The PLA Blog | Official Blog of the Public Library Association
Web 2.0
Great session this afternoon on being cutting edge. Here’s what I learned. The session I went to this morning was on Library 2.0. Oh, I know what you’re thinking, “we have Helene ( Blowers with us now in Columbus, Ohio, we don’t need to hear other folks talk about this.” Not true! It’s not going [...]
Think Outside the Book: Online Service as Outreach
Think Outside the Book seemed like two totally different presentations. I found the latter part, after a portion of the audience had disappeared, most addressed my library’s teen issues. (The presentation was in much too large a room anyway.) Sarah Cofer, the Teen Librarian at Worthington Libraries, Ohio, told about how she and the other [...]
When the Story is True: Practicing Nonfiction Readers’ Advisory
Barry Trott of the Williamsburg Regional Library began the program When the Story is True by reading comments about the book Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle (2004). From the use of phrases about well-drawn characters, tense settings, and compelling story, he said that many readers might assume that the book was a novel. It [...]
Day 3 (still without cleverness) – part 2
My brain hurts (and make sure you say that in your best Monty Python “Gumby” voice to get the full effect). Three days have passed and my energy level is low — and there is still half a day to go. It’s going to be a close run thing, and I’m betting that I’ll be [...]
Virtual Conference: Adobe Connect, Nancy Pearl, and the pinch hit
Nearly 200 people are registered to attend the PLA 2008 Virtual Conference (everyone who attends the PLA 2008 conference in Minneapolis can also log in now to participate, or later to gain access to the archives), and so far, everyone seems to be really happy with it. I was recruited to “host” the conference, which [...]
“Land of the Cold Air”
Stupid, stupid me. I forgot to send myself the e-mail that included all of the login information, and I can no longer access my work e-mail remotely because IT has dinked around and installed a new firewall to keep us safe. And inaccessible. So I’m writing this on my own blog, and then pasting it [...]
Dewey, Unions, and Space
The last session I went to on Thursday was “Dewey or Don’t We,” which was a presentation by the fine folks at Maricopa County Library about their experience testing out a “deweyless” organizing system at a new branch. This became a very controversial topic in public library circles, so most of you probably have read [...]
“I’ve never seen so many middle-aged white women in one place!”
OK, that probably got your attention… The title of this post was something a friend overheard yesterday, and it leads me to a few quick observations about the crowd at PLA: Basically, the quote above is kinda true. I’m kinda shocked at how overwhelmingly white the attendees are. I’ve only seen a handful of Asians, [...]
Thoughts from Thursday at PLA
Thursday was an ambitious day for me, I set out to accomplish a lot. Here’s a few things I did and a few thoughts those things provoked. From 8:30-9:45 I went to the “Why we Borrow” presentation, based on Paco Underhill’s “Why we Buy” book. It was a decent presentation, but I found myself sitting [...]
Readers’ Advisory Tool Kit III: Market Driven Readers’ Advisory – Three More Skills to Increase Your Effectiveness as an RA Librarian
As the day wound down, attendance at the Readers’ Advisory Tool Kit III was a bit down, though still very decent. Those who lasted the full day of PLA got to hear three well-known librarians suggest more ways to get books into the hands of readers. With her section “Promoting the Backlist,” Georgine Olson of [...]
