Day 443: Goat has attempted to eat my book.

Actually, it should be ALA Day 1, but how boring would that be? Probably not so much because my first day ever of ALA conferencing was exciting. It invovled getting up at 5 a.m. so I could be at the metro station a bit before 7. I met Julie there, and we rode our way in style towards the DC convention center. At registration, I managed to snag the nice registration lady. Julie was not so lucky. Mine was so nice that she even attached my "New bee" ribbon onto my badge.

The eight o'clock session I attended was completely filled up. I had to sit on the floor (so hopefully it was clean). It ended up being a lot shorter session that it was supposed to be as the presentor was sick and had given us a substitute. We got through the material in 30 minutes (it was about new technologies and uses in the library). This was followed by 30 minutes of discussion, and then freedom.

Freedom to go to the exhibits! At the Florida Library Conference, they weren't really giving away things (at least, I didn't see anything like this there). So, my first ARC pick-up, I acted a bit like this:


(that being loving ripped from the utterly fabulous Stick Library comic, "Control Freaks".) I, of course, being the one on the right running away with a free book (and I am actually a trained archivist). And then I realized that there were more!!! About the time that I realized that if I bent down I couldn't stand up because my bag was weighing me down that much, I decided that I had enough of free books, and, goodness me, what was I to do with them all the rest of the day (you must realized that this was about 10 am). Of course, I was justified in taking what I did because Julie was still in session, so missed out on that first initial rush of ARCs. So, I was collecting stuff for the both of us. I also got Lois Lowry to sign a copy of Number the Stars for only $3. Not too shabby. I could have gotten The Giver, but I read and loved NtS first. So, why not?

My 10:30 session was on Libraries and Landscapes. My undergraduate degree was in historic preservation, and, we might be expanding our library, so I thought that it would be interesting to see what other libraries did on the outside of their buildings, as a session I attended in Florida dealt with their innards. I think I might have been the youngest person there. It was an interesting session, though, with the exception of the last speaker (the token librarian) they didn't delve much into the problems that a landscaped environment can create for the library. I did learn a fun new phrase, "blessed bling bling" regarding a very shiny gold plated church altar thing.

After this session, I met up with Julie for lunch. But, I had decided that it would be better to run back to my car and drop off my bag of books so I wouldn't be so weighed down for the rest of the day. It was probably a good idea with what else we did. Besides, I had a bagel and some water, I would be all set for a cheap lunch. It was a race against time and the metro... and I won! Despite trying to go down an up elevator, I managed to get back to the conference center with nine minutes to spare before the next session. These shoes are made for walking!

My 1:30 session was on Shakespeare in the Library, and it was not all that I had hoped it would be. One of the speakers was all about how academic librarians and professors should work together. Another was like "wee! Elizabeth I!!! I've been in love with her since I was ten." So, you get the picture. Plus, Julie came in from her session and managed to distract me by her exhibit guide. (I confess, I am easily distracted when I get tired.) We actually left the session early so we would be able to arrive at Mitali Perkin's book launch on time.

And, I'll have more on that later... now it is time for dinner.