ALA Recap – overview

Back from ALA and feelin’ tired. I don’t know how people (my boss, the Dean of our library) do so much traveling. I’m told you “get used to it” – but I’m not entirely convinced.

Anyway, tiredness aside, it was a great trip. Friday, I got to see D.C. (I’d never been before) in a whirlwind walking tour, see a pow-wow @ the American Museum of the American Indian, and meet a fellow lisstudent (Rhonda). Saturday, I attended a few sessions, met Chris from lisstudents.ning.com and missed a bunch of great sounding evening activities. I need to plan better. Sunday, I attended the Harnessing the Hive session with Meredith Farkas, Matthew Bejune, and Tim Spaulding, creator of Library Thing. library_chic and I twittered about one lady’s declaration that she would not trust anyone’s opinion if she didn’t know their name, and Tim Spalding’s humorous quote (which didn’t really sink in until that evening.) I got a scholarship award from LITA at the awards reception, and headed to the OCLC Blog Salon and then the NMRT dance. The OCLC Blog Salon was a blast, and I met tons of people – (Warning, name dropping ahead) – Walt Crawford, Roy Tennant, David Lee King, Rochelle of Tinfoil+Racoon, Michael Porter (Libraryman), Michelle Boule (sorta) Sara (librarienne), John Blyberg, and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone. The NMRT dance was a blast- I danced for several hours straight. It may be part of why I’m so sore. Monday we got a late start, finished up the exhibits floor, and had a free lunch. Tuesday I woke at 5:30 AM so as to be sure not to miss my plane- the express MARC train only took 25 minutes to get to BWI, so I spent some time there, then 4.5 hours in Detroit waiting for my connecting flight.

All travel went smoothly, in contrast to my boss, who got stuck in DC today thanks to a canceled connecting flight. (It seems lots of people were not so lucky. :()

I’m glad I went. I don’t regret the $400 ish it cost me (thanks so much to Christa for letting me crash in her hotel room) one bit. I think I learn more at the local, smaller conferences, but the big conference allowed me to meet people I never would have otherwise and participate in a larger discussion. I hope to attend next year’s annual in Anaheim…. I better start looking for a roomie.

I hope next year to have a nice internet telephone device with unlimited data plan. I can dream, can’t I?

Pictures are up on Flickr. Uploading and labeling pics took a while. Tomorrow- more recap and, hopefully, videos.