PLA Blog

Because technology always kicks you in the shins at the most inopportune time.

The last thing I want to do in the middle of a conference is to take you away from our coverage. However, there’s been a serious security breech in the code for WordPress 2.1.1, which is the version I installed on the blog just a few days ago, and it requires immediate upgrade to a patched version. If you are running WordPress 2.1.1, upgrade as soon as possible.

My plan is to get the blog back up and running on a very basic level as soon as possible, so that bloggers can continue to post, and you can continue to read content by both feed and on the home page on the site. However, because I’ll be traveling today, and many tweaks and customizations exist in our templates and plugins, you should anticipate things being broken and perhaps even ugly here on the actual site for a little while. I’ll see what I can do complete things as soon as I can.

Wish me luck!

I left Seattle at 1:17pm PST this afternoon, and I’m currently waiting out my layover listening to the State of the Union address on my laptop via stream from the NPR web site, while I check email and work on a few more posts.

Speaking of posts, you will likely see a few more posts over the next week as our conference bloggers continue to share their conference experiences as they make their ways home and  the madness of the meetings has died down.  So keep an eye here!

Also, we encourage your comments on our conference posts, as well as your feedback on our conference coverage as the final posts are posted.  What did you like best, or least?  Is there content or are there sessions that we should cover more or less?

We’re also planning on covering more conferences outside of ALA, presented by other library associations, and even in other industries, because there is so much we can learn and so much transferable knowledge out there.  We’ll keep you posted on those developments!

I should’ve learned from my own experience mommy-(and my-cat-fluffy-) blogging: Never promise a follow-up post “tomorrow.” Sure, you’ve got about one day’s wiggle-room thanks to the International Date Line, but that’s rarely enough time for anyone with a life (or, actually, small children. There are plenty of lives that make “forgetting to blog” a lot less easy)

By-the-bye: For various reasons (the non-vendor-mentioning policy, having mislaid my uplink-cord-thingy) I’m not putting the pictures I took at the booth up here. I will upload them to my photo-share site, Flickr, but probably not until closer to the end of the month. Until then enjoy the baby/toddler pictures)

The second half of my stint at the booth was pretty much more of the same, though I did indulge myself in a bit of paradigm-breaking. Or, to put it less kindly, popping out of the booth space with a relentless cheerful “Hi, there!” But only twice. After all, if the conference attendee has gone to the trouble of making glancing-but-non-committal eye-contact (there’s a real art to combining pleasant sociability with a clear decision to Have Nothing to Do With That Booth Rep, mkay? Thx!)–? Hardly sporting.

Later, Julie of Yakima, WA asked about how the Washington (State) Summer Reading Blog went, and I offered to run-and-find-out (later, of course, see Saturday’s post about having my arterial blood internet connection removed) and about blogging in general. Answer: Pretty darn well actually. I read some nice SF and F reviews (my speciality-interest) from a teen rejoicing in the screen handle: Proginoskes unXed. Kids like that just warm the cockles of my heart.

Julie’d had a requirement to maintain a blog for library school and, as with most social-experiences-made-into-class-requirements, hadn’t found it that compelling. After all, since she didn’t really have anything she wanted or needed to say, what’s the point–? Not her cuppa. (Hah! Little does she know how many bloggers out there have noooooo problem with that one. Hey. Quit looking at me like that–!) On the other hand, the Stevens County Rural Library maintained a book review blog that she enjoyed stopping by regularly: their Virtual Book Club. She found this to be a terrific option for library staff and patrons (I agree) who come up against short hours, constrained budgets and long (and sometimes impassable) country roads…

We talked about possibilities for blogging the Washington State Library Association’s Annual Conference (pretty good) and a bit of local politics (Here your friendly neighborhood blogatrix censors herself: this really isn’t the place, and besides the nice people at P.L.A. were quite clear about not using actual descriptions of politicians inappropriate language. Nope. Not even a link.)

Cathy G. of Bainbridge, WA stopped by to discuss progress and libraries: Even if it seems to put staff on the bleeding edge, constantly courting discombobulation, she prefers that to hide-bound suspicion of new things. Happily, we both agreed that Washington Libraries (for better or worse) tended toward the former; from teen video game programs to virtual book clubs.

“Libraries today are about so much more than just a book to read.”

Agreed! But it still seems as if we have a tough job getting the word out to our patrons (even when we’re married to ‘em!)

And with that, the next shift of booth staffers began to trickle in, and our remaining time was spent in the usual changing-of-the-guard trivia.

Shift done, it was time sit down in the Green Room Exhibitor’s Lounge and type up the notes. I suppose I’m a small-town gal: The big time was interesting, but really–? I like the town fair or the high school cafeteria booths better. The hugs and squeals (from the rug rats) and the chance to Talk Book with an enthusiastic teen-ager are way more fun. On the other hand, having a note pad (or, as it could have been, a computer) to hand, rather than face-paints or badge-maker puts a distance between you and the experience. So maybe that’s not an entirely fair assessment.

Thoughts for another day. Until then: (should it ever arrive) ‘tchau!

K. Edwards, Teen Services Librarian, mom, sometime-blogger.

[Upon original posting, I mistakenly filed this under the ALA Midwinter 2007 category, when the even is actually happening at ALA Annual 2007.  Many thanks to Chuck for pointing out the discrepancy!]
Received from Charles Malone, Government Information Librarian at Western Illinois University via email today:

On behalf of GODORT and its International Documents Task Force I would like to invite PLA members to a preconference on International documents to be held Thursday, June 21, 2007 at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. as part of ALA’s Annual Conference. Registration is available through ALA by registering for the 2007 Annual Conference at: http://www.ala.org/ala/eventsandconferencesb/annual/2007a/home.htm

As the International Government Organizations disseminate more of their information on the Web for free, we all have an opportunity to incorporate international government information into our library work.

The tentative schedule [included with the original email, here only linked to] is available at: http://www.ala.org/ala/godort/godortcommittees/godortprogram/preconf2007.htm

Thank you,
Chuck

Thank you, Chuck, for inviting us!

If you are a public librarian attending this preconference, and are interested in writing about it on the PLA Blog, drop us a line and let us know.

Calling all public librarians attending any of the following Midwinter Institutes Friday, January 19, 2007:

• Reading & The School Library Media Specialist Institute (AASL)
• Managing the Changing Research Models in the Humanities Institute (ACRL)
• Creating the One-Shot Library Workshop Step-By-Step Institute (ALCTS)
• The Complex Edifice: Analyzing Your Dream Library Institute Days 1 and/or 2 (LAMA)
• Behind The Genealogy Reference Desk: Want Land, Will Travel Institute (RUSA)
• Definitely Digital: An Exploration of the Future of Knowledge on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Assocation for Library Collections & Technical Services Institute (ALCTS)
• Podcast vs. Libraries Podcasting and the New Culture of Personal Broadcasting on Campus Institute (LITA)
• Building Teen Communities Online (YALSA)
• Business Librarianship 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship Institute (RUSA)
• Advocacy Institute (ALA PIO)
• Assessment of Academic Library Effectiveness: Using ACRL Standards for Continuous Evaluation Institute (ACRL)

As you know, we’re running an open call for bloggers for the ALA Midwinter 2007 meeting, and we’d love to have public librarians who happen to be registered for these Midwinter Institutes share their thoughts and what they’ve learned here on the PLA Blog.

Even if you don’t want to blog the rest of the conference, we’d love to have your contributions for these sessions, especially since there is so much that public librarians can gain from other parts of librarianship.  And, well, you’ll probably need to write up notes for when you get back to your libraries to fulfill a professional development requirement, so why not share them here, as well? 

Interested?  Send us an email with your name, title, library, and email address, as well as the Midwinter Institute you will be attending, and we’ll get you all set up and oriented for posting your content here on the blog.

Are you going to ALA Midwinter in Seattle this January?  Want to try your hand at blogging a conference?  The PLA Blog is looking for people to share their experiences through blog posts, photos, and even podcasts.

If you’re interested, please drop us an email with your name, your title, your library’s name, the URL of your blog (if you have one, it’s not a requirement), and your email address, and we’ll get you set up.  No experience required!

We’ve got a crew of 6 conference bloggers who have volunteered report on PLA Boot Camp in Nashville, TN this week from November 13 - 17.

• Marsha Barker, Amarillo Public Library
• Linda Mielke, Indianapolis Marion County Public Library
• Anne Masters, Pioneer Library System
• Kim Kietzman, Southeast Library Services
• Rose Frost, Utah State Library Division
• Mindy Kittay, Marmot Library Network

Keep an eye on the blog as our conference bloggers keep us posted on the conference sessions and happenings!

Will you be attending the Seattle ALA Midwinter Meeting in January 2007?  Want to take a stab at conference blogging?  Send us email with your name, your title, your library’s name, your email address, and your blog URL (if you have one) and let us know.  No experience required!

Hey y’all!

I’m Anne Robert, a children’s librarian who works with the Jacksonville (FL) Library. I am a native Louisianaian; I lived in Baton Rouge (about 90 miles north of N’awlins) for 22 years. It’s great to be back in New Orleans - except for the humidity (one thing I don’t miss!).

I arrived here yesterday and acted like a tourist, taking pictures and absorbing culture. It’s nice to have time during a conference to look around before actually beginning the conference aspect.

Today I went to two sessions: That’s Tight! Teen Volunteer Success Stories and Tapping Resources: Serving Children Through Partnerships.

A brief summary of each:

That’s Tight!

• Teenagers should be treated with respect, just like the adult volunteers
• Three key words: Ideas, Investment, Reward
• Ideas: Create tasks for the teenagers before they volunteer at the library (so you won’t be flabbergasted when they show up)
• More Ideas: Have teenagers do more than just shelving, such as reading to the children, helping with projects, assist with collection development of popular items (CDs, DVDs, graphic novels), help with computers/databases, summer reading club helper, monitor programs
• Investment: Train them properly with verbal (words) and physical (paper) training; give customer service tips (as you would your staff)
• Reward: Always thank them for their help and hard work! Consider writing them a nice letter at the end of their volunteer term (could be used as a referral for college)

I have about 17 teen volunteers in my children’s department this summer, so this session helped me with new ideas on how to fully use them as great resources this summer.

Tapping Resources

• Develop community partnerships with groups outside your library, such as businesses, non-profits, and/or government agencies
• Partnership is a two-way street and each group should get something back
• Partnerships were compared to human relationships: they can be short-term (like a glance or date) or more long-term (like an engagement or marriage)
• Access your library’s strengths before beginning the process and use partnership as a strategic tool

Welcome to New Orleans! And as we say here, Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

Things have been quiet here on the PLA Blog for the past week or so. This is because of two bits of very good news.

First is the much-celebrated arrival of Steven Cohen's son, Ari Michael Cohen. Needless to say, the happy father and the rest of the family is very happy (and busy!) with the new arrival, so his recent radio silence is for a *very* good reason.

Second is the migration of the PLA Blog from Blogger, the software we currently use, to WordPress 2.0.3. I've been feverishly working on the software install and configuration for the past week (and so, unfortunately, not posting), and I'm hoping it will go live later today, complete with a post about some of the exciting changes you'll see when you visit the new and improved http://www.plablog.org. Due to the move over to WordPress, things might be a bit wonky as it goes live. Please pardon our appearance (and performance) during the last stages of transition.

Important note for feed subscribers: Our feed URL is changing with the move to the new software. Please point your news aggregators to http://www.plablog.org/feed/rss2/. Alternately, you can visit the home page of the PLA Blog (later today sometime, hopefully), and click on one of the spiffy new syndication buttons to add our content to the news aggregator of your choice, as well as a Bloglines, My Yahoo!, or Google account. This new RSS 2.0 feed will allow you to receive our text content in your news aggregator, as well as podcast files in the near future. Much excitement all around, and much more to come. Thank you for your patience and your readership!

I’m sitting in Logan Airport in Boston, partaking of airport wifi (free for Comcast customers, $7.95 for 24 hours) waiting to get on a plane at 10:10a to replace my delayed 6a flight. Conference bloggers for the PLA Blog will begin landing in San Antonio today, offering our readers blogged coverage of the event.

For a list of conference bloggers writing for us in San Antonio, check out the ALA Midwinter 2006 archive page. As you can see, the introductory posts from our roving writers have already started to appear on the blog.

Where do we get our conference bloggers, anyway? And how do we wrangle them at huge conferences? After blogging two large ALA conferences as well as several PLA programs over the past year, we’ve learned a great deal, and formed a semblance of a system out of our best practices.

Recruitment
Several calls for conference bloggers are always posted on the PLA Blog, but we also try to put feelers out on listservs and through word-of-mouth marketing. Ideally, we prefer public librarians, but we won’t turn away other librarians who want to take a stab at writing for us, as long as they cover programs of specific interest to public librarians.

Blogging experience is not required to blog for PLA, although some understanding of what blogging is does help. As you read in the next section, we do our best to train our bloggers before we get to the conference, and answer any questions they might have along the way. We like to think of conference blogging for the PLA Blog as a good way to get uninitiated librarians intimately acquainted with the concept. It is a bit of trial-by-fire, but we do our best to make it fun.

Organization
Once we’ve recruited a crew of bloggers, my job as the Blogger Coordinator is set up the bloggers and make sure they have everything they need. The first step is to send each blogger login information to the PLA Blog Wiki.

Using a JotSpot Wiki (donated by our sponsor JotSpot), we are able to provide information to our bloggers pre-conference.

In the wiki, we post style and content guidelines, and while our guidelines aren’t very strict, we do have rules, such as not posting about vendors (unless it’s extremely pertinent to the overall message of the post), and simple text and picture formatting rules.

We also utilize a bulletin board application within the wiki as a space for virtual introductions, answering questions, and posting necessary information in a timely fashion for the conference bloggers.