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The majority of the afternoon was spent in my committee meeting. The Instructional Technologies Committee produced two “Tips and Trends” pieces since ALA Midwinter: one on YouTube and one on Whiteboards. We designed a new “template” for doing these pieces – coming up with the section designations was one of my assignments. Designating specific discussion points for each technology discussed was done in in effort to standardize the presentation both for type of information to be conveyed and to insure consistency. I would give you a link to see our efforts, but they just were approved by the IS Executive Board so have not been officially posted to the site. Look for them soon on InfoTech Tips and Trends. I also updated “Tips for Developing Effective Web-Based Library Instruction” but it too just was officially approved and is not yet live! The ACRL web site has not yet adopted a policy of “radical trust” from its section authors :-); everything has to be reviewed by the executive board and approved before posting…..

I planned to hoof it one more time to another hotel to see the session on the Google Five Libraries. But the walk took long enough that I was a bit late and there wasn’t even any floor space to squeeze in to. It must be some hot topic as you can see from the SRO overflow.

Sometimes You Can't Even Find Floor Space When You're LateStanding Room Only at the Google Five

I tried to sit outside in the hall and listen but it was just not very conducive to maintaining my attention span, so I gave up and plodded (my feet were wearing out) back to the Convention Center to do my alternate plan: the exhibits. I was sidetracked by two hanging art works in the center’s halls that spoke to me (they were saying “why in the world are you in this place on a beautiful Saturday afternoon??? When you could be either kayaking or biking!!!). The public art in the new (2004) convention center is very impressive. I did a little research on it and found that it is a $4 million dollar art collection with 137 pieces that include suspended sculptures, oil paintings and photographs created by 93 artists from the Washington, DC area as well as from around the world.

Kayaks and Bikes Hanging SculpturesSculptures

The exhibit hall seemed bigger than ever, especially with the overhead view of the entire hall. I do much better if I have a mission at the hall, some vendor I need to talk with, or a new product to test out. But nobody from ZSR had tasked me and I ended up wandering up and down aisles for the 20 minutes that remained before they closed down.

Gigantic Exhibit HallExhibit Hall

A nice unexpected bonus of my meanderings was that I met up with an old friend, colleague and mentor, Pat Ryckman. Pat encouraged me when I was a volunteer for her at PLCMC during my library school days, gave me my first big professional break in the Carolina Room there, and then set me on my current course when she turned me on to technology by appointing me the supervisor for the Virtual Library there. The rest is history. Pat’s been a great friend and it was wonderful to have a chance to catch up with her today. That’s one of the little perks of attending ALA, you often get to reconnect with people who’ve been important in your professional life.

Saturday General SessionSaturday General Session

I tried to be a trooper and attend the 5:30 General Session where Bill Bradley was scheduled to speak. I had hit the wall, so to speak, it’s been a tiring day. I lasted through 45 minutes of awards and speeches, all to worthy recipients. But, at 6:15, when the keynote was scheduled to start and some other speaker, who was NOT Bradley got up and started talking, I only lasted 15 more minutes and then I realized my feet were standing up and walking out the door. There was nothing I could do to stop them. They kept on keeping on til they got me on the Metro, through the Crystal City alleyways and back to my room. (I think I heard Bradley finally being introduced as I headed down the escalator…..).

I’ll bet Lauren and Sarah’s youth kept them going much longer today than I was able to do. But it was a very productive day and after a good night’s rest, I’ll be ready to enjoy another conference filled day.