Internet Librarian is a conference I have been wanting to go to for a couple of years now but I’ve always been committed to other conferences throughout the year that took up large amounts of my conference going budget. This year though, I have a new job as a branch manager that pays well enough and offers some financial assistance to attend various conferences thus allowing me to attend the ones I typically go to AND Internet Librarian! Needless to say, I’m pretty much a librarian geek and conferences really get me all excited. So what am I doing to prepare?

Well, one of the first things I’m doing is twitter stalking other folks that are going to the conference. Hopefully, they’ll stalk me back and we can get a kind of secondary cyber conference going. So every couple of hours or so I’ve been checking in to twitter to follow other folks who are going. I’m hoping that I can find out about some of the other sessions even though I didn’t attend those and maybe go to some tweetups around Monterey and geek out with other librarians. So if you’re a twittering librarian feel free to let me know you’re attending so I know to follow you!

FYI- The hashtag for Internet Librarian is #il2009 and I only recently figured out that it WASN’T #ili2009. That hashtag was for the international version of this conference in London.

Because I live in San Jose and I’ve worked in Monterey while living in San Jose, I’m fairly familiar with the commute between the two cities. Also… I’m cheap. So instead of paying the money for a hotel room for the conference I’m going to be commuting. This commute will be fun though because I’m going to be driving my motorcycle and the drive along highway 1 is spectacular and the weather in Monterey is always perfect. So in preparation I’ve gotten a tune up on my bike, new tires, oiled my chain, etc… (it probably would have been cheaper to just get a hotel and drive my car) and now I’m all ready to make some beautifully scenic morning and night drives along the California coast.

I’m also going to buy a digital video camera of some kind. I’m thinking of getting a Flip because of the great reviews and the price. Hopefully, I’m finally going to be able to add some new video to my youtube channel, Facebook, and this blog site. If there is a wireless connection at the conference site I might be able to upload multiple videos throughout the day. So if you’re one of the people like me who’s tired of all this reading, hopefully, you’ll be able to just watch the video instead.

Lastly, of course, I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to attend. Unfortunately, it looks like I am going to have to miss Saturday’s Library Camp and Sunday’s Gaming and Gadget Petting Zoo (Boo!) but so far I am going to be following these tracks.

Monday:
Track B: “Social Media, Leveraging Web 2.0”
B101: iGoogling With the Library: Customized Omnipresent Homepages
B102: Creating Connections & Social Reference in Libraries
B103: Micro Interactions, Conversations, & Customers: Sweet Tweet Strategies
Julie Strange
B104: 2.0 Too: Web Services for Underfunded Libraries
B105: Evaluating, Recommending, & Justifying 2.0 Tools
Marydee Ojala
B106: Sneaking the Social Web Into Your Library & Going Beyond 23 Things

Tuesday:
Breakfast at the Marriot for “Meeting the End-User’s Expectations”
Track C: Mobile Trends & Practices
C201/C202: Dreaming, Designing, & Using Mobile Library Platforms
Matt Benzing
R. Toby Greenwalt
C203: Putting Your Library on a Mobile Phone
C204: Mobile Marketing
C205: When Students Go Mobile
Kristine Ferry

Wednesday
Track C: Cultivating Innovation & Change
C301: Every Library Should Have a Sandbox to Play In
C302: Persuasion, Influence & Innovative Ideas
Nicole Hennig
C303: Pecha Kucha: Innovative Practices
Nicole Hennig
Steven Harris
Steven Harris
Amy Affelt
C304: Retooling Technical Services for the Digital Environment
Doris Small Helfer
Brad Eden

Overall I think I think I’m going to have a great time! There are so many other tracks that would be fantastic to see but I think I just need to stick to what I have and go with it. If you’re a dork (like me) and are interested I will be blogging for PLA on their site, twittering, and I will be posting videos here from my youtube channel. If anyone has any other suggestions for good times at Internet Librarian, I’m always game to change my plans, meet some good folks, and have a good time! And, of course… Don’t forget to check out Compagno’s for the biggest and best sandwiches of ALL TIME!!