Conference Advice

The past few days have seen some great posts about how to get the most from conferences from INALJ.  First there was  a great round-up of ALA conference ideas and then tips for a conference newbie. That reminded me of a post I bookmarked years ago, intending to post it: How to Get the Most Out of Conferences on Half an Hour.

My personal tips for conferences?

• Get out of your comfort zone – introduce yourself to others, make connections.  If you’re a New Yorker, you would never dream of saying hello to random strangers but at a conference, it’s de rigueur.
• If the conference has multiple foci or strands (like ALA, BEA, CIL), go to at least one session that isn’t in your field.  What I mean is, if you work K-4, go to a college session (your students need to be prepared for that!) and vice versa (what are the young’uns learning?).  If you deal mostly with books, look at tech innovations.  You may never use the information in your daily work life, but you’ll have opened a tiny door into a new world for yourself.
• Take time for yourself. One of my favorite moments at the 2011 CIL was having an in-room massage!  Decadent, but very relaxing.  Find a tea shop out of the conference area and go sit quietly.  Don’t feel you must attend everything – you’ll get overwhelmed.
• Pack intelligently.  Wear what’s comfortable for you, being mindful of the weather.  I’ve had to go shopping for warmer or cooler outfits – layer layer layer.  If you usually wear high heels, that’s fine (so many tips say “comfortable shoes” but my 1″ heels may be problematic for someone who exclusively wears 3″+, and I’d die if I wore something higher).
• Find a local grocery.  Bring fruit, yogurt and other snack-type items back to your room for an early morning pick-me-up, a late night nibble or something to toss into you bag for between session eating.  Lines will be very long in the conference hall!  And if you’re on a restricted diet, vendor/publisher/award meals don’t take that into account so be prepared.

My other tip is an oldie, but I think goodie.  I take notes longhand and then transcribe them.  Why?  Research shows that if you have to look at something more than once, editing and expanding it as you go along, you’ll retain more.  It’s a great way for me to remember what I heard (particularly after a session-filled few days) and reinforce things.  It’s also a great way to say “hmmm…. interesting, but never going to use that again”.  Don’t be afraid to weed out what will never be used!

Most of all, enjoy.  Have a great time being professionally developed.

Sleep Deprived in Seattle

In addition to my final ENFYA committee meeting (and the incredibly exciting Youth Media Awards, where our winner took two other medals), there was much to do in Seattle.

As I always try to do during conferences, I spent time with non-librarian friends outside the confines of the professional bubble (you know there’s a problem when you meet people on your way home and they’re wondering 1. what day it is and 2. if anything has happened “out there”).  First up, before things started, was breakfast at the Hi Spot Cafe  in the charming neighborhood of Madrona  with my friend Patrice.  We had wonderful food and coffee (it is Seattle, after all) and chatted for three hours.  Then she drove me around Cap Hill and a few other neighborhoods before alighting at  her favorite used bookstore, where she was looking for a specific Middle Eastern cookbook.  They didn’t have it, but I did, so as soon as I got home I popped it in the mail to her.

Sunday gave me a few hours with Nancy and her husband.  We traipsed through the Ballard Farmer’s Market, where I wished I could bring home with me so many items (colored beets! incredible jams! amazing chocolates!) but… well… maybe next time.  It was a little drizzly, so we stopped for tea at Miro Tea, where I found my new favorite drink: a London Fog Latte (aka a latte made with Earl Grey tea).  Then we drove around a little, looking at other areas and architecture and ended our time together at Chocolati with some incredible European sipping chocolate.

When everything was over, I had six hours before heading to the airport for my redeye home (ugh).  Luckily, Wendy also had free time and we went to The Crumpet Shop, walked (in the rain!) to Twice Sold Tales to poke around and get a fix of cat cuddling and finally for an early dinner at Le Pichet (more hot chocolate). Perfect way to end my time there….

But it wasn’t just all fun and chocolate!  Because this is a Meeting, not a Conference, there weren’t too many sessions I could attend (and those I could were often at inconvenient times) so I contented myself with going to many publishers book sessions and the RUSA awards.  Yes, I picked up many, many books – 70 overall, 9 of which I’ve already read:

Trends?

Death.  Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, but death.  Examples?  Dead is a Killer Tune.  Scorch.  Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock.  The Finish-up List. Boy Nobody. Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia.

Dystopia. Even though the publishers recognize that we might be “dystopianed out”, they’re convinced that this one is different. Examples? Dualed. Middle Ground. When We Wake.

What I’m excited to read. The new Stephen Dobyns (I loved his Saratoga/Charlie Bradshaw series and Church of Dead Girls, so that he finally has a new one…).  The new Camilla Lackburg. Kent Haruf’s Benediction, The City’s Son (sounds like Gaiman’s Neverwhere for YA).  The Astor Orphan.

While I may not hit last year’s 400 books, with this group I know I’ll have a great time attempting it!

Behind the locked door – finale

It’s over. By now, you know which of our five finalists won the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award. What you don’t know is how it all happened.

When I last posted, the committee had just decided on the shortlist of five finalists. That was November, and since then we (the committee) have reread, rereread, rerereread (etc) those books, pondering the pros and cons of each. Can this perceived flaw negate that wonderful quality? Does this amazing story overcome a lack in another area? Is this the perfect book? HOW CAN I CHOOSE???

And, of course, because there’s an announced shortlist there is time for others – many others – to comment. How much weight do you give to the extra input? Some pointed out things that we noticed and commented on in our discussions, some found things we’d overlooked. Trying to ignore all that to form an opinion in a vacuum is impossible but….

Behind the locked door, part four – nearing the end

Our selection year is over – the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award covers books published between Nov. 1 and Oct. 31, so anything published after October 31, 2012 is eligible for the 2014 award but not the one to be awarded in a few short weeks.

Since my last post, I and the rest of the committee have continued to read, re-read, mull over and discuss the various books.  We had scheduled chats in ALA Connect and conference calls, all following the format I described earlier (first talk about the book’s pros, then the cons). Total, I’d guess we’ve at least looked at 90 books.  Of those, there were so very many books nominated (both from within the committee and from the field – aka you, the general reading public) for us to choose from.

Everyone reads differently, and everyone weighs elements of a book differently.  What was great about the discussions was that often the things I’d missed but that had struck the other members were things that changed my mind… and vice versa.  Hearing that others caught the same issues I’d caught, or had loved – LOVED – the same things I did validated my thinking.   It’s different from being in a book group, believe me.

As October wound down, we were asked to choose a preliminary top five from the eligible nominated books.  Some books were easily chosen, others easily left off.  But a few… really, it was quite difficult to choose from some of the titles.  The “good” part was that this was the Preliminary Top Five, not the Real Top Five.  Then we had a conference call to discuss that list.  We all felt that there were some books “on the bubble” but overall we were pleased that there was so much consensus.  Next task: the Real Top Five.

Again, weighing what everyone said during our first talks about the books, other comments made during the year, and this recent conference call, I re-read and pondered.  And came up with a Real Top Five.  Because this was such a difficult choice, it didn’t surprise me to learn that we were clear on four titles, and very very close on two others.  After some discussion, we have our Top Five (ALA has it, too, and will announce it later this week).  The e-mails after the list was finalized were so emotional – surprisingly so.  I mean, you hear about that from other committee members but until you’re there, well…

But wait, there’s more!

Remember how earlier in this post I said we’d had a lot of books nominated?  The Top Five, the shortlist for the award, are set.  But there’s still work to be done.  The books nominated by the committee that didn’t make the Top Five now need to be annotated and given out  (see previous years here – login required, sadly).   And of course, in January we’ll be meeting for one final session to talk about that Top Five – which one will be The Most Excellent Non-Fiction Book for Young Adults???  That, of course, will be announced during the Youth Media Awards on Monday, January 28, to be followed by a reception for the authors of all five books on the shortlist.

Finding the Sweet Spot – professional learning

As the year draws to a close many of us spend time evaluating what and how we’re doing. For me, it’s also a time to think about my professional development and what my Return on Investment is for each method.

There are a ton of library-related conferences out there for us to attend: EduCon, ALA Annual, ALA Midwinter, ALA’s divisional conferences (like AASL’s bienniel conference, or ACRL’s annual one, not to mention YALSA’s biennial Literature Symposium), SLJ’s Leadership Summit, ISTE, NCTE/ALAN, IBBY and many more, not to mention local and state organizations’ events.  I see some people constantly flitting from one to another and I wonder two things: don’t their home libraries miss them? and what are they actually getting from each event?

Yes, each has a different focus and attracts different people.  And obviously if you’re presenting you’ve got good reason to go.  But if you’re not presenting, are you actually learning new things, or is it more reiterating what you heard – albeit in slightly different words or format – in a previous session at a previous conference?  There’s definite value to the networking opportunities, and if you’re a solo librarian it’s incredibly validating and heartwarming to be with others you can talk to on a professional level.  But what is the ROI?

It’s not just about conferences – how many organizations, elists, publications, blogs, twitter feeds, etc. can you follow sensibly?  For me, it’s about finding the few people who are great aggregators and following them.  Otherwise I find that I’m ignoring too many tweets and posts, the really good stuff getting lost in the overwhelming flood of information.

Behind the Locked Door, part three – #ALA12 and beyond

When you’re on a “locked door” committee, you don’t get a lot of time to experience an ALA conference. Why? Because from 1:30-5:30 on Saturday and Sunday you’re in your locked room, with your committee, talking about the nominated books. That’s if you’re lucky! Some committees meet all day.

Thoughts from #ALA12 – the tools

Having had a few days to decompress and re-revisit my notes, here are the tools I’ll be playing with/exploring over the summer:

ReadCube
Mendeley
Muse
FreeMind

I’ll also be musing over these:

Jason Scott’s Archive Team
MITH (Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities)
Salman Rushdie’s Digital Life
Personal Digital Archiving Conference

Feel free to add any Cool Tools or Tips you’ve heard about and think worthy of some summertime musing.

Thoughts from #ALA12 – the fun

In addition to all the meetings and the learning, there was fun to be had at ALA.

Of course (obviously?) the fun was book-centered. At the opening of the Exhibits, my ARC Ninja posse and I hit the various book publishers for ARCs. Thanks to BEA a few weeks earlier, I’d already gotten a number of them (and was able to point out good ones to the others) so this was a smaller haul than usual. Still, there were a few that I’d been hoping for that I did get – thank you, publishers. I’ll be reading, reviewing and making purchasing decisions for the rest of the summer! Sadly, that was the last time I’d be on the exhibit floor until Monday.

Thoughts from #ALA12 – learning sessions

With all my meetings, the time that I had to take advantage of the learning opportunities was slim.  That didn’t mean that I didn’t try my best to take advantage of what was there, though.

First, of course, was the session I did with the wonderful Ellysa Cahoy.  We explored “Online Personal Archiving”, talking about the need for us to think about what information we’re creating, what we’re consuming, what tools we’re using to save information and what information we really do need to save:

Thoughts from #ALA12 – working sessions

Many people assume that when you say “I’m going to Anaheim” what you mean is “I’m going to Disneyland”.  And many people assume that when you say that you’re going to a conference, you’re going to a wild convention that should stay in Vegas.   For some librarianspeople, that’s true. Not for me: I haven’t been back to Disneyland since ’71 (and I’ve never been to Disneyworld), and this time around my conference included so many committee meetings that I didn’t get to too many learning sessions.