Long-winded Observations from the 2009 NLA/NEMA Conference
Well, I've finally unpacked my notes from the 2009 NLA/NEMA Conference (“Nebraska Libraries: Bridges to Information”) and am ready to report on a great experience! I would urge anyone who has yet to attend an NLA conference to go to the next one. It is educational, inspiring, exciting, and fun—as well as socially stimulating, since you will run into anyone you have ever met who has any library connection whatsoever. I met former classmates, former teachers, former and current (and probably future) colleagues, people whose libraries I have visited—and a few new people whom I hope to see again next year, if not at other workshops or professional gatherings in the meantime. There is no better way to recharge your librarian batteries (not to mention do a lot of networking)—and if you suffer from financial difficulties, apply for a scholarship! The generosity of TSRT allowed me to attend this year (thank you, TSRT!).
Incidentally, this year some of the pre-conference options were free. I went to Library Camp Nebraska II, sponsored by the Nebraska Library Commission and ITART, and enjoyed every minute of it. This was a great opportunity to talk about things that matter to you with colleagues from different libraries and backgrounds. We decided on the topics to be discussed in our first meeting and then broke into groups, joining whichever discussion most interested us—and the talk was free-wheeling and stimulating. You can see the results at the Library Camp webpage—go to http://librarycampnebraska.pbworks.com/Breakout-Sessions for the schedule and links to the notes taken by people more organized than I was …All you cataloguers might want to look at Angela Kroeger’s excellent summary of the future of cataloging.
And now for the definitive report on the conference itself. Well, some sort of feeble summary, anyway… First of all, the La Vista Conference Center was a great facility—good services, not too vast, free parking, and easy to get to (especially from Omaha...). I tried to attend a variety of sessions, though I now see I was biased towards topics relevant to public libraries. Google made a strong showing at the conference. One of the keynote speakers was Ben Softness, of Google’s User Support Department; he also presented a session on Google’s Advanced Search, which I attended, and two UNO librarians (Rene Erlandson and Rachel Erb) gave a presentation on using iGoogle to develop library Web applications. Although I thought I knew Google pretty well, I discovered there are still new territories there to explore, and ways to improve my search techniques.
I am ashamed to admit here in the TSRT blog that these were the most technical sessions I attended—I was sorry to miss the Technical Services Discussion Forum, which sounded good, but it was at the same time as the iGoogle session. Which brings me to my main complaint about NLA conferences—they always have the most interesting presentations competing in the same time slot! Something should be done about this…..You CAN get some idea of the sessions you missed by checking out the presenters’ handouts and PowerPoints at http://www.nebraskalibraries.org/conference/2009/handouts.html.
After Advanced Google Search with the attractive Ben Softness, I moved on to “Speechless: The Suppression of Student Voices in Nebraska with a Roadmap for Change,” which was depressing and inspiring at the same time. Peggy Adair of the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska showed us how the increasing censorship to which high-school students (and their teachers) are subjected is ultimately bad for us all—and what we can do about it both as librarians and as citizens.
I rounded off that first day with Theresa Jehlik’s discussion of security issues in the library (which elicited quite a lot of participation from the audience—obviously this is a hot topic). Theresa’s two fellow presenters were unable to be there, but she rose nobly to the occasion and gave us a good idea of some of the security problems that arise in public libraries in particular, and some possible solutions—or coping mechanisms, at least.
If you are expecting a review of the NLA Banquet, you will have to go elsewhere, since I did not attend. Since I had been at the La Vista Conference Center since 7:15 that morning, by the time I got out of Theresa’s session at 5:30 the thought of a glass of wine at home with my shoes off was irresistible.
But I was back for more enlightenment early the next day! I attended four sessions the second day, all of them excellent, AND the TSRT Business Meeting, where I learned some crucial organizational secrets (like they’re always looking for fresh blood…take note, you armchair blog-readers). I got some great reader’s advisory ideas from “Speed Reviews” (just what I needed, more books for my “to read” list), attended a fantastic session on getting young professionals into the library (alcohol is your friend), learned how to help genealogists in the library without losing your census (sorry), and ended the day with an attempt to find “An Alternative to Recording Hash Marks.” (Although it turned out not to be so much an alternative as a different way of interpreting them. Hash marks are apparently here forever.)
And that was the last session, and the conference was over! I will admit in this public forum that I was by then so tired that I forgot to return my badge holder as requested. I guess that means I’ll have to go back next year.
--Report from the trenches by Martha Grenzeback
Incidentally, this year some of the pre-conference options were free. I went to Library Camp Nebraska II, sponsored by the Nebraska Library Commission and ITART, and enjoyed every minute of it. This was a great opportunity to talk about things that matter to you with colleagues from different libraries and backgrounds. We decided on the topics to be discussed in our first meeting and then broke into groups, joining whichever discussion most interested us—and the talk was free-wheeling and stimulating. You can see the results at the Library Camp webpage—go to http://librarycampnebraska.pbworks.com/Breakout-Sessions for the schedule and links to the notes taken by people more organized than I was …All you cataloguers might want to look at Angela Kroeger’s excellent summary of the future of cataloging.
And now for the definitive report on the conference itself. Well, some sort of feeble summary, anyway… First of all, the La Vista Conference Center was a great facility—good services, not too vast, free parking, and easy to get to (especially from Omaha...). I tried to attend a variety of sessions, though I now see I was biased towards topics relevant to public libraries. Google made a strong showing at the conference. One of the keynote speakers was Ben Softness, of Google’s User Support Department; he also presented a session on Google’s Advanced Search, which I attended, and two UNO librarians (Rene Erlandson and Rachel Erb) gave a presentation on using iGoogle to develop library Web applications. Although I thought I knew Google pretty well, I discovered there are still new territories there to explore, and ways to improve my search techniques.
I am ashamed to admit here in the TSRT blog that these were the most technical sessions I attended—I was sorry to miss the Technical Services Discussion Forum, which sounded good, but it was at the same time as the iGoogle session. Which brings me to my main complaint about NLA conferences—they always have the most interesting presentations competing in the same time slot! Something should be done about this…..You CAN get some idea of the sessions you missed by checking out the presenters’ handouts and PowerPoints at http://www.nebraskalibraries.org/conference/2009/handouts.html.
After Advanced Google Search with the attractive Ben Softness, I moved on to “Speechless: The Suppression of Student Voices in Nebraska with a Roadmap for Change,” which was depressing and inspiring at the same time. Peggy Adair of the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska showed us how the increasing censorship to which high-school students (and their teachers) are subjected is ultimately bad for us all—and what we can do about it both as librarians and as citizens.
I rounded off that first day with Theresa Jehlik’s discussion of security issues in the library (which elicited quite a lot of participation from the audience—obviously this is a hot topic). Theresa’s two fellow presenters were unable to be there, but she rose nobly to the occasion and gave us a good idea of some of the security problems that arise in public libraries in particular, and some possible solutions—or coping mechanisms, at least.
If you are expecting a review of the NLA Banquet, you will have to go elsewhere, since I did not attend. Since I had been at the La Vista Conference Center since 7:15 that morning, by the time I got out of Theresa’s session at 5:30 the thought of a glass of wine at home with my shoes off was irresistible.
But I was back for more enlightenment early the next day! I attended four sessions the second day, all of them excellent, AND the TSRT Business Meeting, where I learned some crucial organizational secrets (like they’re always looking for fresh blood…take note, you armchair blog-readers). I got some great reader’s advisory ideas from “Speed Reviews” (just what I needed, more books for my “to read” list), attended a fantastic session on getting young professionals into the library (alcohol is your friend), learned how to help genealogists in the library without losing your census (sorry), and ended the day with an attempt to find “An Alternative to Recording Hash Marks.” (Although it turned out not to be so much an alternative as a different way of interpreting them. Hash marks are apparently here forever.)
And that was the last session, and the conference was over! I will admit in this public forum that I was by then so tired that I forgot to return my badge holder as requested. I guess that means I’ll have to go back next year.
--Report from the trenches by Martha Grenzeback
Labels: NLA/NEMA Conference
posted by MGrenzeback at
10:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home