DIY Librarian

One of my favorite things about going to a national conference is that it often takes me to a city I would never visit otherwise. Sometimes I come back and think, Well, I never have to go there again! But often I am pleasantly surprised.

When I have a day to myself, I try to visit the zoo if there is one I can get to on public transit. The Denver Zoo is well-known and did not disappoint, but I’ve also been to some very nice smaller zoos, like the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. Animals that are often verging on comatose in warm, humid East Coast climates, like the polar bears and arctic fox, were quite active on a chilly January morning in Albuquerque.

The Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa has some great interactive exhibits (feed the stingrays and lorikeets) and a manatee hospital. At the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, I took some close-ups of the ravens. And at the Toronto Zoo, I spent a lot of time with the snakes.

I have arrived safely back in Pennsylvania, where I no longer hear the slot machines yelling “Wheel! Of! Fortune!” 24 hours a day.

Jill Hurst-Wahl has already blogged about the summit for the SLA IT Division Blogging Section as well as at Digitization 101.

The summit had some good sessions, some sessions I didn’t care for, and a lot of opportunities to network. Networking at bigger conferences too often means walking around receptions clutching a wine glass, working up the occasional courage to introduce yourself to someone, only to find you have nothing to talk about. Not at the Leadership Summit.

I mentioned an issue my local chapter is facing to a colleague from my division, and was promptly introduced to someone from another chapter who was facing the same issue—and had solutions. I met other conference planners for Seattle. I talked to vendor representatives. I met SLA board members. I reconnected with my fellow division and chapter leaders. My only complaint is that the packed schedule doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for this kind of activity. (Well, I have other complaints, but mainly having to do with catering and wireless access and other mundane things.)

I don’t generally get bowled over by keynote speakers, but Chip Heath’s talk actually helped me with a request I received while I was in Reno (er, Sparks). The request is to communicate about a service my library offers to our faculty. Rather than craft my usual informative but uninventive message, I’m going to attempt to create a “sticky message”. Chip Heath quoted Frank Sinatra on New York: “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.” If I can get faculty to read an email message and remember the library when they need us, I’ll say I’ve made it.

I’m here in Reno (well, technically Sparks) for the SLA Leadership Summit. I arrived a day early because I was worried about making two flight connections in January, and then promptly spent several hours trying to get my laptop to talk to the hotel’s wireless network. I just recently got a wireless card for my laptop—watch out, 21st century, here comes the DIY Librarian!

Unlike the last time I was frustrated by a hotel internet connection, I was almost relieved when I couldn’t get the laptop to connect. Suddenly, my extra day was wide open. Instead of working, I could go running, check out the public library, read a book, or work on my writing…

Ah, but now I am connected, so here I am checking my email, blogging, and charting my mileage on MapMyRun.com. While I was unconnected, though, I did write a long letter to my dad (to be mailed when I get home) and almost finished my book.

Much as I like being connected (now that we have high-speed at home, it’s just so easy to go check a recipe on Epicurious!) these unconnected moments are very special, like a moment of silence, or the feeling of wandering aimlessly in the library stacks. There is something simultaneously scary (I can’t check the hotel restaurant’s menu online! I’ll just have to go down to the lobby!) and peaceful about it.

I’ve just started a blog for the SLA Central Pennsylvania Chapter. It’s nothing fancy—just a TypePad blog set up through SLA. It’s primary purpose is to make it easier for me to get new content on the chapter home page (using Feed2JS). I used to hand-code a news archive page and then copy the most recent content into the index page. Not a lot of work, but it gets tedious, especially when you have to squeeze it into free moments at work. I’ve already noticed I’m more likely to post things than I was before, and I think this will make things much easier for whoever succeeds me as chapter webmaster.