ILF 2014 The Exhibit Hall (ToolKit B for 671)

After the keynote speech, there was a block of time in the schedule called a "No Conflict" time to give everyone a chance to visit the Exhibit Hall.  The hall was full of vendors selling or advertising everything from books to architecture.  Book vendors were there, including Follett and Baker and Taylor, as well as our local and independent Kids Ink bookstore.  IUPUI was there, as well, with information about degrees in informatics and librarianship.

Almost every booth in the hall had candy to give away.  Clearly they know how to get our attention!  It really did feel like Halloween in there.  One design firm was even giving away full sized Nestle Crunch bars!  I put my treats in the goody bag I received when I picked up my name badge as I browsed the displays.  As I made my way down the aisles, I was particularly interested in a machine that re-glues a books pages to it's spine.  It was much cooler than my Elmer's glue and binder clip method of repair.  Alas, it was very expensive.  Maybe I need to write a Donor's Choose grant proposal?

The refreshing thing about this particular exhibition was the lack of sales pressure.  As many of us are government employees or working for a large business of some sort, we don't really go from booth to booth writing checks.  These vendors were providing us with information, for the most part, so we can decide if we have room in our budgets for book repair toys or for a big remodel.

I didn't ask a lot of questions this time because I don't really have the authority to make buying decisions in my position as a library assistant, but I did eavesdrop on many conversations between librarians and vendors.  I got a feel for how size and location (rural vs. urban) seems to affect the services or amenities a library offers.  I heard a librarian from a small rural school discussing the addition of Follett e-books to her collection which made me wonder how different her space and collection must be than mine, which services a large urban population.  We've had e-books in our collection for some time.  I also saw that the architecture firms had fewer people stop and I wondered if the interested parties were public library directors or maybe school district officials.

The hall was a good place to get a feel for the diversity in librarianship in our state.  Many ethnic backgrounds were represented at the conference ranging in age from young adult to senior citizens and in the hall they were intermingled in way that made me certain that knowledge increases empathy.  I read an article in the Guardian online with author Neil Gaiman the other day on the importance of libraries in a society and this quote really stuck with me, "...because a book is a little empathy machine. It puts you inside somebody else’s head. You see out of the world through somebody else’s eyes. It’s very hard to hate people of a certain kind when you've just read a book by one of those people."


References

Litt, T. (2014, November 17). Neil Gaiman: Libraries are cultural 'seed corn' Retrieved November 21, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/17/neil-gaiman-libraries-are-cultural-        seed-corn?CMP=share_btn_tw

TUESDAY'S KEYNOTE (ToolKit B for 671)

The keynote address was given by Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan.  As an expert on the history of media, he has written a book about Google's lofty mission to, "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." He asked us to think about such a presumptuous statement and what it means.  Google has partnered with many agencies and libraries in order to digitize their collections.  Is it safe for us to trust all of the world's collected knowledge in the hands of one company that may or may not make it available for free use?  Also, because Google is constantly tracking our browsing habits and feeding us information, are we going to be able to access the information we want if Google doesn't want to give it to us?  Of course, this is a simplistic review of his talk, but Dr. Vaidhyanathan gave me a lot to think about. I picked up his book,  so I can read more.

On a separate note, Dr. Vaidhyanathan was unable to fly out of his hometown due to weather so the speech was conducted via Skype.  There were some internet connection problems that made the speech somewhat frustrating, but the Dr. and the ILF staff handled the problems calmly and with a good sense of humor.


Next Up:  THE EXHIBITION HALL and A Mountain of Free Candy




References

Company – Google. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from https://www.google.com/about/company/

Vaidhyanathan, S. (2011). The Googlization of everything: (and why we should worry). Updated ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.

#anewpageilf14 (ToolKit B for 671)

#anewpageilf14  is the official tag for the ILF conference this year and it really did feel like a new page for me.  More specifically, I felt renewed.  Ha!  I love the library pun, there.  I was a bit apprehensive about attending the conference before I can call myself a bona fide librarian, but it turned out to be an enlightening experience with a whole lot of like-minded individuals.

While the presentations were awesome, one of the most educational parts of the conference for me was the collegial discourse that I was able to share with my fellow lovers of all things library.  The librarians I met were inclusive, friendly, and willing to share their own experiences and commiserate with me about mine.  Whether it was a little chit chat during a break-out session, or in between sessions in the comfy chairs by the fireplace (I found a GREAT spot to recharge at the Marriott East), we made connections and examined differences.  I came away from these talks thankful for what I have in the school library where I work, and with some new ideas about the way I operate and how I might do better.

I hope to make this conference an annual occurrence because it has left me feeling fired up and inspired!

CONFESSIONS OF A N00B: My first ILF Annual Conference (ToolKit B for 671)

This is my first ILF Annual Conference and I'm pretty excited about it.  Maybe I'm expecting too much, I mean, it is a day of presentations in conference rooms. However,  I'm going to keep on being excited about it.  I am only attending one day (Tuesday the 18th) this year, but I've got that day packed full of interesting presentations on my schedule.  Of course, because school librarianship is my focus at school and at work, I chose sessions that should help me both at work and in my own development as a librarian in my own right. I used the ILF's conference mobile site to select and keep track of the sessions I want to attend.  The YHBA session and the 2014 books for k-8 session are slam dunks.  It's important to me to keep current on children's literature so I can provide excellent readers advisory to my students.  Censorship is a difficult subject for elementary school librarians, so I hope to learn something that will help me to navigate challenges and select materials with bravery.  As for the INSPIRE database, I know what it is, but I have only tried to use it a few times.  Maybe the session will help me figure out how to get more out of it.  The dinner is really just for fun, but it will be cool to tell the kids I got to see the author of Shark vs. Train in person.

The only event I'm attending that's a bit more tangentially connected is the keynote speech.  I chose Tuesday because of the keynote, though, because Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan  
 is an expert on copyright and intellectual property, which, in my humble opinion, is fascinating.

Here is my schedule for tomorrow:

0800-0830 Arrive at the Marriott East in Indianapolis
0900-1000 Keynote with Dr. Vaidhyanathan
1100-1150 Page Turners Aplenty: Your New YHBA Nominees
1330-1420 How Censorship Hurts Kids
1500-1550 Thousands of New Pages: A Pick of the 2014 Books K-8
1700-1750 INSPIRE me! (about the INSPIRE database)
and
1830-2000 The YHBA Banquet with 2013 Winner Chris Barton
                  I am the most excited about this session (I even paid extra!) for the opportunity to hear this author speak because my students LOVED his book, Shark vs. Train.  I hope to have an anecdote to share with them when I get back.


Well, as the 10th Doctor says, "Allons-y!"