When traveling to library conferences, I always like to get warmed up by guessing who else on the plane is a librarian. On this trip, I traveled with two colleagues from Kingston, Ontario, and they pointed out that the game isn’t as easy as it used to be. Or as my mother (also a librarian and also at PLA 2010) put it, “You can’t just look for the Eddie Bauer jumpers anymore.” Still, librarians tend to stand out in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. An OCLC book bag makes it pretty clear, as does any shirt with the words “@ your library” on it.

Aside from being able to laugh at ourselves, the game is a reminder that librarians are a great community that stretches all over the world. Once you’ve spotted a librarian, you know you’ll find someone friendly to talk to who shares your enthusiasm for what we’re all doing. Indeed, between the arrival gate at PDX and the hotel, we met many friendly people, including one of the guys who manages the exhibit space.

First impressions of Portland are that it’s beautiful and green – in Canada spring doesn’t really start for a couple more months, so seeing blossoms on the trees is a wonderful treat. The light rail system is fantastic and convenient and means all of us can see a lot more of the city than we sometimes do at these meetings. Powell’s bookstore is on my list, of course, as are the Japanese and Chinese gardens, if I have time. Today I’m headed to the Oregon coast, and it looks like we might actually get a sunny, if chilly, day on the beach.

Once the conference starts, I’ll be checking out a lot of technology, technical services, and digitization programs that relate to my job as manager of the ILS at Kingston Frontenac Public Library. I’m also excited to be giving my first talk at a  PLA conference on Friday morning. It’s about an oral history project I worked on in my last position at Chelsea District Library in Michigan (Library Journal’s Best Small Library in America 2008). So after enjoying Oregon as a tourist today, I’ll have to be more focused on all of that.

Welcome to the conference, everyone!