It went off fairly well with the usual mix of the good (the Dilly Bars from DQ for the afternoon "stretch break" were a hit, even if the weather had turned bitterly cold in the last couple days), the bad (one presenter didn't show up) and the ugly (most of my jokes at the podium.
)An unexpected highlight was meeting David Sparvier who is Canada's first Aboriginal professional librarian. We had invited a number of librarians from various First Nations in our region and Mr. Sparvier came even though he is now retired. (He told me his age and I said I would've guessed twenty years younger!)
I got to sit with him at lunch and spent an enjoyable but all too brief bit of time hearing about his experiences at U of T in the 60's doing his MLS, his early work with Provincial Library setting up the regional library system and various other related topics. I didn't even know that he had that small claim to fame as Canada's first Aboriginal professional librarian until a colleague pointed it out.
