Sunday, April 20, 2008

020.Views of TLA Librarians/Information Specialists & Their Conference

As promised a few days ago (wow, how time flies when you are absorbed!) here are some sights from the conference in Dallas. Not as many as I had hoped because 1. the camera battery conked out on me most of one day & 2. I was just too darn immersed to remember to take a shot or two of who or what I was immersed in! Sorry!

A whole room full of...catalogers! And not scary at all! Everyone there was just trying to learn and, more importantly understand RDA & FRBR & the implications on our way of doing things...especially in the cataloging world. Shawne Miksa did a fair job of making it understandable. And then Scott Piepenburg (for which there is no photo -- good or bad because that is when the battery went dead) assured me that I did know what I was doing...it is always to check in with yourself.

Along with a colleague, I am "in love" with Alan November now! Always on the fringes of my reading and learning, I am now going thru some of his stuff more carefully and in greater detail because I want to capture even a small degree of his passion for learning and understanding AND helping kids to learn and understand the world as it is now...where technology is considered a critical part of the success and not something to be scared of and worried over. A great way part of his message was done was simply by having the other participant, Kathy Schrock, on board thru Skype! It was fun"seeing" her long-distance.

And then two action-packed & insanely intense sessions with Joyce Valenza. The picture is terrible I know, but even if I had been closer, I'm not sure I could have done much better because it is hard to capture a speeding bullet and I was worried the energy coming from this terrific woman would blow me over like a tornado's wind! She is incredible in what she knows, what she does, and how much she wants to share it all with anyone within earshot!

I have to admit that the cataloging portion of TLA was more of a "have-to" than a "want-to," but the time was well-spent. The technology sessions I attended were more "fun," but really tied me in knots trying to keep up and understand everything they were demonstrating. I will go into more details as time permits.

But then there were the REALLY fun moments of conference...when opportunities just happened! Take a look!


1 comment:

Cathy Jo Nelson said...

Alan November, Kathy Schrock, and Joyce Valenza are three of my favorites! All three have been to SCASL (SC Association of Sch Librarians) Conferences. Last year we had Alan November, and his demo of skype was going really bad b/c none of his "arranged" contacts would answer. So i skyped him from the audience to help out(which totally took him by surprise!) He looked u surprisingly and asked if a Cathy Nelson was in the audience, and of course all my neighbors began shouting and pointing. So he accepted my call, and the next thing you know their's my head (my laptop has a webcam) on both of the big screens! Of course he used me to demonstrate, but it wasn't near as neat, effective, or powerful as having Kathy Schrock!! But since then I've had a few skypechats with him. Im supposed to attend his BLC conference this summer--how exciting!