PLA Blog

My observations thus far:

• It’s kind of hard to get a cup of coffee!
  • There’s an espresso cart that closes at 10:30am (what is up with that?)
  • Espresso stands w/o soy milk
  • Only found one Starbucks in what must have been miles of walking on the
• Skyways — wow can you ever get turned around and lost on the skyways
• Different skyways have different “personalities”
  • shopping — Banana Republic, GAP, Starbucks!!!, Godiva, Saks 5th Avenue, Macy’s etc
  • fast food — Subway, Dairy Queen, a Thai Place, Taco Time etc
  • ??? (I haven’t explored them all yet)
• Street people who speak French
• Snow in the weather forecast isn’t a national emergency
• It’s not warm in Minneapolis, but
• People in Minneapolis are Really Nice (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0213/cover.html)

As you gather up the travel guides from the 910s to research your trip to PLA 2008 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, definitely take a look at the Restaurants and Nightlife, Arts and Culture, Don’t Miss, and Resources in the On the Town section of the conference site. You’ll find up to the minute information on tourism, food, parks, and more, including The Rake, a portal specializing in the “daily Secrets of the City, Fiction, News, Events and Restaurants in Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota.”

If you like guided tours and hanging out with other librarians, check out the Tours section of the conference site. Quite a variety of quality experiences is available, some with multiple times to choose from, including:

• Life & Times of F. Scott Fitzgerald Tour
• Stillwater, Minnesota tour
• Take on the Twin Cities! tour

You can also hit the FREE Special Early Literacy-focused Tour on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10am. The Minneapolis Public Library will offer guided tours of its new downtown library building at 300 Nicollet Mall with special emphasis on the Children’s Library and early literacy environments. The tour will highlight areas of the library that address early literacy learning needs as well as give ideas on how to enhance early literacy environments in your library. This tour is limited to the first 100 people who register via email! Send an email to to sign up.