Bookcart Drill Teams

A great way to round out the conference on a happy note is to attend the Book Cart Drill Team Championships, sponsored by Demco. Teams compete for gold, silver, and bronze book carts from ... Demco! This year's competition was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, June 29th.

An ALA news release on June 17, 2008 named the participating teams:

• “Bibliotechies,” St. Margaret's Episcopal School,
  San Juan Capistrano, CA
• “California Girls,” California School Library Association
  Southern Section
• “Call Number 007,”
  Riverside County Library (Calif.) System - West
• “Dancing Raisinettes,” Fresno County (Calif.) Library
• “Palm Desert Library Cart Attacks”
  Riverside County (Calif.) Library System
• “The Bibliofiles,” Austin (Texas) Public Library
• “The Delaware Diamonds,” Delaware
• “Well Stacked Scibrarians,” Santa Monica Public Library

Once again hosted by our favorite MC's authors Jon Scieszka and Mo Willems, the event is always a crowd pleaser. This is the third drill team championship I have attended and was by far the most well-attended in terms of both participants and audience members (SRO crowd). Demco posted the winners on their ALA conference page:

• 1st place - The Well-Stacked Sci-Brarians
  Santa Monica Public Library, CA
• 2nd place - The Bibliofiles
  Austin Public Library, TX
• 3rd place - The Bibliotechies
  St. Margaret's Episcopal School, Palm Desert, CA

Not able to attend? Well, shame on you ... but never fear. There are several YouTube videos of the program. I've been a bit video happy here lately, so instead of embedding I am adding links.

• 2008 Book Cart Drill Team World Championships


• Library Book Cart Drill Team


• Book Cart Drill Team


• SMPL Book Cart Drill Team Winners


• ALA 2008 Book Cart Drill Team


• California Girls Book Cart Drill Team at ALA

Best Books for YA 2009

One of the reasons I enjoy ALA Annual and Midwinter is the inclusion of YALSA sessions. Yes I am an academic librarian, but ACRL does not offer the diversity of children's literature programming, actually, they don't offer childrens literature sessions at all, during their conferences. I am charged with juvenile and young adult collection development, ALA Annual and Midwinter Meetings provide me great opportunity to see what's new. This is especially true with the Best Books for Young Adult nomination program. My favorite, the teen session where young adults provide their insights to titles currently being considered for the award, was held on Sunday, June 29th, in Anaheim.

A group of invited young adult readers gather at the front of the room and are given opportunity to present their views and recommendations, positive or negative, to the audience and panel. The students are charged with the task of presenting reasoning opposed to a summation of the title discussed. As we progress through the list one section at a time, students gather at microphones to await their turn. Accompanying the opinion pieces are power point slides depicting the book cover, title, and author. Comments were concise and illustrated an enviabile depth and bredth of understanding, as well as a love for reading.

A quick perusal of the list showed I had read, and formed a personal opinion on, fewer titles than normal. Among those titles were The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Debby Harry Sings in French, The Last Exit to Normal, Compound, My Most Excellent Year, How to Build a House, and How Not to be Popular. I belatedly recognized some titles when they showed the book I remembered seeing the cover art. Several of the teens mentioned cover art in their comments, even to the extent of noting sometimes you can tell a book by it's cover, while other times it is horribly misleading. For the first time, this year a few were completely unknown to me.

Here is a short within the list of titles most frequently discussed, including both positive and negative comments from the participating teens:

• Airman, by Eoin Colfer
• Undercover, by Beth Kephart
• The Host, by Stephanie Myer
• The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson
• Climbing the Stairs, by Padma Venkatraman
• Sweethearts, by Sara Zarr
• How Not to be Popular, by Jennifer Lynn Ziegler
  

I will be checking this list against the catalog soon. It is always interesting to learn how many of the titles are represented in the juvenile collection.

An annotated list of the 2009 nominations is available on Members Only section of the YALSA website. An updated nominations list, sans annotations, is available with the Best Books section of the YALSA site (titles nominated). This list was updated on June 6, 2008, prior to the Best Books Nominations session held at ALA Annual in Anaheim.

The Conference Center ...

I found the Anaheim Convention Center to a reasonably attractive and well located venue, no better or worse than any of the previous three convention centers ALA selected for annual conferences. It did have a few perks that I especially enjoyed, specifically the outside garden area and open decks on all floor levels that enabled me to photograph Anaheim without restrictions and reflections of windows. The biggest oddity was having registration behind closed doors as opposed to in the open lobby area (similar to midwinter in Philadelphia). There was a lack of extended hours of operation the first two days as people arrived in Anaheim for the conference, only to be unable to register after 5:00 pm.

Don't forget Mickey

Working Saturday has it's rewards, amongst them is having the following Monday off work; it's my weekend, just one day removed. My home office cleaning quest unearthed my ALA Annual folder containing a plethora of maps, session notes, and handouts. In turn, the discovery led me to several draft blog posts previously loaded with accompanying photographs for discussing ALA in Anaheim. They are dated July 3rd. It is amazing how quickly the conference faded to the background as the holidays and subsequent return to work surged to the forefront demanding attention. The exhilaration of being near Mickey, palm trees, sun and breezes are faded, but my pictures and notes remain.

ARCL had several EBSS sessions, including committee meetings, scheduled at the Disneyland Hotel (hence the welcome from Mickey). It was a simple matter to ride the purple Gale shuttle bus into Disney to attend. Stepping off the bus was like entering another world, one full of happy families and delirious children steeped in the magic kingdom's allure; mouse ears in ever size and colors with even the restrooms playing Disney music. Naturally the hotel was well prepared for conference goers. At the end of mornign sessions they set up a reasonably priced lunch area in the lobby. While definitely a pragmatic move, we did not have to leave the premisis to eat and our money stayed on site, it was a welcome option to scouting an eatery nearby that would serve lunch in the short hour between meetings and afternoon programs.

I Attended ACRL's EBSS session Knowledge Wants to be Known that featured John Willinksy (Stanford), Ray English (Oberlin), and Alison Muddit (Sage) speaking on the topic of Open Access. The web site description:

"Are you interested in alternative scholarly publishing models? Do you want to know more about how open access is playing out in the social and behavioral sciences? Open access is not one-size-fits all; disciplines have unique publishing histories and requirements. Learn how to energize behavioral science faculty and connect access issues with the "publish or perish" imperative." - EBSS Program Announcement

Each of the speakers had a different perspective on Open Access and presented their points with enthusiasm. I found the session informative and it helped to clarify everyones stand on the issue at hand. An audience member raised an interesting question at the programs end that further expanded upon the publishers view of this growing trend. It could be argued that everyone wants information to be available, but agreement how it reaches the masses has a way to go. This is a publishing area worth watching. For more information, visit the Directory of Open Access Journals.

The Hotel ...

My ALA conference blog posts have fallen a bit by the wayside due to my avoidance of all things computer. So, I have a bit of catching up to do. Attending ALA in Anaheim I followed my usual process of selecting a hotel; conference hotels were sold out and I utilized the map to locate properties near to the shuttle bus route. I finally settled on the Anaheim Plaza Hotel and Suites. It was across the street from Disneyland, had two stars from AAA, appeared nice on the hotel website, was within walking distance (though a bit of a hike) to the conference center if need be, and was next door to an ALA hotel with shuttle service.

All things considered and because I do not want to expend an entire post trashing this establishment, I will simply state I have stayed in less attractive places. Waiting for the shuttle on my return trip I spent time talking with another librarian who mentioned the place could be described "care worn." It was convenient and I could hear the fireworks at Disneyland, enough said.

Libraries Build Communities

Photograph c. 2008, ALA, Libraries Build Communities

Happy librarians wearing dull gray t-shirts with blue grahic elements holding orange traffic cone colored bags smile merrily for the official ALA photographer. A long caption indeed, but not inaccurate. This photo, along with thanks and an evaluation form, arrived via email earlier this week. I believe it is the same picture featured in ALA Cognotes on Saturday, June 28th.

To early in OC

ALA scheduled their annual conference in Anaheim, Orange County, California, a week or so too early; we missed the 30th Annual Mooning of Amtrak festivities by a mere ten days! Seems this started twenty odd years ago when a patron at a nearby saloon said he'd buy a drink for anyone who went out and mooned the train (Mooning Amtrak Trains). What an interesting picture for AL Direct or ALA Cognotes that would have been! The website disclaimer reads ...

"Attending this event may be hazardous due to the large concentration of silly people cars, motorcycles, motorhomes, concrete vehicle wheel-stops, potholes & cracks in the road & parking-lots and dangerous pets. Everyone present is responsible for their own actions. If you trip on something, or hurt yourself, you alone are responsible. There is no one to sue. No one either promotes this nor charges admission. If you do come, act safely! If you're accident prone, please don't come, go somewhere else where you'll be safer. Neither Mugs Away Saloon, The City of Laguna Niguel nor Amtrak, nor Metrolink are responsible for this event, nor for assuring your safety. The City & the railroad would rather you didn't bother coming to this event. No one is carrying public liability insurance for this. Besides, would any insurance underwriter insure an event called, "Mooning Amtrak"?" - Mooning Amtrak Trains, Southern California.

You just can't make this stuff up!

Post-conference ruminations

After any ALA Annual Conference there is a lot of chatter throughout the blogosphere as conference goers ruminate over their experiences. I have to admit to surprise regarding the number of people vocally dissatisfied with the conference venue, conference location, the length of a city block, the weather, and lastly the accommodations in Anaheim. Some reports have been rather harsh ranting about Disneyland, tourists, lack of restaurants, and even complaints about available bars in the area.

I will be the first to admit I was not thrilled with my hotel, but it was convenient to the conference center and next door to an ALA hotel on Gale's shuttle bus route. The conference center was spacious and included several shaded outdoor areas, as these photos display, where attendees could gather for gossip (oops, networking) breaks, phone calls, lunch, or even a nap. Only one of the five days in Anaheim had temperatures above the mid-eighties, so the outside venue was welcome.

When I arrived on Thursday afternoon it was necessary to walk to the conference center and register. Yes, it was hot. But it was hotter in Ohio when I left that morning. Yes, it was a bit of a hike from my charming hotel to the conference center. But the walk was welcome after five hours sitting on my behind in an airplane. Yes, I was a bit frustrated that on my return trip to the hotel most of the restaurants did not open until five. But I grabbed a value meal at a local Subway and beverages at the 7-11 across the street. A plethora of restaruants were in the resort area, in fact ALA's Dine Around series chose Thai, Italian, Mexican, California Cuisine, and good old American for participants. Anaheim was not unlike any large city, there were good, bad, and generic chain restaurants for all.

Walking was an option between all but a few of the conference hotels, specifically the Disneyland Hotel. And yes, the size of a city block was astronomical. Those are not things a conference committee can control. I enjoyed the Anaheim venue and was reminded how magical a family vacation could be, especially with the excitement Disney creates in it's smallest fans. Watching the children bounce with glee in the morning as they crossed the street to the park made me smile.

Yesterday's AL Direct noted there were upwards of 22,000 in Anaheim; down from the 26,000 + in Washington, DC last year and up from the 18,000 + in New Orleans. I am not convinced the location is solely responsible for this decline in attendance. There are other factors to consider. Not a contented flyer, I hesitated due to the sheer amount of travel time involved (a statement that will undoubtedly make any west cost librarian shake their head in pity). Then there is the economy, cost of travel was significantly higher (and not only due to location) and many libraries are facing budget cuts making funds less available for professional development. A relative newbie to the large converence experience, I may be a bit naive. But I felt this conference had a bit more to offer in sessions and content than DC last year, and New Orleans the year before; none of it had to do with the location.

Libraries Build Communities 2008

According to ALA Cognotes (Issue 1, June 28, 2008) from Anaheim, more than 100 conference attendees participated in this year's Libraries Build Communities effort on Friday, June 27th.

"Volunteers were dispatched to thirteen project sites in the Anaheim area to illustrate the importance and influence local libraries can have on their communities." -- ALA Cognotes.

Participants gathered early Friday morning in the convention center garden to receive project locations. Prior to the conference I somewhat blindly, i.e. I did not know what task would be assigned, selected an elementary school library. When assignments were handed out, I learned we would be - gasp - cataloging! It has literally been years since I copy cataloged at a public library. I immediately volunteered to do technical services book processing by adding spine labels, bar codes, and reading levels to each book.

We worked efficiently for most of the day, stopping only for lunch (Dominoes pizza with ALA supplied coupons) and scrumptious treats (chocolate and items of a healthier fare) provided by our librarian hostess . At the end of the afternoon, an entire table of freshly cataloged juvenile books were added to the school's library collection. An added bonus? I got to browse through the purchased titles while processing - and - was able to gossip with librarians from academic, school, and public libraries. Not the profoundly necessary work done at ALA in New Orleans, on it's own scale it was both needed and appreciated by our host librarian.

Wondering about the man on the balcony pictured above? I took a picture of the official photographer taking our picture before leaving. Corny, but I could not (didn't even try to) resist.

Books, backpacks & autographs

I promised myself this would be the year I would refrain from gleefully and greedily grabbing every free book offered by publishers in the exhibit hall. I did not want to drag them to sessions, back to my hotel room, or through the airport and on to the plane. Eager to stick to this missive I did not even take my bright orange day-glo ALA Anaheim Conference tote (it really is department of transportation orange barrel orange) to "The Stacks." Satisfied with my personal declaration, I shared it with various friends along the way.

I lasted until happening upon the Scholastic Publishing booth. Though they were selling more than giving away, I did snag a 39 Clues book bag and thought ... "I will only take as many books as will fit comfortably into this book bag" and NOT make me wander through the remainder of the day as a hunch back. A bit less smug than anticipated, here they are:

Juvenile/YA fiction ARC's:

• Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, by Alison Goodman
• The Servants, by Michael Marshall Smith
• Burn, by Suzanne Phillips

Regular fiction and non-fiction ARC's:

• Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men by Michael Kimmel
• Epilogue: A Memoir, by Anne Roiphe

Not ARC's, these books are already in technical services destined for the library collection. All three are probably more suited for a public library, and point of fact are located in several nearby public collections, but the two juvenile biographies will work in my collection as well.

• Sterling Biographies, Marian Anderson: A Voice Uplifted
• Sterling Biographies, Abraham Lincoln: From Pioneer to President
• The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom

The autograph? I was dragging my bookbag toward the exhibits exit when a nice man from Harper Collins publishing handed me a paperback copy of Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I politely declined with thanks, stating I owned the hardback edition. His reply? She's currently autographing these paperback copies, take another! I was thrilled. The long line moved quickly; Ms. Phillips very gracious and, if I may say so, snazzily garbed in a trendy animal print dress. I now have an autographed book in my paperback collection and know that her next novel, What I Did for Love, has a February 2009 release date.

Flying the friendly skies

Thursday morning's wake-up was an unfathomable 5:00 am. My bags were packed and ready to roll; I was on the road at 5:30 am, in the dark, traveling at reasonable speeds, with only trucks for company. An 8:05 am departure meant providing myself enough time for traffic (almost non-existent at that hour), possible delays (construction at the airport parking lots), parking (wonderfully bereft of issue), airline check-in (frightfully friendly for the hour of the day), and security (quick and without smiles). The puddle jump flight from Columbus to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was quick, free of turbulence, and on-time.

Chicago was bustling even at 7:30 am, but soon they were herding countless laughing librarians like cattle, loading the charming Boeing 757 destined for John Wayne International Airport, Orange County, California. All buckled into our seats we backed slowly away from the gate when the captain announced the "tow bar" had broken off from the gate and we needed to wait for maintenance to bring a new bar and check the nose for any damage. My first thought? How important is the tow bar? Second thought? Yes, please make sure the nose is fine before we take off for a three hour and fifty-minute flight!

All was well as we cruised over the mid-west. From the airplane window, even though I dislike flying I oddly enough enjoy the window seat, it is always disconcerting to look out and see clouds below. Even more so being high enough in the air to see the curvature of the earth! We landed in Orange County over the Pacific Ocean, so I was able to at least see it from my window seat in the sky. Things went smoothly upon landing. I gathered my belongings, deplaned, located a restroom, gathered my suitcase, took a quick photo of the John Wayne statue, and was quickly directed to an airport shuttle to my hotel (more on the hotel later). Less than an hour after landing I was checking in to my hotel and destined for the convention center to register.

If possible, my return trip was even less eventful. The super shuttle arrived on time, our driver was a comedian trying to convince us we were headed to LAX, check-in lines were at a minimum, security checks went smoothly (even for the girl with a cat), and I had ample opportunity to call home before boarding for Chicago. Tow-bar intact the pilot informed us take-off from Orange County airports were different due to the noise ordinance; we would be departing at a relatively steep incline and he would be throttling back the engines to reduce noise. O-kay. No worries, I got an even better photo of the Pacific Ocean and we were on our way with free soft drinks and opportunity to purchase three dollar cookies and six dollar sandwiches in our near future.


Do you ever wonder why pilots feel the need to tell you what state you are currently flying over? It's not like we can see someone on the ground holding a flag that says "welcome to Missouri." But, I digress.

I did the airport dash at O'Hare Monday evening since the big 757 landed at one end and the tiny little American Eagle Express bound for Columbus took off at the other end of the concourse. I made the boarding time with three minutes - and a bathroom trip - to spare. There was a beautiful sunset outside the airplane window, yes a window seat again, that I could not resist. I have another shot without the airplane wing, however I liked this one better. Flying the friendly skies, the portion of my journey filled with the most angst, was not only painless, but on time with accompanying luggage.

ALA Annual

It really is an instance of California, here I come. Today I recieved my ALA Annual conference materials at work and enclosed in the logo titled envelope were my conference badge, Libraries Build Communites ticket, Expo card for "the stacks," and a handy-dandy American Library Association Annual Conference information pamphlet.

The weather badge says it's 65.8 in Anaheim, it was 92 here yesterday. There is something just wrong about that.

Now if I only had something to wear.

California here I come

After a significant amount of personal (family) and professional (waiting to hear about presenting and a conference grant) dithering and dragging of feet, Thursday afternoon I registered for the ALA Conference in Anaheim. It was not without issue, despite what the ALA conference flyer in my mailbox that afternoon touted; thousands of hotel rooms in walking distance of the Anaheim Convention Center?

I spent a great deal of time on Wednesday with Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, AAA, and Hotels.com researching (hunting) flights and available hotels close to my travel budget and the convention center. I cross-checked results with flight time, airlines and airports, ultimately settling on a flight and location. With the hotel available through four of the five travel sites, I decided to wait until Thursday to place my reservation (I had the wrong credit card with me at work). Imagine my infinite joy Thursday morning when the hotel in question was sold out with all five of the travel sites I visited on Wednesday.

I started over on Thursday afternoon ultimately selecting a travel package Expedia, American Airlines (shortest & least expensive flight from Columbus International Airport) and the Anaheim Plaza Hotel. In a lucky circumstance, as I was making the reservation a notice from Expedia popped up saying "good news, the cost of your flight has just been lowered" and I saved close to $100! Woo-hoo, I will take that without any problem.

I have an airline reservation with a short layover at O'Hare (wish me luck), a room reservation (walking distance to the convention center), and conference registration (made just in time to get a small advance discount) with the added Librarians Build Communities option for Friday afternoon. I will need more than one book for the flight, usually the latest Stephanie Plum novel Fearless Fourteen from Janet Evanovich, and updated tunes for my MP3 player, good thing I have Pepsi Stuff points.

I wonder if the post title should say "ready or not?"

Tags: ALA, American Library Association, 2008 ALA Conference, ALA Annual Conference, Anaheim, California