Thoughts on ALA Annual-Any Benefit in Membership?

After spending the weekend at ALA's Annual Conference in Chicago I have mixed feelings on my continued membership in ALA. It was nice to attend the conference as an attendee instead of an employee and I enjoyed the ease of attending a conference so close to home. However I am torn on the benefits of membership in ALA and don't think I will be renewing my $98.00 membership dues as the end of this month.

Here are a few of my thoughts on ALA membership:
1. In the years I have been a member of ALA I have received very little educational, career or personal benefit from membership.
2. I find ALA to be out of touch with younger and newer-to-the-profession librarians and very slow in bridging the gap between us and the organization.
3. The ALA website, event planner and other technologies are often out of date, slow and not easily accessible.
4. I've seen many of my peers in the field speak at ILA and NSLS events which were more relative to my work than seeing them on a panel in an overcrowded conference room at an ALA conference.
5. Cost, seriously the cost of joining ALA is expensive and if a member is interested in also joining one of the ALA divisions like PLA or YALSA there is an additional cost for each unit. Very few librarians can afford yearly ALA membership dues running into the hundreds of dollars.

Here is what worked for me at the ALA Annual Conference:
1. The choice of McCormick Place West as the conference center. The train system to and from Chicago is excellent and takes you into the heart of the City. A cab ride to McCormick from the main train station is about $14, cheaper than parking and manageable if sharing a cab with a colleague. I chose to drive in on 2 days and the parking was excellently located, underneath the main conference floor and a bargain for the City of Chicago at $19 for the day.
2. The exhibit hall was wide open, well lit and not freezing. The exhibitors were friendly and author signings appeared to be well managed.
3. All but a couple of the programs I wanted to attend were on site at McCormick which meant no waiting for the bus system ALA provides between the conference center and the conference hotels.
4. The special events I attended were the highlight of the conference. Both the YALSA Fashion Show and Happy Hour (at the Westin River North Hotel)and the ALA Scholarship Bash (at the Art Institute) were excellent events, well attended and lots of fun!
5. Good signage throughout the conference center and programs started on-time. Plus I was able to find a seat in all but 1 of the programs.

Here is what didn't work for me at the ALA Annual Conference:
1. The cost. Expensive for a full conference registration. If I attend another ALA Annual Conference again I absolutely will not pay for the entire conference only exhibits and a few special events.
2. Food options. Yes it's a conference center but $12.00 for a salad bar, come on. $6.50 for a cup of soup! $9.75 for a sandwich! Ya and only 1 Starbucks to handle thousands of people. If conference centers can't get businesses like Subway and other affordable food vendors in they are doomed.
3. The librarians there only for the free stuff. I know to expect this but really the grabbing and stuffing of their free tote bags with every imaginable piece of crap is nauseating. How many posters, bookmarks, pens and suckers do you need! And then as they try to squeeze by you in an overcrowded room they smack everyone's ankles with their jammed bags. Sigh.
4. Lack of networking opportunities. Sure there were some but I never found one without a cost associated with attendance.
5. Redundancy of programs. I attended 2 programs on Web 2.0, the only difference appeared to be in the catchy title of the program. I learned nothing new and walked away with no ideas or solutions for my library.

In the library field we've heard so much in the past few years about the future of libraries and the printed book but I think the real threat in the profession is to the relevancy of professional organizations like ALA that aren't adapting as quickly to the needs of members as librarians and libraries are adapting to the needs of their patrons.

YALSA What TO Wear Fashion Show Tonight!

Well tonight is my night to act like a supermodel. I'm walking in the YALSA (a division of the American Library Association) What TO Wear Fashion show. I'm one of the librarians who were chosen to model clothes that librarians SHOULD wear and I'm sure there won't be a tweed skirt or hair in a bun on any one of us!
If you are in Chicago tonight, the show is at the Westin River North from 5-7 in the Grand Ballroom. Happy Hour is too follow.
"up on the catwalk", I have that silly song in my head....

ALA in Chicago

The American Library Association's Annual Conference is in Chicago this year and begins in a few days. The last time the ALA Conference was in Chicago was in 2005 and I was still working for ALA in the PLA division. It will be interesting to attend my first ALA conference as a non-employee and see how things work as an attendee instead of behind the scenes. I've been using ALA's online event planner to plan the programs I will be attending during the 4 days I will be visiting the conference and so far the event planner is as frustrating to use as it was years ago. It always amazes me in a technological age when an organization doesn't make the technology they use easy to locate on a webpage, easy to use and easy to share.
Regardless, I am anticipating attending a dozen or so programs and visiting the exhibitors area. Another perk of having ALA's conference in Chicago this year is the ability to network with local and national librarians I wouldn't normally see face to face.
If you are planning on attending ALA in Chicago this weekend, let me know, I will be at ALA Friday thru Monday (including walking in the YALSA What To Wear fashion show for librarians on Friday night). You can email me at livelylibrarian@comcast.net and I will email you my cell number so we can meet up.

Cowboy Librarian?

So I've returned from the mountains of Colorado and lived to tell the tales. After 21 years of avoiding all things outdoorsy I returned to the Mile High City for the first time in the summer since 1988. Now don't get me wrong, I've nothing against the state in the colder months, I've been skiing the hills of Colorado since 1983 and learned to snowboard there back in the 90's but I've been avoiding the state once the snow melts. Sad thing is my parents have owned homes out there since the early 80's and my sister relocated to Denver from Chicago a few years ago so I've had amble opportunity to visit, I just prefer to visit family when they are living at their home in Florida, I am way more a beach girl than a mountain girl. So after years of sending my son out there in the summer, I decided it was time to experience my mother's sanctuary in the mountains with him, my husband and my very happy mom and step-dad.

I can't deny it, Colorado is a beautiful place. Wide open valleys bordered by towering mountains and spectacular sunsets that light up the sky and reflect off the snow still clinging to the tops of the Rockies. My parents own a lovely home in the area around Winter Park with amazing views over the mountains and from their deck you can relax and take in 180 degree vistas. Truly spectacular. What was neat about the trip was experiencing things I've never done (or even thought of doing before). One afternoon we raced town the alpine slides at Winter Park, another we rented a pontoon boat (surely the dumbest type of boat ever dreamed up) and glided over the largest natural lake in Colorado (Grand Lake). On Saturday night we attended the local rodeo and that was so surreal it was like visiting another planet. Truly a family affair, most of the participants were high school age and their families seem to be heavily involved in everything from rodeo clowning to cleanup to fund raising.
I also visited local libraries and was pleased to find new modern buildings built in the center of small towns. At the Grand Lake Juniper Library they were having a theater night benefit showing of Pirates of Penzance!

One of the highlights of my travels are all the libraries I visit. From the most prestigious libraries in the world to the small mountain log cabin libraries, people USE and LOVE the books and services that remind us that the best things in life are still simple and free.

Article-7 Most Impressive Libraries Throughout History

And yes, 1 of them is the Bodleian. Cool.
Very intersting article, maybe a good trip would be to visit them all, I've been to 2 and counting...
http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/news/the-7-most-impressive-libraries-from-throughout-history/

Summer Beginnings and Endings

Well it's been an interesting month already, I still feel like I am waiting for sunny summer days. Since I last posted on June 12th the joy of celebrating my son's 16th birthday on June 15th was met with the passing of my mother-in-law the day before. I've been off work and frequently out of town so much I'm feeling a bit disconnected. In the way of trying to ground myself with the familiar I've been turning to the comforts of friends (laughter and support, thanks guys!), fantasy (some good summer reads & films) and food (attempting to eat better when too busy too eat!). Here are a few of my favorite comforts:
1. Water - yes water...I'm trying to drink as much as possible and thanks to my friend Kathy I've discovered SASSY water from the book The Flat Belly Diet. A combination of 8 1/2 glasses of water with 1 sliced lemon, 1 sliced cucumber, mint leaves and fresh ground ginger is totally delicious and perfectly refreshing.
2. Movies - I've lost myself in some good ones lately including the edge-of-your-seat thriller Taken starring Liam Neeson and the fish-out-of-water New In Town starring Rene Zellweger.
3. Farmers Markets - my favorite thing about summer meals is the fresh, local produce you can buy at your neighborhood farmers market. I love buying from local farmers and feel better about reducing my carbon footprint by not buying produce shipped from thousands of miles away. No matter where I am in Illinois or Michigan I am able to find wonderful markets filled with happy shoppers and sellers and hope you have a few options where you live.
4. Flowers - right now my home is filled with flowers in remembrance of my mother-in-law. It's the perfect season to buy at markets and local stands or maybe just from your own backyard! Flowers always give my spirit a lift.
5. The Beach - even though we've had record rain in my area this "summer", it' nice to be just a short drive away from beautiful beaches in Chicago and Michigan. We have a boat at a yacht club in the relaxing boating and artistic area of Saugatuck in Michigan but sometimes all I need is just a walk on the sand to put things in perspective. I've also narrowed down my "Can't live without at the beach" list to 5 things. Here they are: swimsuit, sunscreen, sunglasses, book and a long sleeve hooded dress (Lands' End makes a great one which you can find here)
I leave in 48 hours for a much needed vacation to Colorado, I'll post before I leave and from the mountains.

Looking for escapism? Try a romance novel.

I doubt I'm the only one who avoids the news because I don't want to read one more story about murder, the economy or corruption. I even avoid the home page on my email because I don't want to read the latest headlines. My regular reading tendencies run the gamut from popular fiction to biographies, historical romances to home and fashion non-fiction. I have noticed that the more I want to escape the more I turn to romance. There is just something about the hope that love conquers all. Apparently I'm not the only one, check out this great article about the increase in romance book sales.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iXbaifSYkXBs6dunRGLBJeIgKnFQD98FDNJO0