PLA Blog

1. Sun in January! Yippee!

Lots of dog puns, followed by appreciative groans
-several editors, publisher dinner

“YALSA Salsa” (the food, or the dance? not sure)
-random librarian, YALSA all-committee

“So…. are you a librarian?” (pick up line)
-random male, Swig, martini bar

A great story about a librarian who fell asleep on the shuttle bus and rode around for quite awhile… woke up and found herself alone on the bus - the driver had finished the route, but was happy to bring her to her hotel. Attributed to too many margaritas the night before.
-librarian, publisher dinner

“Are you movin’ & shakin’?”
-librarian, outside convention center

“For public libraries, right?” (about a petition to establish a gaming group within YALSA)
-library teacher, Marriot Rivercenter

“y’all @#$!ing ROCK!” (when the waitress forgot to bring the tab)
-waitress, Swig martini bar

“I have a shiny new job!”
-ingenue librarian, Marriot Rivercenter

“Do you have any ARCS?”
everyone, exhibit hall

“Firefighters don’t have to deal with MARC records.” (on why librarians in the UK have more stressful jobs than firefighters)
-OCLC Blogger Salon

“We’re kind of like Geico” (referring to a library’s customer service ethic)
-Boudreau’s restaurant

“The disabled community is the most disenfranchised community in public and academic libraries… we don’t always do the best job.”
-Boudreau’s restaurant

“I’m glad I had soup for the really theoretical part… no, I’m just kidding.”
-Boudreau’s restaurant

“15% of ALA members are students - about 10,000 people. THere are 100 seats on ALA council. That means there should be 15 student members on council. Where are the student councillors?” (student running for council)
-Medusa bar

I just got back from a wonderful dinner at Acenar (I highly recommend the oyster appetizer [and get yourself a maragarita]) with Chrystie Hill (my co-author) and Patrick Hogan (ALA Editions Head Honcho). While the dinner was stimulating, the real action took place on our walk back to the hotel where we witnessed two citizens being questioned by police on two different blocks (one was face down on the street surrounded by 3 officers). Be careful out there folks.

Tomorrow is a big meeting day. If the meetings are going to have the minutes available publicly, why not blog them? I’ll be attending the Public Libraries Magazine Advisory Committee meeting in the morning and will let you know what was discussed.

This morning I left my house in Jacksonville at 4:30am (yawn!), then flew off to Atlanta to connect to my flight to San Antonio. The flight from Atlanta to San Antonio was filled with a large majority of people going to the conference. Lots of librarians!

After arriving in sunny Texas, my roommate Jennifer Cella and I had to take a boat tour. It’s a new tradition with us. When we were in Chicago last summer for the Annual Conference, we went on a boat tour on the Chicago River and had a wonderful time. Today we went on a boat tour on the San Antonio River (where we learned, among other things, that it is named after St. Anthony). I fully recommend a boat tour; not only do you learn a bit about the city, you also get a chance to take some really great pictures!

Tonight I’ll be at the NMRT Meet and Greet from 7:30-8:30pm at the St. Anthony hotel, Bowie Room. For those new members of ALA, it’s a great way to network and meet some wonderful people. Hope to see y’all there!

Just a quick note that the PLA Blog will be out in force at ALA Midwinter in San Antonio. We are also celebrating our 1 year anniversary this week.

I would also like to schedule some sort of informal get together for anyone who wants to meet the bloggers and talk shop. I assume that the main hotel will have a bar, so it might be easier for us to meet there. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?