Posts Tagged 'lpss'

Wrap it up and stick a bow on it: ALA 2012, Part 2

June was a blur. An absolute blur. It started with IASSIST 2012 in DC, a week of data, beer and cows (long story), and ended with ALA 2012. Basically ALA Annual conference morphs for me every time I go. My first year was awful because I didn’t know many people and I couldn’t find a niche. The second time things started to change because I was in the Emerging Leaders program. I knew more people and was starting to find a place. Last year I worked for Against the Grain as a reporter and went to sessions I would have never attended on my own and learning tons. This year I was still writing for ATG, but I didn’t have time to attend a lot of programs. Why? Because I’ve started working more closely with a few groups, especially the ACRL Law and Political Science Section.

This is why I call it the grown-up ALA. I barely had time to visit the exhibit hall and the one time I was able to look for ARCs I was actually supposed to be at the ACRL conference table (I was lost, but eventually found it), so the whole ARC controversy is lost on me. I also could barely attend a program that wasn’t related to my section or round table. I attended some great  receptions, but often that was the only time I could catch up with old friends or meet anyone new. Don’t get me wrong; I much prefer this ALA to my first, but it is a fundamentally different beast now. That being said, it is really difficult to condense my activities into a pithy post, but here are the highlights of my ALA Annual 2012.

My official kick-off for ALA was the ACRL Leadership Council on Friday where I was able to meet some of the ACRL leadership and learn about plans for the next year. I am the incoming convener for the Data Interest Group and the incoming Vice-President for LPSS so this event will become a new “must attend”. My unofficial kick-off is always the Emerging Leader Poster session and I love seeing the projects. Here were my a few faves:

Along with most of the government information world I attended a launch workshop on the new interface for ProQuest Congressional. If you want my notes, just email me. They are switching the interface in August, but no final date yet. Oh exciting!

I tried to attend a few of the data sessions like the LITA Presidents’ Program, The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Research, Digital Scholarship and Implications for Libraries. It is nice to see more data-related sessions at ALA, but I wish the groups could collaborate more. For instance, DIG would love to collaborate with anyone interested in data issues. With the upcoming conference changes (fewer program slots), we are required to collaborate. So get with us.

This year’s DIG meeting was great and covered some of the major topics in the data world. It was nice to talk about data issues beyond just research data management though. There are many other issues that data librarians need to think about (licensing issues and proprietary software being just two). We decided at this meeting to pool together some of our resources, such as data collection policies, and make those available to others wanting to support secondary data.  I’d basically like to have something to update the Numeric Data Products and Services: A SPEC kit, which is starting to get out of date.

My last big event was the ProQuest breakfast for GODORT. This was the first year I could attend the breakfast and it was fab! The speaker was Julian Bond, a former President of the NAACP and a civil rights movement figure. He was invited to celebrate the History Vault’s The NAACP’s Major Campaigns. His presentation reflected on his life as a leader of SNCC and included a large number of photographs of him with other leaders. Such a great speaker!

The conference closed out with my first ever ALA Battledecks! I plan to stay until Tuesday now just to see this. Quite a good time. My favorite didn’t win the judges’ prize, but got the audience favorite. I have to give a BIG shout out to my fave boybrarian John Jackson who threw his name into the ring, was chosen, and did extremely well! So proud! Someday I want to get up the courage to compete. Hmm, maybe Las Vegas!

So, that was my ALA. Again, a fab conference with many great sessions, meetings, and conversations with new friends and old. Looking forward to an equally wonderful 2013. How was your ALA? Anything particularly exciting?

So it begins… #ala10 #el10ala

My preparations are gearing up, and my schedule is filling up.

The largest conference of our profession will smack some of us in the face this weekend. ALA is not my favorite conference but it has its moments. I’ve met some exciting librarians both new and experienced. My work with the Emerging Leaders program has been a lot of fun and has taught me more about working with a group (especially at a distance) than anything about ALA (but that was what i wanted from the experience ;-) ). Luckily all of the members of Project P were easygoing. We met throughout the semester using Elluminate. The one time it failed to work for us Elizabeth, another member, quickly reconvened using a free online meeting site. It was so seamless I don’t even remember which one it was! I love working with people who just look for possible solutions and go with it without complaint or hesitation. Fun times! You can check out the Emerging Leaders projects on ALA Connect and be sure to hit the poster session to say “Howdy”!

So, what is on my plate for ALA? Emerging Leader events of course. Some work the Government Documents Round Table, my awesome sponsoring organization! And my first time being on a committee for the ACRL Law and Political Science Section. I’ve been amazed how such a small section can be so active. I mean, there really aren’t that many polisigh librarians out there! It should be fun. To be honest, I’m really excited about the ‘social’ events. LPSS is having an awards luncheon at the CQ press headquarters, and GODORT is holding theirs at the Naval Observatory. Hot stuff! Two places in DC I’ve never had a reason to visit. Plus the Pro Quest Scholarship Bash at the Newseum, and my brain might explode! Or that’s an exaggeration.

Here is my schedule (may haps, things change). Maybe our paths will cross!

Friday June 25
9am – 3pm: Emerging Leaders training
3pm – 5pm: Emerging Leaders poster session – WCC 201
5:30pm – 6:30pm: LITA happy hour
6:30pm – 7:30pm: GODORT happy hour
7:30pm – 10pm: ALA open gaming night
10pm – 12am: ALA dance party

Saturday June 26
8am-
10:30am-11am: Visit vendors?
11:30am-1:30pm: LPSS luncheon
1pm – 1:30pm: social explorer demo – booth 3805
1:30pm – 3pm: Federal Documents Task Force, GODORT
4pm – 5pm: DIG (ACRL Numeric Data Interest Group Meeting)
7pm – 9pm: proquest scholarship bash
9pm – 12am: after hours party

Sunday June 27
8am – 10am: lpss nominating committee meeting
10am – 11am: lpss general membership meeting
1:30pm – 3:30pm: GODORT Education Comm meeting
3pm – 3:30pm: GODORT gitco meeting
4pm-5:30pm: LITA President’s Program
5:30pm – 6:30pm: UNCG reunion reception
6:30pm – 9pm: GODORT awards reception – Naval Observatory
Oh and I turn 35!

Monday June 28
8am – 9am: Dennis Lehane
or
8:30am – 11am: ACRL’s STS program on “Federal friends: Creating greater access to and support for science and technology information”
10:30am – 12:30pm: GODORT Program – “Archivists and Librarians: Together we can save Congress”
1:30pm – 3pm: GODORT General Membership meeting
3pm – 4pm: Junot Diaz
6:30pm – 12:15am: train for GSO

Woohoo! See you there!

What did ALA midwinter mean to me? #youngturks

Maybe this is getting repetitive, but who cares. I can blame it on my GenX genes right? It is all about Me, Me, Me. So, here is this lady’s conference wrap up post.

Overall this was a much better experience for me than my last ALA. I went to DC in 2007 as a Student to Staff program participant. I enjoyed working for the Press Office (I got to meet Nancy Pearl), but my work schedule limited my program participation to the early morning (before 10 am) and late afternoon (after 3 pm). As you can imagine, I didn’t have much choice in programming. Between the limits on my hours and having to trek from nosebleed Crystal City, my actual experience was pretty dismal, and I left feeling like I still didn’t know why I would bother with ALA or Annual. Not exactly the point of the ALA Student to Staff program, I guess.

Fast forward to this year’s Midwinter and the story is entirely different. This time I had a blast. While I did overdo the scheduling (3 receptions in one night is not only a bad idea, but nearly impossible), I was able to go to almost everything I wanted or needed to attend. My Friday started with the Emerging Leaders Workshop with Peter Bromberg, Maureen Sullivan, Connie Paul and guest stars (Jenny Levine!). We had a good discussion about leadership, especially redefining it to be more inclusive. The quote “a leaders job…is not to provide energy but to release it from others” from Frances Hesselbein came up several times as a theme for redefining our notions of leadership.

My team, Project P (or the Nitty Gritty Committee), is helping LITA to create best practices for the association’s communication channels, including its website, wiki, ALA Connect as well as other forms of communication. The goal is to create best practices for business and committee work as well as for using these channels for marketing and recruitment. Although I am sponsored by GODORT, this project has implications for a large number of ALA organizations. Even the web manager for the tiny ACRL section, LPSS, was excited about the project’s results. This issue was a big theme at this conference (for example, GODORT had an entire session on same the issue).


Moreover, I like my project teammates … a lot. We are all very different and each bring unique strengths and knowledge to the experience. The important thing is that everyone seemed to be easygoing and willing to do the work. No one was unhappy about the project to which they were assigned or unclear of the expectations. I’m looking forward to working with them!

The rest of my time was spent with either GODORT or LPSS or sometimes LITA (I went to my first Top Tech Trends and it rocked!). The LITA reception was pretty swank (a dimly lit hotel bar with modern decor, fuzzy pillows, and $11.50 martinis), while the GODORT one was much more down to earth (an Irish bar with lots of fried food and draft beers). A lovely contrast for an evening out.

I also must say before wrapping up this entry–Boston is a damn fine city. I have never been in an airport where the TSA employees were so friendly. One of them even joked around with me (and I have Lauren Pressley to back me up on that!). Maybe it was an anomaly, but I met helpful people all over the place. I have to say a Big Kudos to Boston for being a great host and a fun city to play in.

If I left Midwinter and Boston with anything I wish I could improve it would be similar to what Sarah Faye Cohen has already said in her blog post, especially about virtual participation. I want to give a BIG shout-out to ACRL’s LPSS for making a strong effort to include members virtually. They used dimdim, which is a free online collaboration tool, to include people who couldn’t come. While they have a much smaller section than most and while dimdim is not the top-shelf of collaboration, they at least made that effort. I would love to see some accommodation for virtual membership, especially for Midwinter. I honestly can’t say that I would be able to attend every year because I have other conferences (state, data, ACRL) that are more useful, cheaper, and relevant.

But here is the kicker–it has to be active virtual participation. Just saying that you are “ok” with virtual participation isn’t enough. Our groups need to go the extra mile to discover software, disseminate information in advance, and troubleshoot problems on site. Having said that though it shouldn’t be all on the groups. ALA needs to step up and ensure that its divisions, sections, round tables and whatever else have the necessary tools, resources, and mandates to pull it off. ALA Connect is a great start and a useful forum, but I want to see support for real-time collaboration and virtual meetings. Because when it comes down to it, it isn’t about me. It’s about those members who don’t have the freedom or money or time or ability to travel to far flung cities twice a year. Those members need to be included too. Otherwise, what is the point of ALA, really?

There’s your charge ALA; now let’s see some action.


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