The PLA Blog | Official Blog of the Public Library Association
Interview with Unshelved at ALA 2008
Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum, the two very awesome guys behind the comic Unshelved, took a break from their booth duties on the ALA exhibits floor to do an interview with me. I used my Blackberry and placed a phone call to a service called Utterz (think Twitter but multimedia, with the ability to post [...]
The Los Angeles ALA of Anaheim
In my first PLA Blog guest entry, I mentioned my plans for the conference. How did I do? I plan to talk to Tim Spalding about his ideas for revamping classification, because Dewey may not be the best choice for everyone. And to colleagues who are implementing faceted interfaces for their catalogs (Collingswood will be [...]
Everyone Else Likes Having Found: 360 Minutes into the Future of the Catalog
Stephen Abram is a can’t miss panelist. He accepts, more fully than anyone else I’ve seen present at a library conference, that public speaking is theater, and theater benefits from the play of opposites, from presenters willing to play the foil. And so, last Saturday for the LITA Internet Resources and Services Interest Group’s “There’s [...]
Saturday Morning Stretch
I felt like I should show up for Saturday morning’s “Stretching Existing Staff” in disguise. Or, perhaps, in a bull’s-eye t-shirt with a “Kick Me” sign taped to my back. I mean, I know all too well that my colleagues are being stretched, and they know they’re being stretched, and they know that I know, [...]
Interview with the…
In the past two days I’ve attended two presentations, spanning six hours, on The Catalog. In that time, no one talked about one of my major concerns: users can’t search for the articles in our collection, which means they can’t find them without our help. Perhaps this is such a big issue that it’s not worth mentioning, or [...]
Who Needs Swag?
Seth Godin wrote recently that “if you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all.” The idea being that you market yourself by doing good work, not by writing lists of bulleted declarative phrases, formatting them in professional-looking typefaces, and printing them out on quality paper. I just walked [...]
From the Pages of Andy Warhol’s Diary
Okay, here’s why I love ALA. Keep in mind that I’m shy and also still very new to the profession. While waiting for the shuttle to take me from the airport to my hotel, I met Judy Luther, a former academic librarian in Florida, now working as a library consultant in Philadelphia. It seems that [...]
Coming Into Los Angeles
I live maybe ten miles from the Philadelphia airport—I was through security and waiting at my gate this morning less than an hour after leaving my house—and I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area most of my life. Yet from the air, on take offs and landings, it’s almost impossible for me to tell where I [...]
ALA first: libcast podcasting booth
Press credentials in hand, I headed down to the show floor (a.k.a. The Exhibits), which was still under construction, with Kathleen Hughes (Manager of PLA Publications and Editor of Public LIbraries magazine), to drop off booth stuff. John Chrastka was busy setting things up, and showed me the brand-new ALA libcast podcasting booth: and I [...]
Eating in Anaheim
Recently, reader Sean Aragon wrote in and asked “Where are some good places to eat around the Conference Center?” If you’re heading to ALA yourself, you might be thinking the same thing. I’ve never been to Anaheim, so I don’t *personally* know what’s good, but here are a few places you can check out to [...]
