Live from Denver via Twitter

Had I been twittering all along, I would have had information in real time with the web cast. ALA has a Youth Media Award site, ALAyma Twitter, and the number of readers/followers (myself included) on the site jumped from 780 to 895 in the last five minutes. At this point things appear to have stalled a bit with an almost 20 minute lag with no information beyond the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award - congratulations Ashley Bryan.

I don't know about the other 900, oops 910, followers, but the twitter excitement has worn a bit thin for me. You can see the awards announced up to this point, including the Alex Awards and the Coretta Scott King Awards, on the ALAyma Twitter page.

Peanut butter @ lunch

Yes, this week has featured a set of lunchtime posts; today is no exception. While having macaroni & cheese and a sloppy joe (not much nutrition, but plenty of comfort) I have been updating my very first wiki. My main reason for attending ALA midwinter was fulfilling obligations to committees. Members of one committee were discussing creation of a web site. With this end product in mind, topics for inclusion were bandied about, as well as someone to edit our documents before placing them as a web page. I'm new to this committee and tend to spend a lot of time nodding my head in contribution, but I admit to having the not so fleeting thought; why aren't we using a wiki? It would allow for collaboration and eliminate the need for email attachments and a single editor. If we wiki, everyone sees the work; hesitantly I put forth the option to the group. Merits were debated and I found myself volunteering to create a private wiki for the group collaborative effort.

I chose PB Wiki, they have a free version for business and educators. It was a breeze to create and utilizes a point and click environment and simple wysiwyg editor. Forget basic coding and trying to interpret how the links are managed, PBwiki's desktop environment is similar to that of blogs. Within a half hour I had a main wiki page, complete with text (purpose, links, committee member contact), seven secondary topical pages, a sidebar with quick links to each wiki page and outside links, emailed the committee members with wiki invites, had chosen to make the project private (assigned a password), and signed up to receive email notices when it was updated. Overall, a great beginner's experience.

Today I decided to add links, along with short bibliographic information, to the section I was charged with compiling. Here is where I had some issue. When going to the main PB Wiki page, users are presented with "Create a wiki," "take a video tour," and at the top right corner of the page, a login prompt. Since I already had a wiki, I attempted to login. Attempt is the key word as PB wiki continually told me I did not have an email address on file. Huh, odd. I pulled up my email notice, went directly to the wiki, and was able to log in and begin working. Still confused, I sent an email to their support staff questioning the circumstance.

Believe it or not, I had an answer from a live person addressing my actual question within a half hour. Support Guru Rachel responded:

Logging into PBwiki is actually a different registration. You can go to my.pbwiki.com and sign up for a PBwiki Identity which will allow you to connect any wikis you might use under one login. You can read our FAQ for more information.

Go figure. I have faculty learning community obligations later this afternoon, so creating an identity will have to wait for another day. Thanks for the quick response Support Guru Rachel.

Picasa @ lunch, part deux

Today's lunchtime post focus is Historical Philadelphia. Though not able to carve out a large chunk of time to do the "tourist" thing while at midwinter, I had promised my sister (a third grade teacher) to try and get a few history and social studies photos of the area.

A late entrant to the ALA affiliated hotels was a Holiday Inn Express located two blocks from Independence Mall. I had and hour and a half break in the middle of Saturday and took the bus from the Convention Center to the aforementioned hotel. Once there, I was able to take a brisk walk and see the Independence Hall Visitors Center, The Liberty Bell Center, Independence Hall (I did not get to go inside), and Carpenters' Hall before catching the bus back. It was a chilly, sunny, nice afternoon.

Picasa @ Lunch

The weather kept me from venturing too far from the library today at lunch. A quick trip to our campus eatery provided me with a chicken popper salad and an opportunity to play with Picasa Web albums for some of my 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting photos. Below is an embeded slide show of photos from in and around the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.

Featured in this slide show:

The Reading Terminal Market
Termini Brother's Bakery
Rick's Philly Steak
YALSA at the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meetings
List of Exhibitors: ALA Midwinter Meetings 2008
Official Wiki: 2008 Midwinter Meetings

Let the discussion begin

This morning the biggies were announced, ALA children's book awards that is; Caldecott, Newbery,Printz, Coretta Scott King, and Geisel. I was not able to make the announcement ceremony at the convention center, time to pack and head to the airport. Even on the way to the airport, many librarians were part of the Monday mass exodus from Philadelphia, buzz centered around Caldecott Award winner The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

"From an opening shot of the full moon setting over an awakening Paris in 1931, this tale casts a new light on the picture book form. Hugo is a young orphan secretly living in the walls of a train station where he labors to complete a mysterious invention left by his father. In a work of more than 500 pages, the suspenseful text and wordless double-page spreads narrate the tale in turns. Neither words nor pictures alone tell this story, which is filled with cinematic intrigue. Black & white pencil illustrations evoke the flickering images of the silent films to which the book pays homage." - ALSC, Caldecott Medal Page 1/14/08

A personal favorite, I even bought the audio book and accompanying author DVD for the library, I feel the book is simply spectacular. Much of the discussion I overheard concerned it's hefty size and the break from traditional picture book (32 pages) stature. Some felt this would have been a better selection for the Newbery award, but when you take into consideration the illustrations in Hugo are an integral part of the story, removal of them would make it difficult for the text to stand alone. Regardless, I am anxious to see what various children's literature blogs have to say about this year's selection. It could be interesting.

Read the Press Release: ALA Announces Literary Award Winnersand view the Caldecott Medal Page.

Midwinter Exhibits: Book greed

With each ALA conference I attend it gets harder and harder to curb my insatiable book greed regarding ARC's available from publishers in the exhibits area. I need to work on balancing what I want with what I am able to easily carry from to my hotel and schlep through the airport - or - I need to expand upon my inherent stinginess regarding paying to have my loot shipped home (probably the better recourse). I was actually at the opening ceremonies and witnessed the ribbon cutting to open the exhibits. There seemed a large amount of books and information available to attendees.

I have added a complete listing of my ARC's from ALA 08 Midwinter to the sidebar. I have not yet decided if the list will remain (homage to my greed), or if I will remove books from the list as I read and discuss them here. Of course, I could always link the sidebar list to the blog posting and start another LibraryThing account just for ARC's.

Coming soon: Midwinter meeting pictures and conference postings.

A post live from Midwinter

It feels rather odd to be sitting in the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia at the Internet kiosk area and listening to Pat Benetar singing "Hit me with your best shot" from the nearby gaming booth. But somehow it is interestingly appropriate. I have just come from both the best and most disappointing open sessions of the weekend.

The best? A YALSA program for the YA Best Books listing that featured young adults presenting their opinions of the titles being considered. As others are waiting for computers, more on that later.

The most disappointing? I just left the presidents program featuring Kareem Abdul Jabbar and there was not enough seating for everyone in attendance. Even those hoping to be wallflowers were dismayed as convention security prohibited the action and we were being asked to move.

It is closing in on 4:00 pm I am going to take a last turn around the exhibit area and head to the hotel for a quick dinner and packing. Naturally, I will be obsessing about the weather as the impending snowfall has dominated local weather for the last 24 hours.

Photos, lists of arcs, commentary, and overall impressions of ALA midwinter will be posted soon. Full of Philly cheesesteak and hording a gourmet chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie for during the football game ... good-bye from midwinter.

Midwinter is when?

For the last ten days I have been muttering to myself, get things ready for the first day of classes, midwinter is next Friday. Along with this mantra is the pep talk; there is plenty of opportunity to create schedules, update WebCT, move furniture to facilitate extended library hours (better left not discussed), update web pages, create the Mock Caldecott listings, contact potential new hires for the resource center, prepare the graduate assistants (new and existing) for the first week, update book reserves for professors, schedule resource center tours, post information to the blogs, make signs reflecting hours changes, and do the weekly resource center update for the student workers and GA's. Really, plenty of time. I can do this.

Now, midwinter is the day after tomorrow and though I did find my travel reservations and itinerary (Orbitz, cheaper then the roaming gnome), know when my flight leaves (mid-morning on Friday), and with what airline I will be flying the friendly skies (US Airways, sigh), I was chagrined to note that I had not investigated getting from the airport in Philly to my hotel - OR - looked at any of the meeting information beyond my obligations. I spent a bit of time this morning viciously printing from the ALA conference site and 2008 Midwinter Meetings wiki. I wasted the opportunity to take a new book on the flight by reading my Stephanie Plum novel Tuesday evening (and it was just a little baby book), at least now I may have something to read.

I am excited to be participating in the Midwinter meetings, and I am thrilled the weather is going to be early-spring-like, but my to-do list for tomorrow is expanding as I blog. Once the to-do list is toast and all is prepared, I can clear my mind and focus on the meetings. What's that song chorus; "Free your mind, and the rest will follow."

Don't get me started on packing.