Here are the slides and video (thanks to Marie Slim) from the California library association 2011 conference in Pasadena. Thank you to everyone who made this whole thing happen! The Winner was Glen Warren who took the championship away from last year’s winner, Lori Bowen Ayre. The competition was fierce, the battle was epic and the winner was clear. This year’s champion received the Gold Microphone and a t-shirt of their choice from the Library Advocacy Store.
Alright team… After yesterday’s Tweet campaign to show support for School Libraries I was wondering what to do next. I mean, what do we do if they do get supported? How can we show our appreciation? Well, luckily I didn’t have to think about it too long. I received this email from Ann Crewdson on the ALA Council Listserv.
Hi all,
I had to share this piece of positive information with you all. I just got off with the phone with Senator Cantwell’s legal aide after asking her to support school librarians. I told her it was “me again.” She laughed. I told her that if Senator Cantwell supports school librarians I would send her a personalized READ poster signed by educators, just like the one I’m giving Senator Patty Murray for championing schools, kids and reading. It piqued her interest. She said chocolates wouldn’t make it through the office but a poster would!
So there you go… Thank your Senator with an ALA READ Poster. I intend to make one from the READ cd from the ALA store and put a pair of tennis shoes in the middle for my Senator (who is known as the “mom in tennis shoes”). And Senator Canwell won’t get hers until she supports school librarians. 🙂
What’s everyone else doing?
Ann Crewdson
Councilor-at-Large 2011-2013
I think this is a great idea! We need to show our thanks to our senators who do support libraries and librarians. Personally, I would prefer the chocolate, but I see her point that it wouldn’t make it out of the office. Anyway, if your senator supports school libraries or public libraries, at the very least we need to be thanking them in some way. A signed poster is a great way to do this because they may hang it up and it would serve as a constant reminder that libraries are important! Or… If you send a Read Poster that is signed by children in your library or some other little way to yank on some heartstrings of our politicians maybe they will change their minds if they don’t support libraries.
My whole point here is that maybe we should all send our local politicians a signed read poster? Or, maybe a read poster with your library’s children on it? What are your thoughts?
If you want to purchase a read poster, here is the ALA Store!
For a custom Read Poster I found this link too. Its even cheaper than a ALA Read Poster.
I have many reasons to publicly thank JP Porcaro. Most notably, his philosophy on partying as a professional activity. In fact, its been such a significant influence on my professional career (ALA Think Tank, networking, conferences, in my community, fundraising, library programs) that I’m going to be presenting on the importance of partying as a professional activity at this year’s California Library Association Conference in Pasadena with Jill Sonnenberg and Annie O’Dea Hestbeck. This presentation will be the only one to cross the professional barrier between CLA and CLSA so if you’re in school libraries or public or academic come out and check out what we have to say. You brain will implode with awesome.
There will also be an EPIC afterparty (networking social) somewhere in Pasadena organized by Jill and myself.
So, to further the professional discussion, I bring you this history of partying info-graphic.
Announcing the triumphant return of Battledecks to the California Library and School Library Conference!
This fun and exciting program will challenge some of the best Library Presenters in California to show their skill and test their mettle!
Presenters will battle it out to give the best improvisational presentation based upon a set of 10 often humorous, unrelated, and hand-created slides that they are seeing for the first time live on stage. The presenters will face tough judgment and scrutiny from an unbiased and inscrutable team of judges. The best presenter will be determined based upon a variety of criteria but most importantly on their overall level of AWESOME! The most awesome presenter will walk away with the pride and honor of being crowned CLA/CSLA Battledecks champion of 2011.
Awesomeness, entertainment, and hilarity, along with a healthy dose of learning, is guaranteed for all!
Following the state library reception at 7:30pm in the Convention Center Main Deck from 7-8 pm (the same time)
Contenders for the title: (Could it be you? Volunteer!!)
1) Stacy Aldrich
2) Oleg Kagan
3) Derek Wolfgram
4) Lorin Bowen Ayre (Defending Champion)
5) Glen Warren
6) Jennifer Baker
Judges: (Could it be you? Volunteer!!)
1) Rosario Garza
2) Sam McBane Mulford
3) Hildie Verlaine Kraus
4) Kirby McCurtis
Emcee: Patrick Sweeney
Timekeeper/Vanna White: Andrea Davis
Slidemakers: Patrick Sweeney, Ashley Kagan (Burdick), Stephanie Roach
Logo (coming soon): __Anyone a graphic artist?____
Halftime Entertainment: Joan Frye Williams and George Needham in an exhibition Team Battledecks round!
Prizes: (To be Announced)
For more information or to register view the event on Facebook
I never used to enjoy going to the ALA Conferences and I’ve heard so many people say the same thing. They were always too big, too overwhelming, and just… too much. But, at the ALA Conference in Washington DC 2010 I was invited to stay at a vacation house with 11 other Librarians that was organized by Justin Hoenke and JP Porcaro. I was excited about this for a couple of reasons.
1) Justin and JP are awesome humans
2) It was way cheaper than the ALA hotels
3) It would be a totally new conference experience
So of course, I said yes. In the days coming up to the conference various emails were sent to introduce everyone to each other and to talk about anything that we might want to do as a group at the conference. Somewhere in these emails, someone, at some point, jokingly called the house the ALA Think Tank (because it rarely seems as if people are thinking at ALA) and the name stuck. This conference experience was amazing and I learned more than I could have ever hoped. By the end of the conference, I realized that this was the only way to go to ALA and the ALA Think Tank folks have done one Midwinter and two annuals like this. What follows is everything I learned about conference going from the awesome folks in this house.
Start a Think Tank.
I can’t stress this enough. The benefits of a house are HUGE! The full kitchen and communal living dramatically reduce the cost of conference housing and food. There will always be someone to do something with and you’ll be plugged into so many different things going on at ALA then you would be alone in your hotel room. It also makes a great space to have your own meetings and socials to meet even more people. You also get to hear about all the other things that your roommates learned at the conference and greatly increase the amount of take-away information you’ll get. I learned so much from my Think Tank folks that I’m still processing information from DC.
Get on Twitter, Facebook, tumblr, instagram
I know, everyone is saying this, you’re probably sick of hearing it. Why aren’t you on the social medias? By following the ALA conference hashtag or seeing what your friends are posting online about the conference you can find out about the best sessions, networking events, book signings, latest updates from ALA, where all the freebies are, blogs about what other people learned at the conference, tons of various tidbits of information from other librarians learning things, and you’ll get to find opportunities to meet more librarians. If you don’t know where to start:
1) Facebook – Join the ALA Think Tank
2) Tumblr – Browse the Tumblarians list
3) Twitter/instagram – Follow the hashtags (the official hashtag is #ala2013 but everyone is blowing up #ala13)
Meet Everyone
Meeting folks and networking with other awesombrarians is really one of the best things I get out of ALA. There are so many people doing rad projects at their libraries and meeting them at the socials and after parties gave me opportunities to find out what they are excited about. Of course, there are over 20 thousand people at ALA so meeting everyone is not at all possible but at least put yourself out there and talk to everyone you can! You would be surprised where a random conversation at a meeting or a networking event will take you.
Forget about the Sessions and Workshops
As a tie-in to the previous three tips, I think this has really helped me learn even more while at the conferences. I know it seems totally backwards but I learned so much more at everything else ALA has to offer that I stopped going to sessions and workshops. The problem is that the session proposals are written a year ahead of the conference and by the time you get to the conference (if you’re on FB and twitter) you’re going to be sick of hearing about whatever the session is because it will have been discussed and blogged about ad-nauseum all of the days to and following the conference. Instead, I recommend the following three tips;
Get involved… In something!
My own personal choice was Emerging Leaders. This was a great pre-Think Tank kind of group learning experience. Through Emerging Leaders I figured out how to navigate the ALA and first met many of the people that I currently work with in the ALA. While my experience in my EL project itself was less than stellar, I did meet a bunch of amazing librarians and got gently pushed into running for ALA Council. All of the committees and council stuff that I’m involved in keeps me learning and pushing me forward. If you don’t want to get involved in Emerging Leaders you should visit the ALA Office at the conference and they can explain how to get involved in ALA in many different ways.
#partyhard
Typically, I get up at 7-8am on conference days to get to the conference for my morning meetings and various obligations. This is rough considering I also typically spend most of the night out with librarians at various council forums, meetups, socials, and after-hours networking events. It’s during these times that I corner my professional heroes and talk to them about what they are working on right now. I’m interested in learning what the next big thing is that they are excited about. Also, I find that people are far more truthful about their previous projects over a beer then they are at the session they held. People are more open about their fails and how they overcame obstacles at these events then they are in the more professional conference setting. It’s also during these times that some of the best projects that I have been involved with in librarianship arose. Basically, by partying as much as I could with as many brilliant people as I can find, I have been able to learn more meaningful, current, and useful information in librarianship.
#makeithappen
ALA loves to say that they are your organization. This is a lie. You are ALA’s organization. You are the one who has the ability to make your conference experience as amazing as you want it to be. It is your duty and obligation to get out there and make whatever you think should happen at a conference happen at the conference. For example, JP Porcaro, Amanda Pilmer, Justin Hoenke, and Jenn Walker decided to make an ALA Dance Party happen so they organized it and it was epic. If you think your conference experience would be better if there was a QR code hunt, you can make that happen. If you would like to help other people make awesome stuff happen at the conference you can join the group on FB called the ALA Think Tank and see where you can help #makeithappen. Overall though, it’s your conference and if you don’t get everything you can out of it, you have no one else to blame. Don’t complain, #makeithappen.
Bonus tip – Friend JP Porcaro on Facebook and Twitter. (and google+)
Trust me on this one.
Via the Amazing Rosario Garza
“Here’s a situation that has not gotten much attention at all: Oakland Public Library is slated to have their budget DRASTICALLY cut, by 85%. Fourteen branches will be closed, leaving only 4 branches open to serve a population of over 400,000. Those four branches will be understaffed. This proposed budget will surely devastate the public library system in one of California’s largest cities.”
So here is where is gets really good! Rather than lay down and take it, the fantastic librarians at Oakland Public Library deserve mad props for their outreach, advocacy, and awareness campaigns. Many of these are broadcast through their Save Oakland Library Facebook Page that has over two thousands likes! I’m showing your their Facebook event pages instead of all the media about it because THIS is how you run a Facebook campaign!! AMAZING!
I’m going to link you to a couple below. You should do some of these if your library is in danger too. (San Jose Public Libraries are your there?)
Zombie Crawl to Save Oakland Library
Purple Pajama Storytime–plus PIZZA!
SILENT Funeral Procession for the Library–at ART MURMUR
Save Oakland Libraries Bike Ride
Save Oakland Library: Guerrilla Storytime #2!
Save Oakland Library: Guerrilla Storytime #1!!
Be sure to look for all the news about that was generated from these great events too. They are receiving a huge amount of media attention and that is where their power is coming from.
I was just thinking about DC comics idea to reboot all of their comics back to Issue number one. As part of the news they are also reissuing all of the #52 comics in the reboot in digital format starting with Justice League. Now, I was a HUGE comic book fan when I was kid, and my super hero of choice was Firestorm (also by DC comics), so this whole idea got me thinking about this concept for libraries.
What you have to remember is that, while they are starting the comics at number 1, they are not republishing the first comics. They are retelling the stories in different ways. There will be new storylines, new ideas, and bigger and better concepts. Or, as DC Comics co-publisher Dan DiDio told USA Today;
“We really want to inject new life in our characters and line. This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today’s audience.”
So basically, they are not doing away with the core of their product. They are not changing Superman’s powers, or the speed of The Flash, they are just re-examining the story that they are telling.
What if we could reboot libraries back to issue #1? What would we change about our story now? If we could rewrite our library’s stories for today’s audience and inject new life into our characters what would we say?
I thought I’d share an update on the whole Guitar Lending Library at my library. It’s been a long journey but I think we are almost there. A whole lot of awesome has happened since we started this back in October. If you want to read about the genesis of the project you can check out the link to it here.
The first thing that changed is that we decided to not get our guitars from Guitar Center. I’d like to say that I love Guitar Center, but they didn’t really give me that level of service I was looking for when I went and told them I wanted to buy 15 guitars. I mean, I’m buying 15 guitars! At least sound like you want me to buy them from you.
So… I went and bought them from a great local guitar shop called Gelb Music. They totally bent over backwards to help me out. They sold me great guitars at a great price and I couldn’t ask for better service. I purchased Hohner Classical guitars, with a gigbag, tuners, extra strings, wall hangers, and I’m going go back and buy some capos too. I’ll let you in on a little secret too… They gave me a better price than guitar center!
I took the guitars up to the central library office and our great cataloger Ida hooked me up with the item record, and loan rules and all that. The guitars check-out for 8 weeks, they have a five dollar a day fine up to $50.00, and can be renewed, but can’t be put on hold. There are various reasons for all this, and if you’re interested in the finer details, I’ll lay that all out in a later post. (If anyone cares)
In preparation of the guitars arrival, we had county maintenance install the hangers. When the guitars finally came in after all the processing (RFID, Barcodes, etc…) we hung them up to be ready for our first round of guitar group lessons.
Our group lessons are being taught through a great partnership with a member of a local band called Vintage Music Collective named Justin Phipps. This partnership came about after their band played at the library and we found out that Justin taught lessons in the local schools. Justin was also the one who recommended the Hohner guitars and Gelb Music since that’s who he gets his guitars through.
Overall, I’m pretty stoked about this project so far. We don’t start checking them out until June 15th and I’m leaving a lot of details out of this post. In a future post, I’m going show you our loan agreements, staff guitar training guides, and various other details of the project.
-This project was made possible through the Eureka! program and an LSTA grant
I always find these kinds of graphics interesting. Usually though, its because I’m interested in their design instead of the information. In this case, I think that this graphic brings to mind more questions than it answers but it’s still pretty.
1) The average librarian makes 60+ a year? I’m now wondering how they came up with that average. Obviously, they are taking full careers into consideration and not just the entry level positions. In which case, I wonder how many years an average librarian has to work to reach the average pay? And that makes me wonder, what is the average career span of a librarian? By this, do they mean only those working as a librarian or are they considering library manager, directors, and other higher management as well?
2) The highest largest amount of librarians are between 24 and 54? Are you freaking kidding me? So the average librarian is aged somewhere in the average age range for a person who has professional level career before retirement? I would be far more interested if this was broken down into at least 5 year increments since you need an MLIS to be a librarian and so few people get post graduate degrees before 24 anyway. People also begin to retire after 54 so this 30 year age range makes this data completely uninteresting. Basically they are saying that people in the average working age range have jobs.
3) The left and right brain stuff is kinda interesting, but what is more interesting is what the crap is written in all those little subsections of this girl’s cranium? I mean, there could be anything in there! I think, at least its my guess, that this is where the how to clean the toilet, dealing with unruly patrons watching porn, and changing lightbulbs is listed in the graphic because I don’t see that anywhere else. The big stuff on the outside is everything I thought librarianship was going to be, and the I’m guessing the stuff on the inside is all the other stuff nobody tells you about.
4) The where they work part is actually interesting, I liked this part.
5) Brief history? No kidding… Franklin to Dewey? What about Carnegie!? This crap is only 150 years long and at its most recent it’s 130 years out of date!! Libraries have been around since 350 BC and this is the crap they decided to show? WTF?
6/7) Gender and recreational activities are also fairly uninteresting because it’s exactly what you would expect. But I want to add a section. I think that overall, librarians most significant recreational activity is kicking ass and being awesome! So where is that catagory?
If you were a past or current EL you can support your fellow Emerging Leaders by voting for them in the 2011 ALA Elections! I’d link all of their info but it looks like you can’t get to it unless you have logged in to the ALA site for voting.
Eileen Bosch
EL 2010
Candidate: ALA Council
Keri Cascio
EL 2007
Candidate: ALCTS Member at Large
Amber Creger
EL 2008
Candidate: ALSC Newbery Commitee
Mara Degnan-Rojeski
EL 2010
Candidate: ACRL LPSS Member at Large
Jenny Emanuel
EL 2007
Candidate: ALA Council
Angelica Guerrero Fortin
EL 2009
Candidate: ALA Council
Ed Garcia
EL 2010
Candidate: ALA Council
Wendy Girven
EL 2010
Candidate: ACRL ULS Secretary
Chris Harris
EL 2007
Candidate: AASL Treasurer
Arianne Hartsell-Gundy
EL 2010
Candidate: ACRL LES Vice Chair/Chair Elect
Megan Hodge
EL 2011
Candidate: NMRT Leadership Director
Tracey Hughes
EL 2007
Candidate: MAGERT Vice Chair/Chair Elect
Florante Peter Ibanez
EL 2007
Candidate: ALA Council
Susan Jennings
EL 2010
Candidate: ALA Council – NMRT Representative
Darcel Jones
EL 2010
Candidate: ALA Council
Robin Kear
EL 2008
Candidate: IRRT Member at Large
Kate Kosturski
EL 2011
Candidate: ALA Council
Portia Latalladi
EL 2009
Candidate: PLA Board of Director, Director at Large
Kirby McCurtis
EL 2010
Candidate: ALA Council
Elizabeth Moreau
EL 2010
Candidate: ALSC Newberry Committee
JP Porcaro
EL 2010
Candidate: ALA Council
Jacquie Samples
EL 2008
Candidate: ALCTS CRS Vice Chair/Chair Elect
Wayne Sanders
EL 2008
Candidate: ACRL ANSS Vice Chair/Chair Elect
Wendy Stephens
EL 2008
Candidate: ALA Council
Holly Tomren
EL 2009
Candidate: ALA Council
Jennifer Wann Walker
EL 2010
Candidate: ALA Council
Candidate: SLAS Member at Large
Janel White
EL 2010
Candidate: NMRT Vice President/President Elect
Michael Witt
EL 2008
Candidate: LITA Director at Large
Lynda Kellam
EL 2010
Candidate: ACRL’s Law and Political Science Section Secretary
PC Sweeney 