Going to SXSW

Going to break a way too long silence on this blog to talk about: Vacation!

I will be headed to SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX next week, the 11th-16th. If you are going and would like to meet up, email me (karin at nirak dot net or nirak on twitter).

I’m pretty excited to go to SXSW, having listened to many of the podcasts and for a couple of years, sans visuals, and following the conversations. I’m sure I will learn a lot, and from what I hear, I will also be staying up way too late.

[awkward segue]

I had a long post written up once (one of many posts I have written which will probably stay in “draft” form) about why libraries should fund conference expenses for staff as well as faculty. I still think that is the case, but recognize that, with budgets being what they are, it probably is difficult to fund faculty travel to conferences right now, let alone staff. However, there is some advantage to paying my own way, which I neglected to mention in that post.

An excerpt from that post, written almost a year ago:

“The employee, and in turn the employer, gets much more from staff attendance at a conference besides continuing education. They get new professional contacts, new ways to solve problems, new resources to check, and, most importantly, an renewed excitement for the work they do. If a conference results in an employee that returns with new excitement and commitment to the work they are doing, everyone benefits.”

The nice thing about paying my own way to conferences (which I have done several times a year), is that since I don’t have to worry about publishing papers or giving presentations, I can choose the conferences that excite me rather than the ones that are likely to advance me towards tenure. I come back to work super exhausted and super excited about the work I am privileged to be able to do. I’m very lucky to have both the money and the available time off to be able to attend conferences.

Not really sure of my point here, except to say WOOO SXSW!!!!!

(Expect a few more awkward blog posts while I get back into this whole blogging thing).