Exhibit Hall

Here are the highlights from today's trip to the exhibit hall. I went with a friend of mine who is an academic librarian.

• Met Lauren Myracle, the author of the very popular TTYL series. She signed her latest book, Love Ya Bunches. She was perfectly charming and seemed very nice. She was excited to hear that her series was so popular at our library. She also gave out a a silk rose to everyone.
• Stopped at the Morningstar booth. We just finished a trial for their online product which I liked.
• Picked up a few catalogs from the Baker and Taylor booth.
• I had a long talk with the representative from LibGuides. It provides a great way of providing resource guides for patrons. I've seen it on several academic libraries' websites and also heard about it in action at MLA. Public libraries do use it and I was shown an example from New Jersey. I really like the idea of them but would take a bit of work to implement. Something to think very strongly about, though.
• Talked with a woman from a company that digitizes collections.
• Picked up a brochure from Tutor.com. I'll stop by there tomorrow for more information. Kate and I had a demonstration from them a small while ago.
• Picked up a brochure from the ALA Office for Research and Statistics, regarding "Serving Non-English Speakers in U.S. Public Libraries". Most of the details can be found in the office's 2007 report regarding library demographics.
• Stopped by the Diversity and Outreach Fair which highlighed libraries' programs for underserved populations. Tables I stopped at included the Birmingham Public Library highlighting its adult literacy program; Multnomah County Library in Portland Oregon highlighting its adult reading programs for speakers of other languages, and the Greensboro Public Library for its poetry program for seniors.