Sunday at ALA

Stephen Abram spoke on Sunday morning and his topic was “What are you promoting?” His point was that we need to be welcoming in our physical and virtual spaces. We need to give the user a positive experience. We know that we have the content- now we need to provide that to the users in an enjoyable way.

I went to a session about recruiting Black Male Librarians, as did about a dozen other people, only to find out that it had been cancelled. I took the initiative to gather business cards and promised that I would follow up. I feel that this workshop is important and ought to be rescheduled. ALA-Midwinter?

LITA hosted a Hot Tech Trends panel discussion Sunday afternoon, with Joan Frye Williams, Marshall Breeding, Roy Tennant, Karen Coombs, John Blyberg, and one more person who I don’t recall. Argh. His name will come to me at some point.

Robert F Kennedy spoke, and I had never heard the man before but I would like to sign up for oration class if he is teaching. Now I know what brilliant public speaking is all about. He had some powerful messages and presented them so as to leave little doubt that action was needed on several fronts (environmental, political, etc.). He was going to sign books after his speech, so I ducked out 15 minutes early and was 5th in line for his signature. I mentioned the Mono Lake Committee, hoping that he had heard of it, but alas there was no recognition in his face as he handed my autographed copy.