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Sunday, March 9
CLA's 2nd Annual Survey of Challenged Materials in Canadian Libraries
by
Jason
on Sun 09 Mar 2008 07:08 PM CST
Continuing yesterday's trend of posting items long after their "best before" date, here's a press release from the Canadian Library Association
summarizing their second annual survey of challenges to materials in Canadian libraries.Oliver Twist, The Golden
Compass and Rolling Stone magazine were among the library
materials challenged by Canadian library users in 2007, according to a
new survey released today.
The Canadian Library Association’s 2nd annual Survey of
Challenged Materials in Canadian Libraries identified 42 items
challenged by patrons. Children’s books, mainstream films, graphic
novels and popular magazines were all challenged, and a policy on
Internet access was also disputed. The survey was released in advance of
Freedom to Read Week, February 24 to March 1.
Sunday, February 10
CLA Student Article Contest
by
Jason
on Sun 10 Feb 2008 09:03 AM CST
If you're an MLIS student or recent grad, I encourage you to enter this contest. (I can't tell you how much fame and fortune I've gained by being a runner-up last year!  That does remind me - I better spend my CLA gift certificate for free swag before it expires!)---Dear Students:
CLA is pleased to announce the 25th Student Article Contest.
CANADIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
25th STUDENT ARTICLE CONTEST
Eligibility
The contest is open to all students
registered in, or recently graduated from, a Canadian library school, a
library technician program, an information science program, or faculty
of education library program.
Registered students may be full or part
time; graduates should have completed their studies within one year of
the competition's closing date of March 31, annually. Articles submitted must be written while the student is enrolled in a program of study, or within one year of graduation.
Each contestant must submit a faculty member's statement attesting to the fact that the article fulfills the above requirements.
Multiple-author papers are eligible, but in the event such a paper is selected, only one prize will be awarded.
Submissions may be in English or French.
Prizes
First Prize:
$150 cash prize.
Free registration, accommodation and
transportation to the CLA/ACB National Conference (courtesy of Coutts
Information Services, Bowker and ProQuest).
The winning article will be published in Feliciter,
the magazine of the Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne
des bibliothèques. (Winning articles in French would appear in both
official languages). (courtesy of Coutts Information Services <http://www.couttsinfo.com/>, ProQuest <http://il.proquest.com/brand/micromedia.shtml>, Bowker <http://www.bowker.com/>, and the Wosk Family Bursary).
Runners-Up:
First runner-up receives:
$75 choice of CLA/ACB publications.
$150 cash prize courtesy of the Wosk Family Bursary
Second runner-up receives:
$75 choice of CLA/ACB publications.
$100 cash prize courtesy of the Wosk Family Bursary
Content and Style
Articles should discuss, analyze or
evaluate, in a clear and readable style, timely issues in librarianship
or information science. Conclusions and premises should follow
logically, and statements should be supported. Essays or term papers
should be reworked into an article suitable for publication. The style
should be informal but informative. References, if required, should be
drawn from Canadian sources as much as possible and follow CLA/ACB's style sheet and also available from Valérie Delrue at the CLA/ACB Office at (613) 232.9625 ext. 301 or e-mail: vdelrue@cla.ca
Originality
All manuscripts must be the original,
unpublished work of the contestant(s). Entries must be submitted
exclusively to the Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne
des bibliothèques during the competition period.
Format for Submission
Manuscript length should be between
1,000 and 1,500 words, typewritten on 8 1/2" x 11" paper, double
spaced, with generous margins. Two unfolded copies should be submitted
to the following address, no later than March 31, annually.. Winners will be asked to supply their article in electronic format.
Send to:
Student Article Contest
Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèques
328 Frank Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 0X8
Tel: (613) 232-9625
Fax: (613) 563-9895
e-mail: info@cla.ca
Please include a separate page
containing the following information: Full title of entry; name of the
author(s); home address and telephone number; name of the program in
which author(s) is/are registered; and a faculty member's verification.
Judging
A panel of judges will read and evaluate all entries; additional evaluators may be called upon to assess submissions in French.
Judges look for originality; value and
relevance of the information presented; consistency and accuracy; style
and readability; and suitability for publication. If, in the opinion of
the judges, no article submitted satisfies these criteria, the panel
reserves the right to not select a winner.
CONTEST CLOSING DATE: MARCH 31, ANNUALLY
Thank you,
Valerie Delrue
Membership Coordinator
Canadian Library Association
328 Frank Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 0X8
Tel: 613-232-9625 x 301
Fax: 613-563-9895
vdelrue@cla.ca
Wednesday, October 31
New CLA Web Site Launches
by
Jason
on Wed 31 Oct 2007 09:53 PM CST
Here's an announcement that went out today about a project I've been volunteering on for the last six months or so. There's always going to be small things you'd change but overall, the new site is a big improvement on what the CLA had before and I'm proud to have been a part of this project!---
I am extremely pleased to announce that the CLA
website (http://www.cla.ca) has launched as of 5 am this morning. However, there can be a delay of
up to 48 hours before the Internet recognizes that the site has been redirected
to a new server on your computer. However, I was able to view the new site on
my home computer at 6 am this morning.
I would like to thank the hard working members of the
CLA Web Re-build Taskforce. Their input, feedback and revisions on the website
and Division sections were essential to the project. The CLA Web Re-build Taskforce
(non-staff) members are:
Cabot YU – CASLIS
Candice Dahl – CACUL
Cheryl Stenstrom – Accessibility
Colleen Bell - CLTA & Interest Groups
Jason Hammond – CAPL
Richard Beaudry – CASL
Wendy Rodgers – Member Communications Advisory
Committee
Please join me in congratulating the CLA staff for
their part on the revisions on the new website and especially to Andy Giffen,
CLA Webmaster who has worked tirelessly over the past 6 months to bring the new
CLA/ACB website into existence.
Well done to all the contributors!
Judy Green
Manager, Marketing & Communications
Canadian Library Association
328 Frank St.
Ottawa,ON K2P 0X8
Tel: 613-232-9625 ext 322
Fax: 613-563-9895
Email: jgreen@cla.ca
Website: www.cla.ca
Sunday, July 22
"The Mysterious Science of Bestselling Books"
by
Jason
on Sun 22 Jul 2007 05:20 PM CST
Received this link from Chris G. with a request for any thoughts I might have on what makes a bestselling book. Coincidentally, this weekend I also happened to read a column by Stephen King in an issue of Entertainment Weekly exploring the same issue.
And it also makes a nice follow-up to my last FFL on the Harry Potter release, especially in relation to the stat from the article I linked to that 70% of fiction book sales were accounted for by just five authors. (I mean, I knew it was bad but I didn't realise it was that bad!)
Who are the magic five by the way? The article doesn't say but I'd guess King, Steele, Grisham, Clancy and uhm, Rowling? Wikipedia disagrees but is looking at all-time and all-world while I think the article is referring to modern American bestsellers.
Then there's that whole crew of authors who seem to pump out new books on a monthly basis - Barbara Taylor Bradford, Sue Grafton, Mary Higgins Clark, etc. that might not make up the top five but are probably a hefty chunk of the other 30%. Anyhow, here are some random thoughts on what makes a bestselling book:- the article from Chris has it right. No publisher knows what makes a bestseller, just as no movie studio can guarantee a blockbuster and no record company can guarantee a #1 album. There are things each can do to increase their chances of hitting the goal (engaging covers and media buzz for books, star actors and lots of explosions for movies, placement on hit TV shows and high-profile producers for records) but the pop culture landscape is littered with failed attempts, even using these techniques.- a Canadian bestseller is commonly accepted to be 5000 copies (I think this applies for both fiction and non-fiction) but up until the last couple years, there is no standard way to measure sales like SoundScan for records. That's when the publishing and bookselling industry in Canada came together to support an initiative called BookNet which track book sales. It was just gearing up for launch in 2005 right before I went to library school and the service now appears to be active and working, even providing the Globe & Mail and Quill & Quire with their bestseller lists. (Former co-worker Jill, you out there? Anything else to add?) - still with "bestseller" lists...I think the fine print for those who don't yet use BookNet data, such as the one in MacLean's even say "compiled by..." which basically means that the reporter has a few bookstores across Canada that provide estimates of their bestselling titles to him and he uses a bit of a math, a dash of intuition and probably a pinch of bias to prepare this impressionistic list. - On a more literal level, what makes an individual book a bestseller? Again, no idea. It really is a swirl of all kinds of things - a great cover, a great "hook", media buzz, word-of-mouth (especially in the age of the Internet with recommendation services such as Amazon and LibraryThing among others.) Sometimes authors just hit the timing right with a particular topic or issue they're covering.So anyhow, I don't think there's any answers there but that's some random thoughts as I said.
If you're really interested in the topic, you should note that the 2007 CLA conference in Vancouver is on the topic of "Libraries and Publishing 3.0 - Connecting Authors to Readers in the Digital Age". This gets right to the core of what libraries do so if you have any interest in the topic at all, I'd invite you to consider coming out to the left coast for the conference next spring!
Thursday, May 24
CLA New Librarians Interest Group Survey
by
Jason
on Thu 24 May 2007 02:52 AM CST
With the CLA conference coming up (already on? What day is it again???), the New Librarians Interest Group is doing a survey of students and recent grads to explore why (or why not) they attend the annual conference. I think this one is well-worth filling out as this is a pretty important topic and depending on the results, could lead to a resolution being introduced at the CLA conference to make the conference more accessible for students.
Tuesday, May 1
Eye-Opening!
by
Jason
on Tue 01 May 2007 07:58 PM CST
(Ottawa, April 24, 2007) – The Canadian Library Association (CLA) is
pleased to announce Melissa Poremba as winner of the Canadian Library
Association’s 24th Student Article Contest for "Resources You can Count
on @ Your Library".
Melissa is a distance education student in
the Library and Information Technician Program at Mohawk College. The
idea for Melissa's entry was based on a paper she wrote in 2006 while
studying for her additional qualification in school librarianship at
the Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario. Melissa has a
BA in both Arts and Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, and a
B. Ed. from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at
University of Toronto. She has specialist qualifications to teach
Economics and Mathematics at the Intermediate/Senior divisions in
Ontario schools. Melissa has an interest in numeracy education, and her
submission discusses how library resources can be used for numeracy
education.
The Advisory Committee thought that her entry was
original, engaging, well-written, imaginative, readable and had broad
appeal in addition to being a timely topic. One committee member wrote
that ". . . it should inspire all librarians to rethink the potential
of their collections."
Melissa will be awarded a cash prize as
well as free registration, accommodation and transportation to the
CLA/APLA/NLLA 2007 National Conference and Tradeshow in St. John’s,
Newfoundland, May 23-26, 2007.
The first runner-up is Jason
Hammond for "You Must Have a Lot of Young Readers in Your Family: The
Experiences of Lone Male Patrons in Children's Libraries". Jason
graduated in December 2006 from the MLIS program at University of
Western Ontario. The Committee members liked that this entry was
personal and experienced-based as well as being interesting, timely and
original. A number of the committee members mentioned that the topic
was eye-opening. Jason will receive a cash prize courtesy of the Wosk
Family and a choice of CLA publications.
The second runner-up is
Kendra Bender for "Library Services for Newcomers to Canada: Embracing
Cultural Diversity". Kendra is a student in the MLIS program at the
School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta.
Comments on this entry were that it incorporates both personal
experience and a professional research approach, it was well-written,
timely and focuses on Canada. Kendra will also receive a cash prize
courtesy of the Wosk Family and a choice of CLA publications.
“This
year, there were many excellent and unique entries for the Student
Article Contest which made the judging enjoyable, but also very
difficult”, shared Mary-Lu Brennan, Convenor of the Member
Communications Advisory Committee. As one committee member responded -
"Wow! This was a tough exercise - all were well-written, the topics
were interesting and in some cases quite thought-provoking."
The
prizes are awarded courtesy of CLA, Micromedia ProQuest, Coutts
Information Services and the Wosk Family Bursary. Entries are judges by
CLA’s Member Communication Advisory Committee which is comprised of librarians and information professionals.
(via Cabot Y.'s Facebook page)
An early draft of the paper I submitted is on my blog.
It was revised a bit for submission to the contest - mostly tightening
it up and re-wording some parts. But the gist of the thing is still in
the original I uploaded if you're interested. Also, a very public
thanks to John M, Bruce F and Michael T
as well as a few anonymous male classmates who gave me the great
feedback which helped make my paper into something much better than I
could've written without their help.
It's funny too that I start the blog post where I uploaded my essay by
talking about Cantilever which was an idea David, Sabina, Linda and I
had to start an open-source student writing journal/repository. The
idea never came to fruition which is too bad - I often felt like I
learned as much reading my classmates' work as reading the source
articles from the pros!
Other publishing-type news - just got official word last night that after a lengthy revision process, my essay on Alberta user fees (now bearing the much more academic title: "Cash Cow: User Fees in Alberta Libraries") has been accepted for publication by Partnership: The Online Journal That Has A Really Long Name I Can Never Remember.
After I got my first suggested revisions back from them, I did a blog
post suggesting that everybody should go through a peer-review process
like this at least once. I'd stand by that suggestion. Professors are often short for time and
although many give good feedback and suggestions, few have the time to
deeply analyse your paper the way the journal's anonymous reviewers
do.
It's super-easy to submit - pick one of your best/favourite essay and
follow the submissions instructions online. Make sure you do have some
time to do revisions though because you likely will be asked to do so
(I went through three major revisions of my paper before it was
accepted.)
But it's now a completely different and much much better paper than the original version that's also posted on my web site (I'm runing out of "favourite" paper to do stuff with - I might have to start writing some more on my own!  )
I'll post a link to the paper when it's published on the Partnership
web site so you can compare the original X-titled version with the new
PG-titled version. 
Thursday, April 12
So Much Randomness In The World
by
Jason
on Thu 12 Apr 2007 11:19 PM CST
Apparently having a full-time job in a city an hour away from where you normally live is not conducive to keeping up with e-mail, Facebook, blog posts, personal diary entries, baby diary entries, regular web surfing activities as well as all those other things that make up this thing we call life. For instance, last night, I went to a boat and trailer show with the in-laws. There were no computers there. Tonight was pre-natal class and again, not a computer to be seen. So here's some randomness of what's going on in my life and head...Congrats to Michelle Lake who won the Spirit of Librarianship Award today. I'll update my Spirit of Librarianship page this weekend if I get a chance. I first met Michelle when she was the only person in the whole of FIMS who responded to my invitation to join me at Book Expo 2006. My immediate thought at that time was "wow, this is a person destined to win the Spirit of Librarianship award someday!"  Had some good news of my own today - a paper I submitted to CLA won 2nd place in their national student essay contest! This is probably the best result I could hope for as first place was a trip to the CLA conference in St. John's which is right around the time Shea is due. So if I'd won that prize, the broken legs she would inflict on me would've made the trip quite difficult anyhow. So I'll take the CLA gift certificate, the cash prize and the library directory and run. (This is a good place to mention that for the purposes of this blog, all papers and presentations I've posted should be considered in "draft" form and not an official publication. This has come up as a concern once or twice with other pieces I've posted here then submitted elsewhere. Someone suggested that calling everything I post here a "draft" even if it was handed in and marked is a good way to get around the concern that any jury or whatever might have. And really, that's the truth - the paper that won (er, placed) was revised at least a little bit from what I originally posted here. My Alberta user fees essay - which I also just heard that the online Partnership journal wants to publish pending some revisions - is the same thing. The one posted here (search the blog for "tits" ) is so vastly different from what it has become so as to be almost a different paper.)
Apparently the hockey playoffs started yesterday but I haven't seen a minute of a game yet and barely glanced at the scores for the games so far. But here's my predictions for round one anyhow.
Calgary beats Detroit in 7
Anaheim beats Minny in 5
Vancouver beats Dallas in 6
Nashville beats San Jose in 7
Buffalo beats New York Islanders in 4
Tampa Bay beats New Jersey in 6
New York Rangers beat Atlanta in 5
Pittsburgh beats Ottawa in 7
My pick for the Cup? I hate to say it but I think Vancouver could really do some damage this year (meanwhile, my Flames over Detroit pick is the one I'd be least willing to bet money on.) The other finalist? Why not Pittsburgh as a Cinderella story? Man, they're an exciting young team.
Not much else I can think of. If you sent me an e-mail or a Facebook message, I hope I'll get to it this weekend.
Thursday, June 29
CLA Update
by
Jason
on Thu 29 Jun 2006 03:30 AM EDT
Just reading the CLA Bulletin and it sounds like they'll post speaker's presentations as they receive them (althought that's currently a non-existent link so who knows?) But anyhow, if something shows up there, one of my complaints will have been unfounded (though I'd still love to see full video streams of all the sessions - how cool would that be?)
Monday, June 26
CLA Session Notes - "Systemic Barriers to Library Use: Libraries Engage the Socially Excluded"
by
Jason
on Mon 26 Jun 2006 05:24 PM EDT
These are my notes from probably the best session I attended at CLA (okay, it tied with Michael Geist's session on copyright but those were two totally different things. Or were they?)
To put it in perspective, I wrote maybe a page in my notebook at most sessions I attended. I took six pages at this one.
This session featured:
Annette DeFavri, Coordinator of the Working Together: Connecting Libraries to Communities Project, Vancouver Public Library, BC
John Pateman, Head of Libraries, Lincoln County Council, Lincoln, England
Brian Campbell, Director of Systems and Special Projects, Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver, BCBackground on the Project from OLA Website
(CLA didn't have this much info in their conference blurb and I couldn't find a web site specifically for the Working Together project):
"Working Together" is a demonstration project funded by Human Resources
and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), Office of Learning Technologies
Community Learning Network Initiatives (OLT), that is intended to run
for a period of three years, with annual funding approval.
There are four library systems participating across Canada: Vancouver
Public Library, Regina Public Library, Toronto Public Library and
Halifax Public Library. Within the three years, the four libraries will
develop and test models of working with marginalized or economically
disadvantaged communities in order to identify what these communities
expect from libraries and to determine approaches of what and how
services may be best delivered; as well as demonstrate ways that
libraries can transform how they work with these communities by
providing experience, models, tools and a philosophy which encourages
working with these communities as an important part of library service.
In Toronto, the project is being carried out in the Flemingdon Park and
Thorncliffe Park communities where a high percentage of families live
below the low income cutoff measure and where many new immigrants
settle to begin to look for employment, education and English language
skills.
The poster session will share the experiences of the first year of the
"Working Together" project: community asset mapping, meeting the target
communities, developing programs and partnerships, planning for the
next phaseHere are the notes I took from each speaker's presentation:Annette DeFavri- Why is this project needed? Socially excluded people tell them that libraries are for people: who read, who are smart, who can use computers. When they do come to the library, they don't want to interrupt staff who always look busy, they feel that there's a "high school or secret club vibe" that they're not a part of, they have anger towards institutions, and that they often don't feel welcome because they're not welcome.
(I'm man enough to admit that I teared up as she went through the responses of people as to why they don't use the library. This would be the first of many times during the presentation that this happened.)
- a lot of these barriers are rooted in librarian's professional culture- fines are a huge barrier - libraries should look at ways to eliminate or forgive them- even bigger than the fines issue is that people simply don't feel comfortable discussing fines or coming in to talk about them. - librarians need to assess "library context" for what they do but also the "community context"- librarians don't have a culture of change, we don't listen to community, patrons- unequal relationship between staff and patrons. Often staff don't wear name tags so we know their name but they don't know ours.- food and drink policies can be an issue for people who carry their food with them. - library culture is currently "collect and protect" but should be "community information providers"- we need to remember that without people, there are no libraries- instead of arguing about whether to call them "customers" or "patrons", we should call the people who come into our libraries what they are - "neighbours" (was this a point from the Stephen Lewis speech that she reiterated? My notes aren't clear.) - librarians need to take risks everyday
- Annette is starting a new CLA interest group on "community access" (may not be the exact title.) If you're interested in joining, e-mail me and I'll pass along her e-mail address.
John Bateman- heads and hearts are the barrier, we don't think and we don't feel- self-criticism of our profession is hard- libraries are used most by people who don't need them and least by people who need them the most- it's a fundamental shift in how we operate but we should move to a "needs based" library service, not equal to all because that never works. (Someone asked in the Q&A how we can maintain our neutrality by being activists like this and Brian Campbell responded that there is no such thing as neutrality and that by saying you're neutral, you're admitting that you're part of the status quo that causes these problems.)- "needs based" means we treat people differently based on their needs - "needs based" policies can work in any library anywhere- we need to actively engage local community.
- improving things for excluded people will improve things for all patrons- 20% of patrons are active, core users who want more of the same thus the status quo. Of this 20%, 47% want free books, 26% want space savings, 20% want trusted source/help- 30% are passive/lapsed users who use library infrequently or who used it once but no longer do. To reach this group, there was a "Love Libraries" campaign in the UK which showed this group wanted better selection, facilities, author events (although the study was sponsored by publishers so maybe it had a bias?)- 50% are irregular or non-users, don't read beyond library needs, we need to do more with outreach services (schools, bookmobiles, sales or giveaways) which are all traditional services, just taken to people- need to differentiate: "community outreach" works in the community, "community development" works with the community- overall, librarians need to shake-up our culture of comfort and see world thru eyes of disenfranchised
Brian Campbell- Brian starts with a moment to acknowledge the street person who was murdered a couple nights ago just as the conference was getting underway. Who was he? Did he have a family? Did he use the library or was he turned away?
(cue more tears, not just me but probably most of the audience. We'd seen the gathering of other street people to leave flowers and console each other when we'd gone on the pub crawl. Did he have a family? Obviously. Did the library turn him away? Who knows - some definitely would have.)
- how can we become relevant to people like this young man?- there's a corporate invasion that's changing the language of libraries- libraries serve middle class traditionally even though they are the people who can afford books, they can afford to pay for commercial information services (ie. home internet access)- poor are afraid of us because of our rules, culture, environment- lack of pictographic signs in libraries is a major issue that a literate person rarely considers- we need to give understanding of how libraries work to people who don't come to them. Think how foreign would it be to enter a library for the first time? What is that desk for? Can you take any book you want or only some? Do you need a key to use the washroom?- libraries get lumped with schools, prisons and other unfriendly institutions- think what institution we most resemble when you walk in the door? At least at his library, the one it most resembles is a prison. What's the first thing you see when you go through the electronic gates at the front? A guard. - our economic system demands poor people, it's not through their individual choice or character that they are poor- we need to think how they see us, not how we see them- we also need to realise that this process is ongoing and can't have an end point- we need a human element, not just focus on numbers- we need to lose our fear of different/other people
- library schools need a Community Development course- "Working Together" - December 2005 Feliciter article has more information and background about the projectIf anybody who was at the session has more information or can think of anything I've missed, feel free to e-mail me and I'll add it. Sessions like this are exactly why I think the CLA should have transcripts of every session available after the conference. There were no less than three other sessions I wanted to go to at the same time as this one and it was literally a random pick that made me choose this one. Many of my colleagues who wanted to attend this session didn't make that same choice.
Sunday, June 25
CLA Conference - Holly's Take
by
Jason
on Sun 25 Jun 2006 12:42 PM EDT
[2008-03-21 - Holly is a classmate who I think posted her impressions on our class's private Yahoo! group and who gave me permission to reprint them here.]
The good:
Sessions - “Is one stop shopping all we dreamed it would be? The Single search interface in action”
This
was great, it was a LAC librarian and two librarians from Memorial
University who are doing research on the usability of the single search
interface in their online catalogues. The LAC research was done via
survey on their website, and the Memorial one is with their search
technology that they’ve tested with a small group of undergrads, grad
students, and profs. The university used a capture program so they
could actually record and analyze how information was searched and what
threw people off track or was inconvenient, so it was very interesting
to see which aspects of design were a problem. Also, they noted that
undergrads would just go crazy and click on every result to see what
they could find; profs and grad students would take their time and read
through everything.
The government info track sessions were good;
learned some helpful reference tips from a U of T prof in the first
session, learned about various efforts to save digital government
information in the second and about the future of gov docs in the
third.
Also went to a cultural-type session on the library of
Alexandria – the ancient and the new one- which talked about how
countries from around the world contributed to re-build a library in
Alexandria. It was a nice break to hear about more positive things in
the library world.
The not so good:
I agree 100% with Paul
and Kelly re: the food and the random trade show “entertainment”. At an
early morning session I went to, the speaker brought Timbits for
everyone b/c she felt bad about us being up so early and obviously we
weren’t going to have anything beyond water available.
Also, first
timers breakfast was poorly organized. The food wasn’t served on time
and the speeches started after we all had food, so it was running
behind, once you finished your plate you couldn’t have anything else
and the waiters were taking away plates during the speeches, which was
a distraction. Not worth the money, for an $18 for breakfast in a
hotel, it was disappointing. I was impressed that early on, Barbara
Clubb made the rounds and made an effort to speak briefly with everyone
at the table.
Re: the tradeshow, I found the government booths to
be informative and “student-friendly”; corporate ones, not so much (not
that that was a surprise). It’s nice to do a tour around and talk to
exhibitors on the first day, and then on the second day vendors were
trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible so they didn’t have to
take it home, so it was a good time to stock up on free stuff.
Also,
for those of you who remember Trish (from U of A) from the pub crawl,
here’s the site where her shirt’s from: http://www.librariangear.com/
It’s a site with library related t-shirts, etc.
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