Laura @ NELA part one

Greetings from Burlington, VT where I am sad (or happy as the case may be) to say that the trees are all green. A little early for fall foliage, I suppose. I came a few days early to take in the sights of Burlington, Vermont, including the lovely University of Vermont campus and the nearby Shelburne Museum. A good way to drown my sorrows in the wake of Terry Francona leaving the Red Sox. (Apparently winning two World Series in four years doesn't do much these days for your employment!) The conference started yesterday and here are some highlights from some of the sessions I have attended:

• Killing Librarianship
  This was the keynote address by R. David Lankes from Syracuse University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science. The main focus of this talk is that in order to save libraries, librarians need to be innovative. In fact, the three big keywords to saving libraries are innovation, participation, and democracy. While this is something we may have all heard in one form or another, Mr. Lankes made very good points about the importance of libraries as well as discouraging people from believing articles such as this one. He talked about what to call people who use the library: are they patrons, users, readers? He suggested members as a term that encourages more participation. A very good presentation that I enjoyed despite the dig he made at my beloved Red Sox.
• Social Media @ New York Public Library
  Before I talk about this particular program, I have to admit to getting a chuckle when the speaker from the New York Public Library said that a lot of the NYPL's Facebook fans were actually people from out of state who are fans of Ghostbusters. This fan is guilty as charged! This was a great presentation in which NYPL employee, Lauren Lampasone, shared the way social networking has worked at the famous library. There are several blogs for a variety of interests. One fun blog was the Mad Men reading list. Definitely something up my alley as well as a certain member of our reference department. Another blog post about an unusual edition of Don Quixote led to the discovery of a special related piece. Ms. Lampasone also discussed how the library is using Twitter, Four Square, and Facebook. My favorite social media functions of the NYPL website are http://menus.nypl.org/ and http://maps.nypl.org/warper/. The menu site is especially cool. It is a collection of vintage menus and users are invited to transcribe the menus.
  
  
  
  

Random Notes

As I sit at home, I want to share some of my more experiences at ALA/New Orleans so I hope I can do justice in this blog post:

• Met a lot of great people, including some ladies from the Boston Public Library, a librarian from Pembroke, a librarian from Cambridge, a librarian from Albuquerque, NM, a librarian from Oregon, librarian from New Orleans, several librarians from Harvard, a librarian from New Orleans, a reading teacher from New Jersey, a teacher from PA, a school librarian from Florida, a teacher from Connecticut, and many others who I am probably leaving out. I also reconnected with friends and colleagues I have not seen in a long time.
• Had an interesting conversation with a conference goer who had last been to New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. He said that even though the French Quarter was always touristy (and the least "hit" by the hurricane and aftermath), that there used to be a feel that it was part of a city in which people lived and worked. He said that didn't seem to be the case anymore that it felt as if the whole area existed only for the tourists. I'm sure this isn't true in the areas not abutting the French Quarter but it is sad that, according to one visitor, the idea of a real city doesn't seem to be there anymore. I'm curious for those of you who have visited the city before and after feel this same way.
• I visited the Garden District and saw some houses that were amazing (including Anne Rice's old house). The architecture is really incredible in New Orleans. Also visited Lafayette Cemetery in which the tombstones (as all tombstones in that area) are above the ground. Several of the grave markers were knocked off the tombs. Is that an effect of Katrina or is it wear and tear?
• Speaking of Katrina, I met with a librarian from New York who helped build a house that was destroyed as a result of Katrina.
  
• Been reading the Newbery award winner, Moon over Manifest. Anyone else read it?
• Possibly made a fool out of myself in front of a favorite graphic novel artist/writer in the elevator when I just gushed over her books. She was very gracious and didn't seem at all frightened to have fan girl going on and on.
• I did get to live my New Orleans dream of yelling "Stella" under a balcony and have my picture taken (well, okay, I whispered it for the sake of the picture since I didn't want to actually scream, "Stella" at the top of my lungs). Along those lines, one of my roommates and I watched Streetcar Named Desire and let me say that movie doesn't age well. However, I still do believe in the kindness of the strangers.
• The food in New Orleans is amazing. I liked cajun food a lot, including seafood gumbo (yum!). I ate a crawfish omelet that was out of this world, and a little spicy. Some friends had a Peanut Butter bacon burger (that I tried) at YO Mama's that tasted much better than I thought it would. And the beignets, the lovely lovely Beignets. I, unfortunately, never had them at Cafe du Monde, as the line was too long and I needed to head to the airport, however I had them several times from Cafe Beignet (also home to the crawfish omelet) and they were wonderful. It's basically a really good version of fried dough. In fact, I love that you can eat fried dough for breakfast as long as it has a French name. The omelets at Cafe Beignet were perfect French style omelets, not too thick and fluffy and a good ratio of ingredients to egg. I am getting really hungry, right now. (Even the food court at the mall near the convention center had good food, by the way). I also tried alligator sausage, twice. The first time tasted like steak. The second time like chicken. I had fried pickles and hog's head cheese and stuffed crab. The food is rich and wonderful, and probably not terribly healthy for you. However, the restaurants don't serve overly large portions so it was just right. By the way, if you ever are in New Orleans, check out The Praline Connection on Frechmen Street, across from a really neat used bookstore.
  
• Listed to a group playing what sounded like Klezmer music at a music club called the Spotty Cat Club. There was a piano in the ladies' room.
  
• I did walk down Bourbon Street and realized that I am too old for that and spent a mere few minutes there! However, one evening, there was a live jazz band playing at the corner of Bourbon and Canal Streets and they were extremely talented. If that was the dominating factor, I would have spent more time on Bourbon Street.
• Went to an event sponsored by Recorded Books held at Mardis Gras World. Got to see several incredible Mardis Gras floats as well as people working on them for next Mardis Gras.
  
• Have some new books, including The Borrower, about a children's librarian.
  

Gala Author Tea

I love to go to anything featuring authors and the Gala Author Tea did not disappoint. All of the authors were entertaining and gave great talks (authors give the best speeches since they write for a living). Here is who I saw:

• Karin Slaughter, author of Fallen
• Ellen Brown, author of Weird Sisters
• Dorothea Benton Frank, author of Folly Beach (hilarious speaker!)
• Amanda Kyle Williams, author of The Stranger You Seek. This was one of the most moving speeches. Ms. Williams did not know how to read until she was in her early 20's and she mentioned how libraries were so helpful to her when she was going on this journey. She also said that she fell in love with Jane Austen when she asked the librarian what book would you read if you had just started reading and was handed Pride and Prejudice.
• Susan Wiggs and Elizabeth Wiggs Maas, authors of How I Planned Your Wedding: The All-True Story of a Mother and Daughter Surviving the Happiest Day of their Lives. Ms. Wiggs Maas gave the funniest library anecdote story when she mentioned how she and her boyfriend (later husband) fooled around in the stacks of the college library to get away from her roommate!
• Nevada Barr, author of Burn
  

The Wikipedia Effect

There was a lot of discussion about Wikipedia at this conference. The President's program featured a talk by Sue Gardner, who is the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation. On Monday, I attended a very interesting panel discussion entitled "The Wikipedia Effect: How the World Finds and Evaluates Information". The panel consisted of moderator, David Tyckoson, editor of Booklist's Reference Books Bulletin, Paul Kobasa editor-in-chief of World Book, Phoebe Ayers, librarian from UC Davis and Wikipedia contributor, and Debra Hoffman, Information Literacy Coordinator, California State University, Channel Islands.
Paula Kobasa gave a history of the encyclopedia (and was gracious about Wikipedia). He also talked about teachable moments about discerning information. Phoebe Ayers talked about her students using it and also a brief history of Wikipedia and her role as an editor and contributor. She said that librarians have a call to work on it.
I really enjoyed Debra Hoffman's presentation in which she talked about the use of Wikipedia with class assignments. In one English class, students do a lot of research on a certain author, and determine what it means to be an expert. A student will then evaluate the Wikipedia page for his/her particular author. They check for accuracy, authority of of source material, authority of page contributors, scope, intent (why was certain information included and why was others not?). For another class, students are given a topic (such as member of the family for whom the library is named). Students use a variety of sources, such as scholarly journal articles, web resources, statistical data, interviews, and archival material and create a Wikipedia page. In some cases, the page was edited after the page was created, but that was also used as a teaching moment about Wikipedia.
Debra also started her presentation with this funny clip explaining what Wikipedia is:

Virtual Reference

I attended this very interesting program on Virtual Reference, in which a panel discussed conducting virtual reference as a consortium (AskColorado.org), at a college setting (while using it as a teaching tool), and using it with teenagers.
The state library of Colorado runs a service called Ask Colorado. This is run 24/7 by over 200 librarians by public and academic librarians all over the state (including some academic librarians out of the state). The presenter, Kris Johnson, debunked some misconceptions regarding this service. Misconception is "Answering questions for other libraries is not done". (In other words, 'Other librarians can't answer questions for my patrons" and "I can't answer questions for other patrons.") Kris said that if you think that you can't do this, then you won't. The solution to this is to highlight transcripts that show librarians can be successful at this, and to remember that there is nothing wrong with making a referral, if need be. Another misconception is that training only takes 5 minutes. While this may be true prior to the implementation, there could be several questions regarding policy (make sure have one in place). Be sure to create a training manual that includes technology, policies, procedures, etc.

Lisa Ellis from Baruch College presented next and spoke about how to use Virtual Reference as a teaching tool. Her college also offers a 24/7 reference service using software called QuestionPoint. Colleges can use Virtual Reference as a way to teach information literacy. We should conduct virtual reference the way we would conduct a reference interview. Lisa also talked about polysynchronous Virtual Reference, in which librarians interact with multiple patrons at the same time. She emphasized weighing the pros and cons, and that it requires time, skill, potential error, and the concept that we are all human!

Jennifer Robinson from the Seattle Public Library talked about using Virtual Reference/Chat with Teen and Tween patrons. She also debunked several misconceptions/myths, including , "You can't build relationships online", "VR is a local service only", "Teens will abuse", "People only ask informational questions online." Jennifer maintained importance of consistency, and that it is okay to use the same language that you would with a patron on the phone. ("I have to go grab something for you, can you wait until I do that" and perhaps give them a few online sources or keyword tricks while they're waiting). Always get contact information from patron and to think of yourself as ambassador to the library. When dealing with the young patrons such as children and teenagers, always remember that these are our future lawmakers, taxpayers, parents, etc. One positive relationship or interaction as a kid can have a long way. Stay patient with them, and don't say, "this service is for questions, only."

Top Technology Trends

Sorry for the delay between posts. I seem to be having problems connecting to the Internet access.
The Top Technology Trends panel consisted of experts in the library field discussing what they perceived as upcoming trends which will affect the library. This panel was one of my most favorite of the conference. Here are some of the highlights"

• Drupal is an open source content management system. (The online catalog would be an example of a content management system) Custom modules for libraries include the SOPAC (Social Opac) (If you google this keep in mind that the first hit is for the South Orange Performing Arts Center in New Jersey, formerly the home of Grunnings Ice Cream). While it is inexpensive to implement, it can be expensive on upkeep, including the training.
• Rise of the mobile apps -- Apps are becoming more popular than mere mobile based web sites. The expert mentioned that in some ways, this is returning back to a world that we had wanted to leave. When the Internet first started to become more mainstream, it was platform based and web sites were built for the specific platform. Once the browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, and later Firefox, and of course Safari for all of you Apple people) became more popular, the specific platform was no longer a concern. It also may make the content more vulnerable.
• Mobile marketing -- Should be part of central marketing strategy. Many retail establishments are using it. We can use free WIFI to get to our users, and it can be brand friendly or cost effective. For instance, we can market e-books to patrons using free WIFI. http://themwordblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-mobile-marketing-right-for-libraries.html
• Social reading trends using e-readers -- There are several social reading sites on the web such as Good Reads and Library Thing. (I love Library Thing. Here is my very incomplete list.) However, e-readers are now using some of the same aspects. The Kindle now has public notes that you can share with other Kindle readers, as well as discussions. The Borders Kobo also uses many of the same aspects as Good Reads. Readers can link directly to Twitter and Facebook if they like certain books. The expert mentioned that Overdrive and Gale (and other database vendors) should try to incorporate this technology into their products.
• Managing down print collections: http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/002151.html
  
• Better web accessibility -- Sites and databases are making improvements over offering better accessibility for all users, but they still can improve. U.S. Government Section 508 and The World Wide Web Consortium have standards for improving technology accessibility for everyone. According to a University of Michigan study, 72% of evaluated databases rated low for accessibility. Hope that the e-book format will remain accessible. The EPub 3 standard will hopefully ensure that continues to happen.
• Changes in imaging because of computational photography.
  
• Death of the mouse -- The speaker asked the audience how many brought lap tops. Yours truly, feeling like a relative of the Flinstones, raised her hand. She asked how many brought tablets and anyone hanging out with the Jetsons raised their hands! In other words, tablets are becoming the preferred device. She said that latops started the slow death march of the mouse, but that tablets will be the ultimate killer. She also reminded the audience how difficult it was to teach the mouse and how tempting it was for new users to touch the screen, which will make teaching touch screen a bit easier. I hope this doesn't mean the end of the keyword as anyone who knows me knows how much I love typing.
• More libraries are using Libguides and Library a la Carte. This represents the move to create a more unified experience, not to mention that the specific guides have characteristics of Itunes playlists!
• There is a new type of e-book on the web, in which the book is becoming, in the words of the speaker, "A citizen of the web". This type of book is hard to distinguish from a website.
  

Brooke Gladstone

I saw a presentation this morning from Brooke Gladstone, author of The Influencing Machine, and host of NPR's On the Media, my second favorite NPR show. (my first being Wait Wait Don't Tell Me). The Influencing Machine is a graphic novel depicting both the history of the media and Gladstone's assertion that the media is not outside our control.
Brooke Gladstone started off her talk by affirming her love for librarians saying that we are the "general practitioners of our culture" and that we are the main defenders of free speech. After mentioning that her book came as a result of 20 years of covering the media, that it also fulfilled her dream of becoming a comic book character.
A couple of points that she mentioned are that objectivity is impossible that one can not completely clear her mind when covering a story but rather can not let the bias get in the way. She talked about whether technology is contributing to the downfall of society and media and said that just because some technology is different doesn't mean that it's bad. She joked people think that any technology that comes out after they turn 45 is the sign of the apocalypse. She concluded with "don't fear the future" but rather "embrace the ride".
Gladstone then answered several questions including one of mine! (I was a little nervous and made up a new word in my question. I meant to say, "ad nauseam" and said "ignauseam") I mentioned that the mainstream media gets criticized for over covering news stories that may not be so important (such as the royal wedding or the Casey Anthony trial), and I wondered if they were covered because that's what people wanted, or if people were interested in them because of the amount of coverage. (The main one which comes to my mind is the media's handling of the death of Anna Nicole Smith). She said that those stories are "cheap" and that it does fit in with giving what they want or giving them what they need.
It was a fun talk and I got a book signed too!

Safety, Digital Literacy, and Harry Potter

“Person of Interest – Safety and Security in the Library”

This was a very informative panel on the importance of safety in the library and what we can do to stay safe. The panel consisted of three speakers, Nancy Relaford Director of Safety and Security for libraries at UC San Diego, Michael Daly, director of logistics and security management from the Queens Borough Public Library, and Stevan Layne from Layne Consultants International.

Nancy’s presentation wins for best title, “A Naked Guy Walks into your Library”. She pointed out that if you google “naked man library” the search will net over 2 million results, including the headline, “Naked man arrested at library with stolen cheese.” While that sounds funny (and it did to the audience), the reality is is that it’s not so funny while it’s happening. It can be unpredictable and scary and staff will probably be caught off guard as to what to do. Nancy emphasized (as did others in this presentation) that the first step is to call the police! She acknowledged that this is a learned step for most people. At UC San Diego, she specializes in awkward patron training in which staff can talk through stressful scenarios, and where the staff receives training in dealing with various patron type situations. Some of the topics covered include unreasonable patron requests (“could you read the entire book to me over the phone?”), lonely/chatty patrons, challenging patrons, delusional, vaguely/threatening, medical emergencies, and serious disruptions. The training also includes what to do during that brief period of time in which the police are called and the time that they arrive. Nancy stressed the importance of getting to know emergency personnel before an incident happens. A lot of police forces have someone who can do training.

Michael Daly also started his presentation on a humorous note with a slide show of patrons having to be removed from the library with the theme song from Cops playing in the background. His presentation was wonderful, however, with a stress on how to react to patrons who may cause problems, as well as an insight as to why they behave a certain way. Like Nancy, he emphasized the importance of calling the police while stressing that staff are not trained police officers and shouldn’t attempt to act like them. The police are there for a reason. Michael mentioned four specific groups: Homeless Patrons, Emotionally Disturbed Persons, Disorderly Customers, and Teen and Tween Patrons. Staff should be aware of where homeless can get help and where there are shelters. Staff should never try to argue with patrons who are emotionally disturbed patrons, and treat them with respect, to have a backup plan and to immediately call 911 if patron is violent. Michael gave special emphasis to teens and tweens, saying that kids can detect biases, and that staff should be respectful but firm. He mentioned that kids will act up because they want attention. He encouraged having programs that will engage teens, and to encourage seeking grant funding for such programs. The Queens Library for Teens sounds like an amazing place with its emphasis on the Teen Enrichment Program. Michael also discussed their incident reports, the process for banning patrons (have an appeal process in addition to sending both a banning notice and a letter), and the importance of enforcing rules with consistency. The Queens Library also has very visible signs reminding patrons to watch their children and to watch their belongings. Like Nancy, he emphasized the importance of maintaining relationships with the local police, and lastly, it’s always good to remind staff that they are part of “one team”.

Stevan Layne discussed the various consulting methods in training various staffs about dealing with emergency situations. He discussed the importance of a laminated sheet under the phones on what to do in the event of an emergency, with details outlined for each type of emergency including severe weather and active shootings. He mentioned the importance of employee awareness, echoing Nancy about what should staff do between the time the police are called and they arrive on the scene. Staff should be aware that they have their own safety to protect, as well. He talked about how do you save yourself in addition to others who may not be able to help themselves. (unattended children, someone in a wheelchair). He said that yelling, “Stop” can be effective at temporarily stopping someone. He also talked about uniformed security and how to make sure it is up to par, security cameras, the importance of monitoring all openings to the building, and installing panic transmitters.

This was all very good and food for thought.

Reclaiming Literacy in the Digital Age.

This was a panel discussion about libraries handing the “new” literacy, ie, digital literacy. Digital literacy can be defined by ten different people in ten different ways. For instance, I feel comfortable using basic programs on the computer, so I would consider myself digital literate, yet I don’t know any programming so a computer programmer may consider me digital illiterate. There was some discussion about this, as well as discussion on iniatives to improve digital literacy. One such program is Globaloria in West Virginia a school program in which school age children design computer games. The games must be on a school topic, and it encourages students to engage in critical thinking skills, self-led learning, peer to peer learning, and expert guided learning.

Before and After Harry Potter: Fantasy for grades 3-5 and 5-8

I attended this session because I always need to beef up on my fantasy reading and I am always trying to retain my young adult skills. It’s still my favorite literature but I feel like I’m less in the loop since I no longer do it full time. Plus, my strength lies in realistic fiction. I also was interested because there was some emphasis on what I call the pre-YA crowd (or “tween” if you prefer). The two speakers gave us some very helpful booklists and discussed a little about each book.

Keynote Speaker -- Dan Savage

The keynote speaker last night was none other than Dan Savage. Dan Savage, for those of you who don't know, is a writer who appears frequently on a variety of television shows, and NPR's This American Life. Savage, who is gay, also started the It Gets Better Project, which encourages GLBTQ adults to make videos encouraging teenagers who are GLBTQ, and are bullied by peers, adults, and family members that life does get better. The project has received a lot of attention and Savage and his husband have compiled many of the anecdotes in a book entitled, It Gets Better.
Savage gave a very inspiring speech, highlighting the power of the project. Savage mentioned that he speaks at a lot of universities about bullying against those who are GLBTQ but does not get invited to middle schools and high schools. Promoting videos on youtube was a way to reach out to this audience in order to inspire those who are being bullied for these reasons and as a way to educate those who are doing the bullying. He and his husband, Terry Miller, posted the first video and hundreds more followed. Engineers at google even adjusted his youtube account so that he was able to post more videos than first time accounts allowed. Videos have been submitted by famous and not so famous adults, including Ellen Degeneres, Tim Gunn, and even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He and Miller produced the book for a variety of reasons, but mainly because not everyone who should receive the message has access to a computer, because access to youtube may be blocked (at school, for instance), or because the teen in question wouldn't want his/her parents viewing the videos on his/her internet browser history. I, for one, appreciate that Savage recognizes not everyone has easy access to technology. We see that a lot at our library.
Mr. Savage concluded his talk with a very inspirational story about a young woman who was forced back into the closet, after her parents severely denounced her for saying that she was a lesbian. She watched the videos in secret and wrote to Mr. Savage that the videos gave her hope not only for her but for her parents. It was a very moving and powerful statement from such a young person.

Literacy Committee and Literacy Assembly

I spent Friday afternoon attending the meeting of the ALA Committee on Literacy and Literacy Assembly. I had never attended a committee meeting at ALA before and Literacy is an issue that is an important one, not only in the library world but in life, so this seemed like a natural fit. This meeting, while a few hours, was probably one of the most informative and enjoyable sessions I have ever attended at an ALA conference. Not only was the committee very inviting to non-members sitting in with them, the members also engaged in terrific discussions, and also illuminated what the committee is doing to promote literacy. I have so many notes from the meeting that it is hard to do justice in this blog post, but I'll post the highlights:

• There should be more integration of the different types of literacy, including family literacy, adult literacy, digital literacy, and ESL literacy.
• The chair of the committee and others addressed the topic that literacy should be addressed at the library, that, in a sense, it is going back to our roots.
• The committee is presenting a program at this year’s conference, called Lifetime of Literacy, which addresses the importance of literacy skills from infancy to maturity
• There is a new task force on digital literacy. It was noted several times that digital literacy can only be obtained if someone obtains basic literacy skills.
• There is a new government site through an initiative from ALA, digitalliteracy.gov which highlights many resources for digital literacy training for trainers, librarians, and those trying to enhance their digital literacy skills.
• Petrice Sams-Abioudun, from the Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy Loyola University gave an update regarding New Orleans and the role of literacy, especially post-Katrina. Some of her key points is that adult education has now moved to post-secondary, emphasis on the connection between literacy and the aftermath of disaster (in the wake of Hurrican Katrina and the BP Oil Spill), recovery of the library system. I’m also not doing Ms. Sams-Abioudun’s presentation justice. It was wonderful to listen to her.
• There are several toolkits for libraries on helping with literacy skills. A current one is entitled, “Keys to Engaging Older Adults @ your Library”. They are currently working on a toolkit about adult literacy. These are only some of the programs that this committee and the Office Literacy and Outreach Services (different from the Committee on Literacy) do.
• For more information: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/committees/ala/ala-literacy.cfm

Digitalliteracy.gov

Notes on early Friday morning

New Orleans is a city rich on history and the inspiration for several films, including The Big Easy, The Princess and the Frog, and the aforementioned A Streetcar named Desire. I haven't had a chance to fully tour the city yet to get a glimpse of its present, past, or future, but sadly the one part of recent history that we all know regards Hurricane Katrina from late August 2005 and its aftermath. The American Library Association (ALA) held their annual conference here back in 2006 and was one of the first major conferences held in the wake of Katrina. While there had been discussion about holding the conference elsewhere, board members of ALA decided to keep it in New Orleans. There is also a good opinion piece from Publishers Weekly regarding ALA's decision. (It's obtained through our online database Academic Onefile so you need to be on a Minuteman computer to access the link. You can also find it yourself by going to Academic Onefile, type in the keywords "american library association new orleans" and selecting the article entitled "Sara Nelson: booking New Orleans: the ALA did it. Others should follow" from the Magazine listing. Among other things, Nelson (a then editor at Publishers Weekly), mentioned the significance of using the Morial Convention Center, within distance of the Superdome. Both, if you remember, were insufficient in housing all of the people who were waylaid because of Katrina. Yesterday was rather quiet at the convention center as I signed in that it's hard to even imagine what it must have been like for all of those people back in the late summer of 2005.
While the 2006 ALA Conference placed some emphasis on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, there are still quite a few programs dedicated to the topic. For instance, there is a bus tour of public library branches built in the aftermath of Katrina, and a program entitled, "The Aftermath of Katrina and Rita: The Effects on Libraries, People, and Neighborhoods" (Here is a complete listing of Katrina related programs). I'm hoping to attend at least one of these sessions. While I agree that the city does want to move on from it, I think it's important that the rest of us don't forget.
By the way, I checked out an excellent documentary from our collection that I watched on the plane ride, Hurricane Katrina: The Storm that Drowned a City. I recommend watching it after I return it.

Stella!

Greetings from New Orleans, the setting of this year's American Library Association Conference. I have arrived a few hours ago after a fairly bumpy ride with several librarians. (One of whom said to me while waiting in the line for the restroom on the plane, "if this plane goes down, there won't be many librarians left in the Boston area.") Have met a few people so far including a few ladies who work at the Boston Public Library, as well as flying in with my friend. Re-met another librarian who I met a few years ago who is now working on the south shore (also on our flight, of course). Needless to say, this was probably one of the most literate flights I ever took, and yet I think most of us were taking advantage of the free tvs on the plane. (yours truly watched I Dream of Jeannie on TV Land while sneaking in peeks of the current Newberry Medal winner). After a quick lunch (where we were recognized as librarians!), we headed over to the conference center where I now am, and need to figure out my conference. I have a spreadsheet of all of my events that I would like to attend, including several at once so I need to get that straightened out. There are some on conducting business reference, several on readers' advisory, information literacy, working with patrons, and some young adult interest, as well. What to do! What to see!
As for New Orleans, I haven't been here long enough to appreciate it, but it is very different. I tried to gauge from the air how Katrina had changed the city and I couldn't. Bourbon Street has a lot of great architecture and reminds me of Main Street USA from Disney World, if Disney World sold alcohol. I have a lot of great leads about restaurants, etc. so I hope to check them out. My main goal is to find a terrace so I can yell, "Stella" in honor of Tenessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.