I heart ALA Conference
Posted On Jun 17 2008Okay, maybe I’m a little strange, but I really like ALA conferences. Until I started writing for American Libraries and getting uber involved in LITA, I was an occasional attender, but my love for the conference goes back to the fact that I got my first job at an ALA, over a 7am breakfast with an Innovative Interfaces VP. When I started attending regularly, I would fill literally every minute of the day with activity, usually for the magazine, but mostly out of a desire to get as much as possible out of being there. You’d have to check with …
Governance Matters
Posted On Oct 16 2007I’ve never really grasped the whole “meme” thing that seems to be so popular in library blogs. When I see a new meme emerge, I feel as though I’ve already missed the boat—like the cliche of reading about trends in Time, by then it it too late. As a lover of words and phrases, though, I am intrigued by what I would call lots of pre-meme activity—the use (and often over- and mis-use) of words that become part of the growing library lexicon. Recent examples include: seamless, disintermediation, open, and the like. Borrowing liberally from Entertainment Weekly’s “What’s hot”: Currently, there …
Technology with Altitude
Posted On Oct 6 2007I’m in Denver for the the cleverly named 2007 LITA Forum. This is the first in a while that I have not been giving a talk at, which is nice. I can enjoy Denver, enjoy my colleagues, and begin my new role as “committee recruiter”…one of the first duties that comes along with being Vice President of the division. So, yes, I am taking time out to talk up LITA a bit. It is one of the best conferences for IT networking that I know of (that’s small ‘n’, lest you think I refer to the days of LAN and …