California.

The vendor Boopsie provided a fun mobile application that I was able to use for this conference. The app was very useful for the convention as it served as a pocket guide. Yet it was more than just a reference guide as I could select different workshops and presentations and schedule them within the phone with reminders.

And last but not least, I was able to pick up this bag with this fun quote. If you missed this year’s conference, the 2012 CLA-CSLA conference will be held in Anaheim.(Please see edit below.)

For a full listing of the different exhibitors please check out the Exhibitors Guide.

11/29/11 Edit: Sorry, the information about next year's conference is incorrect. CLA and CSLA will not be holding a joint conference. The CLA conference will be held in San Jose in 2012.

CLA-CSLA Conference - It's Not Too Late!

Still debating whether or not to make the trek to the CLA-CSLA Conference? If you think it's too late to register, students who are CLA (California Library Association) or CSLA (California School Library Association) members still get the same discounted price of $95 registering on-site. If you're not yet a member of either organization, you can sign up while registering. If one just wants to attend the exhibits, the cost is $25 per day.

So, why go? Attending can be a great way to network and see what's new in the library world. Usually, various prospective employers will have booths set up in the exhibit area. Also, if one attends various workshops, this can be an excellent chance to meet other librarians and library staff.

The exhibit area will be open Friday afternoon from 3-6pm, all day Saturday from 10am-4pm and Sunday from 10am-2pm. If you are around Friday afternoon, don't miss the Book Cart Drill Team Competition which is always a hoot to watch! One can also catch the All School Student Social at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe from 6-8pm Friday evening.

I plan to volunteer Friday at the Registration Desk in the afternoon and attend the conference all three days. Hopefully, I'll see some of you there in attendance.

Library 2.011 Free Virtual Library Conference

http://www.library20.com/

We are pleased to announce the Library 2.011 World-wide Virtual Conference, November 2 - 4, 2011. The conference will be held online, in multiple time zones over the course of two days, will be free to attend, and will all be recorded! The School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San José State University is the founding conference sponsor.To be kept informed of the latest conference news, please join the Library 2.0 network--this actually registers you for the conference as well. More information on the conference is here. You can see and/or comment on the accepted conference submissions click here. The conference schedule has been posted and you view it based on your time zone here, which also gives you information on configuring your computer to attend.

ALA 2011 Virtual Conference

If you were wishing you could have been in New Orleans for this summer's American Library Association's annual conference, it is still possible to get in the fun and wealth of information and resources that this conference can offer.

Check out ALA's 2011 Virtual Conference and see what they have to offer. It's being held July 13-14th online and only costs $69. If I wasn't so busy with my two summer school classes that begin this next week, I would definitely check out these two workshops:


10:30-11:30
“Download This! How One Library Embraced Its Downloadable Future”
Sponsored by PLA
In 2010 the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County conducted an evaluation of its downloadable materials collection. A team collected data on 83 other libraries' collections, ranking the collections and noting best practices for presenting and supporting those collections. The team recommended dramatically increasing the Library's downloadable budget, improving its catalog and website, marketing its collection, implementing staff and customer training, and improving customer support. The session will present the results, one year later.

1:30-2:30
“Seriously Social: Leveraging Social Media”
Sponsored by PLA
Explore the fundamentals of social media, learning how to effectively use social networking to engage patrons and foster personal relationships. Discover how the Grand Rapids Public Library leverages the power of social media to provide outstanding customer services and promote their library. A live demonstration of Twitter and Facebook (or the reigning social media at the time of this presentation) will illustrate the assets embedded in online relationships.

This is just a sample of these wonderful workshops that ALA is offering for those who simply could not get away or afford traveling to beautiful New Orleans for this year's annual conference with ALA. This educational resource is great for anyone who works in libraries.

No Love Lost at the Library

It's Valentine's Day and I've managed to drag myself out of the house into the library. I've been coming here most of winter intersession and expected today to be the same as most of this past month, pretty empty. So imagine my surprise to be lucky enough to find an empty computer terminal.

Everywhere today it's impossible not to see signs of Valentine's Day. Many bemoaning why is this holiday once again upon us. So thinking in terms of a librarian-to-be, I decided to make this my research topic of the day before settling down to my studies. I did a little research last week to see if we had many books in the Shatford library on this topic when constructing a book display. As expected, a search didn't yield many on this topic so I had to get a little creative in my search. My favorite book that I'd discovered awhile back when doing other book displays was:

Kissing: everything you ever wanted to know about one of life's sweetest pleasures by Andrea Demirjian, so I had to add this along with the other books on making home-made greeting cards, the history of chocolate and more. For film lovers, you may be interested in picking up The great romantic films by Lawrence J. Quirk. A classmate had picked up an ARC copy of And the rest is history : the famous (and infamous) first meetings of the world's most passionate couples by Marlene Wagman-Geller at ALA's Mid-Winter conference. This book is not on display as I will admit the ARC copy is not very picturesque at all, but it did prompt me in finding some books on famous couples. In my search, I found interesting books on Antony & Cleopatra and Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo. If you're interested in the history of Valentine cards, take a peek at The Valentine and its origins by Frank Staff.

Here's an interesting and amusing article I found, Valentine's Day : From ancient saints to candy hearts that sheds a little light on the history of this holiday. This is my tribute to this holiday whilst wearing my "Librarians Have a Heart" t-shirt that I snagged at ALA's Mid-Winter conference in January.

111th Annual CLA Conference & Exhibition
www.cla-net.org/events/confexhibition.php
It's Time to Register for the 2009 Annual Conference!
The 2009 Annual Conference will be held in Pasadena from October 30 to November 2. As the premiere continuing education event of the year, the 2009 conference will offer dozens of workshops. Notable speakers at this year's conference include Paula Poundstone, Emmy-award winning comedian and spokesperson for Friends of Libraries U.S.A., and Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum, authors of the Unshelved News comic strip.

To see the current list of Exhibitors, click here.

Adam Matthews Digital Subscription Resources

Adam Matthew Digital is a subscription database that handles specialized collections. The target audience would be those folks interested in research, education and librarianship.


The collections are divided into 20 areas of focus that include:

• America, Asia and the Pacific
  
• India, Raj and Empire
• Defining Gender, 1450 - 1910
• Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History
  
• China, Trade, Politics and Culture 1893-1980

What is available is primary sources from diarists/journalists (in this case people who had direct experience with a situation and wrote letters to friends or recorded the event for their personal memory book) and documentation from business sources, drawings and photographs and similar material.

The collection draws upon the experience of teachers, professors and library collections. There are essays available to provide an introduction. This is a fee based service but there are free samples that you can use to evaluate the usefulness of the collections.

I was able to find an sample article on "Research Strategies on Women, Popular Culture and Family Life in American 1800-1920" by Amy Blair, Assistant Professor, Marquette University.
It was a review of the publication of that time that reflected the cultural values of what a woman should aspire in terms of her home, domestic affairs and fashion.

If you are interested in evaluation the site there is a four week trial period that is available to librarians or school faculty. There is none available to students. However I would suggest that students keep an eye out for some of the free sample information that is located on the site. A few of the freebies that I found was very informative.

Opening A Closed Mind - My Own

Well, my toe bones are starting to recover. I wore the poor things out trying to hit every exhibit in the Anaheim Convention Center in one day. Evelyn was there the whole time and it is amazing what she saw and witness. She wall all over the joint.

We both are going to try to give you the highlights of the convention and draw upon some of the resources we packed away. We have got stuff. Bags of stuff. But not as much stuff as we could have had if we had my rolling supermarket cart (the vertical, not the horizontal kind.)

At some point we won't necessarily say we learned or had an experience the convention but it might take a month or two of sorting and reviewing what we have snagged.

The One That Got Away

Yes, about the photo. This is my reminder about preconceived notions and bias. This was one of the first tables I saw as I entered the Convention Center. I looked at the table and read some of the titles. They appeared to be Christian focused. My guard went up. I kinda, sorta read the title and the sub-title, "America's Addition to Porn."

I backed away from a free book. I should not have done that. The more I thought about it afterwards the more I regretted it. But not enough to try to find that table again. I gave up an opportunity to understand a different perspective on how some folks feel about the public and semi-private displays of the time honored YouBangHe or Her discussions.

As I moved though the convention there were all kinds of vendors and exhibitors. Some I gravitated to, some I questioned and others I had heard of via the media. Others vendors I kept my distance. I flat out did not trust them or their content. No need for names.

Lessons Learned

Whatever my believe system or my feeling about commercial displays of carnality, I should have at least flipped it in my bag for a later review.

For the record, I backed away because I was fearful. I'm not sure what being a Christian means (and please don't try to tell me. That is not the point of the post.) so I had an image of what mainstream media tells me and that is kinda scary to me.

I also have my feelings about erotica, sexual information and individual rights. If I plan to work in libraries I have to find a better way to balance the fears with the pursuit of knowledge.

It is not as easy as it sounds. I am still taking the logs out of my eyes.

ALA Conference-First Day

Nothing can prepare you for the reality of just how big ALA's conference is. At least, for me, as a first time attendee. Even though I had an idea that it would be a huge event, just seeing the exhibits area alone was amazing. I didn't even cover 1/10 of the exhibits area today. I had been advised to bring a huge bag to conference for all you can get but I soon realized that was not sufficient. I ended up filling up about 3 bags and I had to finally say, no more! Well, that's what my shoulders said. At least, till tomorrow. One really needs a huge shopping cart for the exhibits area, in my opinion. I attended the small but incredible Diversity and Outreach Fair which was being held this afternoon located in the back of the main exhibits in the afternoon as well.

In addition, I attended two workshops. In the morning, I headed to, "We The People Picturing America: Presenting Programs in Your School or Public Library," which is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This workshop I felt was quite worthwhile. For a glimpse into this program, check out Picturing America. There was even a local school librarian from Pasadena presenting at this workshop, showing how this program had been successful at her school. The second workshop that I attended in the afternoon called "New Minds, New Approaches" wasn't what I expected so I have to admit I ended up leaving after the second presenter. Ironically, quite a few people left before I did. Luckily, I had been advised in a welcoming e-mail from an assigned conference ambassador that this was okay to do and even recommended if one found the workshop wasn't meeting your expectations.


Some other highlights for today were lunching with Mary Ann Laun, her father-in-law, Daniel Haley, Eric Hansen, Jared Burton, and Diana Lopez while discussing this morning's events we had attended. I briefly saw Krista Goguen before heading to my second workshop. Classmates, Toni Rodriguez and Susan Tockgo, were also sighted today.

I'm looking forward to tonight's event, Stories for a Saturday Evening. Mary Ann mentioned that's really a wonderful event and it's not just children's stories which happens to be a yearly event.


If you're still debating whether to come down to conference, you still can register to attend workshops and/or exhibits in person. If you need more information, you can go to ALA.

BookExpo America At L.A. Convention Center

Many events are happening in Los Angeles and one of them is the BookExpo America at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The expo takes place May 29 - June 1, 2008.

For three days you will have the opportunity to soak yourself in books, book sellers, buyers, educational events and the ability to network with potential employers. This is just a sampling:

Breakfast with the Authors, one that I wish I could attend would be with Mike Mignola,the author of Hellboy and Art Spiegelman, the author of the acclaimed graphic novel, Maus.

Special pavilions focusing on books for children, graphic novels, African-Americans, Latinos and Independent publishers.

Educational Panels feature topics on looking at Environmental Trends in Book Publishing, What Americas Latino Voices are Reading And Why, What Retailers & Librarians Should Know about Video Games and Gamers, New Technologies and New Literacies for Teens, Obscene in the Extreme: Why Books Still Get Banned and more.

Now it might happen that you can't attend the event this year but fear not, through the magic of BEA Audio Podcasting you can listen to last years events and panels. You can listen to them online or download to your media player:

• Upfront and Unscripted 2006 "The Future of Publishing"
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Library - Unshelved, the comic strip.
• My Space for Authors and Publishers - how My Space can help authors increase the cash flow.
• Book and Author Lunch with Alan Alda, Valerie Plame Wilson, Paul Krugman and Russell Simmons.