Catch up 1

Mary ?? made a comment that she has been showing my blog to people and it is sadly out of date. Gee whiz I wouldn’t have thought the machinations of some boofhead LT from the burbs would be of much interest to anyone, let alone it being referred to others.

So in an effort to keep my fan/s happy I have searched high and low and found my 2008 diary to provide me with a factual reference to guide these writings. (Actually, it was on the shelf behind me as I type, but searching high and low just felt a more dramatic thing to say.)

Where did the wacky adventures of Aus LT finish in 2008. I was off to the COLT Conference and ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. I was hoping to write a blog, like I did for Washington DC, but I just ran out of time. (Most of the Washington DC blog was done after I got home). I know many people are able to attend conferences, blog, twit, facebook, sms, etc. all at the same time. However, this bloke can’t and has no intention of trying or learning. There is too much stuff going on at an ALA conference for me to waste my time with some www thingie. (I am quite happy being a 20th Century sort of guy.) For my friends and colleagues, who are interested they will have to wait until I return to find out what happened.

Back to the conferences. The COLT Conference like the previous one I attended was an enjoyable experience. The people are very welcoming and friendly. They also included me in a panel discussion about how technical services staff can also be ‘the face of the library’. It appears when I am in the US I have an accent. Can’t hear it myself. But there you go.

The ALA Conference was also an enjoyable experience with so much going on, between the sessions, exhibition and guest speakers. One of the speakers was Jamie Lee Curtis, she has written a number of children’s books. She was very surprised, that she, someone who didn’t do very well at school and took to easy road of being an actor, would ever be asked to speak to an audience of librarians.

During the conference I came across the globe travelling Gill Hallam and ex-pat Jennefer Nicholson. Jennefer was there because IFLA had a stand at the exhibition. Unfortunately, IFLA did not have a presence at this year’s ALA conference. Not according to my eyesight anyway. Typing of IFLA, many of our US colleagues, at this year’s ALA conference, were disappointed that the IFLA conference had been moved from Brisbane and felt the explanation provided by both IFLA and ALIA were not satisfactory. (My cat's had kittens I wonder if I can blame the GFC for that?) When I got home I discovered that the IFLA elist had gone into meltdown over what happened. There were all sorts of interesting posts, some I reckon were on the money. I would be glad to share the more interesting ones, if asked.