1) Bookcart Drill Team World Championships. This was super fun. Other bloggers have written about it, but Demco certainly got their money's worth. Only problem -- ALA underestimated how many people would show and there weren't enough seats for all. Congratulations to the Book Divas from Houston, Texas on their big win. For pictures and more blog info, try this link: http://www.federalinfopro.com/federal_info_pro/2007/06/drill-team-2-dr.html

2) Judy Blume. She cried! Like, four times! As an inveterate crier myself, this made me feel good and normal, just how Judy Blume has always made me feel.

3) Ken Burns. Great speaker, wonderful preview of his latest documentary The War (a documentary about WWII which will be shown on PBS in September).

Least Favorite Things about ALA

1) People not behaving themselves in public areas. Despite the fact that "everybody knows" to turn their cellphones off, some ALA participants *answered* phone calls during programs, including the films!! Argh!

2) Hurting feet. I know, I know. I should have been more careful about my shoe selection. Next time I'm going for tennis shoes, fashion be darned!

Thanks to Skip Auld for inviting me and other DCL staffers to the Urban Libraries Council breakfast. It made me proud to be part of this organization. Thanks also to Rheda Epstein on her tips for How To Visit ALA and Live To Tell the Tale.

Trustee Ken Berger's Comments:

I attended several sessions of the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) and the Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA), in addition to complete coverage of the exhibit area and a rousing speech by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  Some impressions:

While there were a few systems that had remarkable success in gaining sustenance ($$$) from their local communities and governing bodies (e.g., the ULC award winning Los Angeles Public Library), there were many, many that were less successful in competing for local funding.  We can take great comfort in the support DCL gets from the county’s citizens and commissioners.

The trustees are on the right track, especially when tied with Skip’s and the staff’s efforts to inform and involve the people of Durham.  One way we might consider our influence is by having trustees (and library staff!) present at more tables (i.e., meetings of various civic, government, school and other appropriate organizations). 

The strategic plan (process and developing document) is definitely on the right track.  I heard elements presented by numerous speakers from numerous libraries that validated what we already knew, but it is nice to hear that public libraries all across the country are recognizing the same needs and similar solutions.

Ditto on sore feet!  The acres of exhibits alone were a challenge to aging arches, knees and ankles!

And thanx to Skip for asking me to attend.

Tanika Terry

The ALA Conference was great!  I attended several sessions.  I found the ALA New Member Roundtable session on Conference 101 to be very helpful.  New attendees were given helpful tips and suggestions on how to

navigate what could have been an overwhelming and intimidating conference.  My favorite session was REFORMA President's program, the theme was Cultural Competence:  Bridging the the Gap Between What We Say and What We Do.  Dr. Camila Alire (Dean Emerituas, University of New Mexico and Colorado State University) stated that it's important to "accept the value of diversity." be, "advocates for change," have a "knowledge of cultures," and "cope with the dynamics of the change that diversity brings." I attended the Auditorium Speaker Series with Judy Blume.

I went through the four step process to obtain a Reader Identification card at the the Library of Congress.  I traveled from the Madison Building to the Jefferson Building via the underground tunnel, I found this to be convenient (especially since it was much cooler inside than outside). 

"The Stacks,"  were filled with everything imagineable to help libraries function.  I won a $250 Spa package from the School Library Journal and a $25 gift certificate from Demco!  After all that my feet went through, I am ready for the Spa experience. 

This conference allowed me to network with other library Professionals, Paraprofessionals, and Library students.  I became familiar with countless organizations.

Last but not least, I participated in Library Day on The Hill at Capital Hill.  To be in the Capital buildings was great!  I visited the offices of a few of North Carolina's Congressmen, I met and spoke briefly with Congressman Bob Etheridge, it was a priviledge to speak with him in his office.  This meeting lasted under 2 minutes but the memory will last a lifetime. 

RUTH FINCH

My favorite program was called "Transforming Your Library: Your customer has been transformed, so where is your library." One of the panelists was George Needham, whose survey about how people from a half-dozen Englsih speaking countries who are comfortable on the Internet regard the library is already posted elsewhere on the Wiki. I had already read the survey, but it was very interesting to see what the data mean to the man who did the survey.

There were three hilights from his speech that I wanted to share:

1. Despite recent efforts to emphaize how libraries are high-tech information/entertainment portals and community gathering places instead of just stacks and stacks of moldy old books, most people still regard the library as primarily a place to check out books. And, Needham said, this is not a bad thing! Because people like books. And people who don't like books? They generally still like to pretend they like books! His survey found that people will even go so far as to lie about how often they use the library, embellishing upwards to report how many times they think they should have used the library instead of how many times they actually did. It was very interesting to see how the trend has now come full circle, from being about books, to being about so much more than books, and now, back to being all about books.

2. Needham also said that maybe we should think twice about billing our libraries as an information portals. Most people are already on information overload, so advertizing the library as a free place to get more of something you already have too much of might not be the best strategy. Instead of focusing on the depth or breadth of the information we have at the library, we should instead focus on getting information more precisely matched to our patron's needs, and making it easier for customers to come in and get their needs met without our help. People are getting more and more used to information that has been disaggregated that they can then recompile in a manner that suits their personal needs (think iTunes vs. buying entire albums, customized home pages vs. yahoo.com, etc.) The library should think about how it can do more to adapt this model.

3. Last, Needham advocated being more  judicious about our technology investment. For example, he said, there's no point in investing in new technology just so you can do something you've always done, the way you've always done it, only on a new machine! That's not progress, that's just a dog-and-pony show. And there's no point in getting new capabilities that none of our patrons have ever asked for and nobody will actually use.  Better to invest in one new technology and one training on that new technology than two new technology that nobody knows how to bring to its full potential.

Sandra Lovely and Brenda Watson Hall

Bringing in the Boys: Using Multiple Intelligences to Plan Programs that Appeal to Boys

We thought this session was the highlight of all the sessions we attended. The presenters were very informative and gave excellent tips on how to get boys excited about reading, utilizing the MI Theory " The Theory of Multiple Intelligences" meaning kids learn in different ways and in order to attract them and to provide service to them we must understand the different learning styles and offer an opportunity for learning in their dominant learning style.

Presenters:

Amy Brown is Youth Services Librarian at Worthington Libraries abrown@worthingtonlibraries.org

Molly Meyers is Children's Librarian at Worthington Libraries mmeyers@worthingtonlibraries.org

Recommended Reading: Connecting Boys with Books: What Librareis can do by Michael Sullivan

For more information see Amy and Molly's wiki at www.multipleintellegences.pbwiki.com