ILA Highlights

I attended ILA for the first time today and it was really great! Here are my highlights of the day:

1. I saw Brad Reel (our classmate) in person! I'm used to seeing him over the V-Tel so to see Brad in flesh and blood was great!

2. I was able to spend the a beautiful, sunny, 80 degree day at Navy Pier and even had time to enjoy the outside and views a bit.

3. Two bags of FREE stuff! All very useful, such as a big orange stuffed bear I won playing Plinko, a train whistle, a cell phone screen cleaner, Post-It notes, notebooks, 2 tote bags, a ginormous foam pencil (not sure what the point of that was but it was FREE), pins proclaiming my love for libraries, and more writing utensils than you can shake a stick at!

4. Cool seminars, for the most part. I started out at a Gadgets and Gizmo's talk, but after 20 minutes of the presenters describing how to use a Kindle with no relation of how this would benefit a library, I left and went to "Advocacy on the Front Lines" which featured speakers from public, academic, and special libraries. Unfortunately, I missed the public library speaker due to wasting my time watching the Kindle demo, but the special and academic librarian also had some excellent suggestions that applied to public libraries. In the afternoon, I attended "Building and Promoting the Downloadable Library" which was very interesting and informative. A common theme in both programs was improving communication to and between staff so that everybody knows what is going on and can at the very least, direct patrons to the appropriate staff. Outreach was also a prevalent theme in both of these topics.

5. Great poster presentations. Our library hosted one on "Love to Read Week" which I am an annual participant in, so that, of course, was the best. However, I also loved the "Lend Them Your Laptops" idea presented by Brookfield PL. What an awesome solution for providing additional computer access when all your desktops are in use. The laptops can only be used in the library, and they have them "lojacked" in case someone tries to steal them.

6. Pretending we were SAGE Publications. They didn't show up for their booth so whenever we got tired, we would sit there and sort thru our loot bags. Nobody tried to ask us any questions, but that is likely because we were the only vendor without a large bowl of candy on our table. There were several other no-shows so everytime we walked by an empty booth I would loudly proclaim "You've got to be kidding me! I came all the way to Chicago to visit with Bradford Systems Corporation and they're not here?!!!" Trust me, that was actually really fun, especially if you said it with an English accent, such as "Braaadford".

7. Seriously, the networking and sharing of ideas at ILA was inspiring. There are so many dedicated and progressive libraries and librarians out there embracing change, looking to the future, and willing to share their insights, triumphs, and tribulations. I ran into the librarian who arranged one of my job shadows last spring and also met the director of a nearby library who spoke so highly of my library's director aiding her when she first started out. Pretty neat.

8. Finally, on the train on the way home, I noticed that EVERY single person in our car had something to read-book or newspaper. So much for the death of the written word.