Stan Lee at ALA14

Wow, I wasn’t all that bothered about seeing Stan Lee but thought I would go and see what all the fuss was about. I must admit he gave a great, thought provoking speech. You wouldn’t believe he is 91 years old.

Anyways… I was lucky enough to get a seat in the middle about 5 rows back and was riveted by his stories of his time in the army during WWII in which he was transferred from the Signal Corps to the Training Film Division once they became aware of his talent. Here he worked on writing manuals, training films, and slogans, and occasionally cartooning. Most of this work was to help soldiers learn about various machines they were supposed to operate – such as Fiscal Freddy in an easier fashion. He also designed a campaign for the Prophylactic Stations featuring a smiling soldier with the caption “V.D.? Not me!”

Once of mine and everyone elses favourite quote was “Reading is very good. And you can quote me on that!”

Here is a clip of Stan Lee’s talking about reading Saturday June 28th 2014.

Another clip shows him talking about the evolution of comics.

It was interesting to hear about his new comic Zodiac but as I knew about it I like his story about his cameo in Spiderman. Whilst playing a librarian, Stan Lees character is so engrossed in checking in books while listening to music on his headphones that he does not take any notice of Spiderman and the Lizard crashing through the walls of the library behind him. He says that this was subliminal message and he quotes: “Books are so important and all-engulfing that when you read a book, you wouldn’t even notice a fight going on behind you.” 

A lot of my work colleagues and friends are very jealous that I got to hear him speak. It did feel good hearing him appreciate and respect libraries and librarians.

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

I managed to score some tickets for the Carnegie awards night held June 28th 2014 at the Octavius Room in Caesars Palace thanks to a lovely lady at RUSA (Reference and User Services Association).

The event went really well and we had some great speeches from the winners:
Donna Tartt won for Excellence in Fiction for her novel The Goldfinch
Doris Kearns Goodwin won for Excellence in Nonfiction for her book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism

Dessert and drinks afterwards made for a great end to the evening.

ALA14 Poster Sessions

I was interested in this poster as my University was analysing our Libqual survey whilst I was at the ALA Conference. One similar outcome is the need for print and/or electronic journal collections.
The full poster is available here

This poster intrigued me as the University of Las Vegas are using students as library student assistants. They then provide 1 hour sessions to supplement their university experience and bridge any skills gaps they may have. This would be good for employability in the UK, as it is a hot topic right now.
The full poster is available here

It was good to see a demo of the new Libguides 2 before we start updating our guides during the summer.

Elvis himself even paid the conference a visit!

ALAPlay 2014

Tonight I attended ALA Play held in the beautiful Florentine room at Caesars Palace. I had no preconceptions on what it would be about and initially thought it might be a nice game of monopoly or scrabble.

I was pretty wrong and ended up playing a game called Pathfinder. I’ll be honest, I had pretty much no idea what was going on half the time, but I did have loads of fun.

Cosmo over at Paizo was great in showing us the game, and I was very happy to have the winning go!.

You can find out more on Paizo and Pathfinder here

I even got my face painted!

Conference ribbons

So I knew a little bit about the famous ALA conference ribbons before I went but nothing prepared me for them. I love this quote from T. J. Szafranski in American Libraries Magazine: “Ribbons are a thing. Like sensible shoes and swag.”

It was really nice to be able to say what kind of librarian you are and personalise your ALA delegate badge. for starters I went with ALA First time attendee and International Librarian.

My favourites are definitely the ribbons I got from attending the gaming session over at Caesars Palace, such as GAMER and Library Superhero.

We really should have these at conferences in the UK, looks like you can get them made at MyBadges and most of the ALA ones came from Stack-A-Ribbon. Imagine a BLA or LILAC conference with these, it would be great fun!

I also bought a lovely orange ALA t’shirt to take home as a souvenir.

 

Meadows Public Library visit – Las Vegas

The Meadows Library is a small public library based inside a community center a stones throw from the Las Vegas strip.

The library was orientated towards children, with lots of childrens books, a small play area and advertisements for different clubs for kids.

The location was great, overlooking the tall Stratosphere Hotel and Casino at the North end of the Strip. Surprisingly this was in a residential neighbourhood and the Stupak Community Center which houses the library provides a lot of services to the residents.

They had some great bookmarks advertising books in different topic areas.

Pinball Hall of Fame – Las Vegas

Ok so it’s not really a library visit but the Pinball Hall of Fame is like a library/archive of Pinball machines and video games from back in the day to the present.

Here are some pictures.

ALA 2014 Schedule

The following are some of the sessions I am interested in attending at the ALA 2014 Conference.

Going All In: Library Instruction for Students in Online Education Programs

Abstract – “An increasing amount of coursework, both at the secondary and postsecondary level, is being conducted online. This shift in the delivery method of education which began at the college level is now occurring throughout the K-16 continuum. Because many of the students in these classes and programs will never set foot into the host institution, this transformation has necessitated a great deal of change in all aspects of library services, including information literacy instruction. This conference program will spotlight some innovative ways that libraries are conducting and delivering instruction to this new cohort.”

It will be interesting to see how US institutions are dealing with providing library services to distance/online learners.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

This is a poster session so thought I’d go and take a look and see what it is about.

The Quiet Strengths of Introverts: ALCTS President’s Program featuring Jennifer Kahnweiler

Abstract – “The world of work is changing. It’s fast, virtual, and global. The introvert’s quiet strengths are keys to meeting the challenges ahead. Introverts can challenge the status quo, provoke new thoughts, and inspire others. Most importantly, they can be highly effective leaders, influencers, and colleagues when they build on their inherent strengths.”

This looked interesting to me but I’m not sure many of the librarians in the UK i’ve met are introverts!

Articles on Demand: Library Perspectives

Abstract – “Articles-on-demand, also known as pay-per-view, is an evolving acquisitions model which allows libraries to purchase article content from a variety of journals without having to subscribe to all of the individual titles involved. Different vendors offer different models and options for libraries to participate. Libraries will discuss their decision-making process, successes and challenges along the way, and their current methods for acquiring content. Articles-on-demand options from both publishers and third-party vendors will be discussed.”

At by institution we have gone down the road of PDA for books but not yet looked at articles on demand. Will be interesting to see how this is going in the USA.

Get Writing! Overcome Procrastination, Remove Roadblocks and Create a Map for Success

Abstract – “Overcome procrastination, remove roadblocks and create a map for successful completion of your paper.   In this hands-on workshop you’ll break down you writing project into manageable steps with deadlines and learn simple approaches and techniques for sticking to your schedule.  Whether you’re just beginning the publishing process or are a more seasoned writer stuck on a project that needs to get out the door, this workshop will help you get going and stay on track.”

Hope this works!

Annual Library Camp

Abstract – “Join us for the Annual Library Camp. The goal of this Camp is to get people together to talk about anything library or conference related with a focus on reflecting on what inspired you at the 2014 Annual Conference. Come prepared to share your experiences and/or lead an informal discussion on a topic of your choice.”

I have attended Library Camps in the UK for the past few years and I have really enjoyed them. I hope this will be a good way of networking with some of the US based librarians I can also pass on some good practice from the UK.

Closing General Session featuring B.J. Novak

Abstract – “Don’t miss the chance to be entertained and energized by what B. J. Novak has to say about the power of words and a new accomplishment as he adds book author to an already impressive résumé. He has long been well known as a stand-up comedian, writer, TV and film star (especially as Ryan on NBC’s Emmy Award-winning “The Office” and in films including Inglourious Basterds and Saving Mr. Banks), executive producer, and Screen Actors Guild and Writers’ Guild of America award winner. Library users of all ages are likely to seek out his books-in 2014, he’s already published One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories for adults (February 2014, Knopf), to be followed by his first children’s book, The Book with No Pictures (September 2014, Dial Books for Young Readers).”

Great thing about the ALA is that not all events are typical of a library conference. Really looking forward to listening to this talk by B.J. Novak.

ALA Conference 2014 overview

The ALA conference 2014 takes place in Las Vegas this year from Jun 26 – July 1.

I have wanted to attend an international conference for a while now and first became interested in ALA Annual a few years back. In my previous professional library post it would not have been possible to get institutional funding and I thought about applying for one of the CILIP grants and bursaries. Once I saw that ALA Annual would be in Las Vegas in 2014 I thought I would wait and attempt to get funding for it, as it happens my lovely institution have funded me to go on proviso I write up my thoughts for our institutional magazine or a library publication. Next year I might try and apply for CILIPs IFLA conference grant.

One of the main reasons for wanting to attend ALA Annual is because it is one of the largest library conferences and great for networking and professional development, plus it’s in Vegas. Another reason is my love of all things American, my first degree being American Studies, with a semester living and studying at Keene State College in New Hampshire.

I plan on taking in some visits to other libraries in the Vegas area, possibly at the University of Nevada, the College of Southern Nevada and some local public libraries.

I’m very interested in seeing how the ALA do library camp and Teachmeets so I’ll definitely be attending both of those as well as the Stan Lee talk. I’m not really that into comics but this seems like too good an opportunity to miss.

So I’m back blogging so that I keep up-to-date with what goes on in Vegas so that I can write it up more easily when I get back from my travels…so it’s definitely not a case of what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

I will also be tweeting under my @tinalpool

10 freely available technologies that libraries could use…

I’m thinking here about freely available technologies that libraries/librarians could use that are particularly useful if you are short of money.

1.) Wufoo – Want feedback? Wufoo is an online form builder that creates forms including contact forms, online payments, online surveys and event registrations.There are some charges on Wuffo but it is free for 1 User • 3 Forms • 3 Reports • 10 Fields. Here are some examples!

2.) Tagxedo – similar idea to Wordle, creating word clouds. Here is one for this blog post…

3.) Poll Everywhere – an online service for classroom and audience response, respondants use mobile phones rather than old school clickers to participate.

4.) Xerte – a great open source tool for creating online learning objects.

5.) Scoop.it – social media publishing platform where users add content on their favourite topics and share it as a visual magazine.

6.) Crowdsourcing – think about getting the community to help fund your great idea, try Kickstarter. A great example of how this has been used in Libraries is Library A to Z illustrations, book and advocacy tools…

7.) MailChimp – for email list management and newsletters

8.) Free Conference Calls – conduct free conference calls anytime, you could also try FreeConference.

9.) YouTube Downloader – allows you to download videos from YouTube, Facebook, and many others and convert them to other video formats for free. A free and a pro version is available. UPDATE: I have been informed that YouTube Downloader may be infected with Malware.

10.) Meeting Scheduling – I love these, helpful outside of work too, try: Doodle or WhenIsGood