Anaheim Day 3

Today I didn't have to 'be' anywhere so I got to go to some talks. I participated in a small group discussion on online instruction which was informative. In the afternoon I ran into my old friend Tim from Madison, and we went to a talk on information privacy. I was left with this criticism/question for anybody that really wants to read it:

"Cory Doctorow said to refuse/boycott materials that come with DRM for your library. At what point are you boycotting to the detriment of intellectual growth of students and how can you justify that?

The reality of academic libraries is that we can buy package e-book deals of comp sci books that change monthly, and let out students use these - for free so they don't have to spend their tiny incomes- even though they come with prohibitive copy abilities. Do we say, we won't provide you with the academic supplements you need because we are ethically opposed? When does the ability to create/develop intellect override the idealism of anti-DRM? How does boycotting DRM materials align with the obligation of academic libraries to provide information to students?"

I wanted to ask but the lines to ask questions of Mr. BoingBoing were too long. I don't think the session addressed anything related to academic libraries, and only minimally related to public libraries. It was more of a rah-rah librarians are the torch-bearers of ethics. Left me thinking about realism vs idealism and when you compromise and when you don't. Very interesting for you I know.

Regardless, it was really nice to see Tim. I hadn't seen him in over five years!

Then I had a few hours to do nothing so I sat in my hotel room and watched Unknown White Male, a documentary about a guy who randomly lost all his memory and how he worked on reconstructing a life. It was fairly interesting. Later I met up with all my old SF coworkers for a dinner which was really fun. This dinner is always my favorite part of ALA. I got really lucky working there with such amazing people who continue to keep in contact with me.

Now I'm in my room again, bored again. I have to do a conference call with work tomorrow morning, then my shuttle to the airport comes at noon. Then a long flight, annoying CTA ride, and a bus ride then I'm back at home with Audrey. I miss her. Nate's been graciously taking care of her and sending me pics of her sprawled out across the couch. I'm glad that her daily routine doesn't have to change when I'm gone. Between Nate and the dog walker she has the other loves of her life around and doesn't need me.

I'm looking forward to returning. I hate having to buy bottled water and eat junky restaurant food for days. I hate traveling. Yay for homes!

Anaheim Day 1

Little late in the day, but today is National HIV Testing Day. Also, you can continue to donate to my run for another 2 weeks before they yell at me. I need somewhere between 300-400 dollars more. Go here to do so and see the other winner sponsors.

I'm in Anaheim and I think my hotel room is pretty decent but the air is stale and of course you can't open a window. I thought the Anaheim convention/disneyland area was a lot more compact than it is. Turns out I'm 1.9 miles away from the convention center. Its not a bad walk, but I'm taking the shuttle buses to cut down on knee pressure before my 12 mile run tomorrow. The weather is nice. I forgot that humidity is nill in California. The run should be good as a result. Restaurants here are worthless. I cannot find a non-chain or non-hotel restaurant for the life of me. This bugs me because I'm going to need to eat decently to make up for that mega-run.

My plane here was pretty annoying. Librarians are the slowest people of all time to board. All time. They stand in the aisle, dig through papers before putting shit in the overhead bins, and shuffle their abnormally bulbous butts into their seats. All while talking about stupid library crap. Just put your shit up there and let people through! As a result we were DELAYED because of these dorks. Then the lavatory had an external leak and "water" was falling out of the plane! So more delay. To make matters worse, I had a raging awful sinus headache. I still do. So four hours of sinus pain and listening to librarians say things like "25-37 year olds don't use the library. They don't even come in to download!" "tsk tsk" Uhhh, download? What? Didn't a study come out a few months ago saying my age group is a major growing population of library use? Whatever ladies. They also criticized netflix. "My son uses netflix for rentals and not the library." Ok lady. The in-flight movie was Penelope, that Christina Ricci movie where she's got a pig nose. Horrible.

I guess it sounds like I hate librarians, and I sort of do. But there are some super awesome ones out there - my old USF workers, many of my current coworkers, Daina, Alycia, Tim, Anne Marie, Lisa, rad reffers, and a select few other gems. Interestingly, they all work for colleges or for fancy DC ALA offices. No public or school librarians...

I'm supposed to meet up with Daina later for dinner, but I'm still feeling grody and crabby so I don't know if it'll happen. I should just suck it up and go because when else am I going to see her? I have to get up early and really just want to veg out with a DVD I brought with me from NETFLIX.

you knew it was coming sooner or later

The new My Morning Jacket blows. However, it does have a silly song about librarians on it:


My Morning Jacket - Librarian

walk across the courtyard, towards the library.
i can hear the insects buzz and the leaves 'neath my feet...

ramble up the stairwell, into the hall of books...
since we got the interweb these hardly get used.

duck into the men's room... combing thru my hair...
when god gave us mirrors he had no idea...

looking for a lesson in the periodicals...
there i spy you listening to the AM radio...

karen of the carpenters- singing in the rain...
another lovely victim of the mirror's evil way.

it's not like you're not trying, with a pencil in your hair
to defy the beauty the good lord put in there...

simple little bookworm- buried underneath...
is the sexiest librarian...take off those glasses and let down your hair for me.

so i watch you thru the bookcase- imaging a scene:
you and i at dinner, spending time, then to sleep.

and what then would i say to you- lying there in bed?
these words, with a kiss, i would plant in your head:

"what is it inside our heads that makes us do the opposite?
makes us do the opposite of what's right for us?
cause everything'd be grrreat...and everything'd be good...
My Morning Jacket - Librarian
lyrics from http://www.6lyrics.com
if everybody gave...like everybody could."

sweetest little bookworm. hidden underneath...
is the sexiest librarian...
take off those glasses and let your hair down for me.
take off those glasses and let your hair down for me.

simple little beauty- heaven in your breath.
the simplest of pleasures- the world at it's best.

Information Overload

Warning: Library jargon and drivel to the maxx below. Perhaps only my fellow librarians need read this mess.

Day 2 of this 6 day workshop is over. Well...the group sessions are over. It's almost 9 pm and I still have homework to do for my practice teaching session I present tomorrow. Day 1 was just an intro day, where we had a social mixer and met everyone. It wasn't so bad. I met this woman from UC Berkeley which made me super excited. And she's young and awesome too! It gave me the chance to talk about SF and bitch about the food here in this college town, and how the food in SF is so amazing. Yay! She said she'd also help me out if I wanted to move back and get a job. Connections like that are so crucial.

Today was super intense. I am learning things I feel like I needed to learn in library school but wasn't taught. I know it's not just my library school, as I've had these conversations with Alycia about how we felt like there was so much we didn't learn. And that's fine. Most of librarianship is on the job learning, much like being an apprentice. In that respect, I'm really excited I have the opportunity to be here and learn teaching methods. Today was all on how to present in a class. As the former second place state debate champ (1998, what what!), I know a lot already about presenting. However, I'm super rusty and clam up in front of classes. Hearing all these great ideas and techniques from fellow librarians was really helpful. I even wrote down some cheesy quotes to take back with me as reminders when I get discouraged. It's like, who the hell is this person that has taken over my body? As much as I dread teaching normally, I'm very passionate about education and the ability to change someone's life (even if it's just with a database). So being here is helping get me super-motivated for the fall semester. I'm excited to try out all these new methods. Now if only I can get over my lack of confidence in approaching my faculty about new sessions I have developed.

Speaking of no confidence, I am yet again reminded that my profession has a serious serious dearth of confidence. I'm listening to these people in my group, who are obviously very intelligent individuals, and they sound so beaten down! This one woman in particular is so discouraged by her faculty being unresponsive, and it has really messed with her confidence level about teaching. I feel bad for her, and at the same time it makes me realize just what a good job I am doing. I wish librarians were more assertive about their talents and stopped letting some snooty faculty members push them around. I want librarians to stop being so concerned about stupid stereotypes (that no user cares about anyway) and just present the persona of who they are. I hate hate hate the whole idea of telling students over and over "we aren't all old ladies I swear! We won't shush you I swear!" That only instills the idea that maybe some librarians will. Just go out there and be who you are and do a damn good job at it and stop sniveling about how you think others might think you suck! And that concludes my pep talk to my fellow librarians.

As much as this conference is exhausting, as much as I'd totally rather be with my pals (it is a Saturday night after all and Rescue Dawn opened up last night in Chicago), and as much as I say I don't like teaching, I've really gained so much in just these 2 days. And there are 4 more left. I'm so glad my boss forced me to apply for and attend this institute. I think this is one of the most amazing career decisions I have made or will ever make. Thanks boss! Thanks me for knowing all along that librarianship was my destiny! Thanks MPL for giving me that job when I was 18 so I could find all this out and not get stuck in a job I don't give a shit about!

I can't even imagine what it is like to either not know what you want to do with your life or to be in your career path and not really give a shit. True I slack off at work and very intentionally picked a career that wouldn't stress me out or force me to work long hours. However, I am more passionate about this than anything in my life when I really get to thinking about it. I may not be a musician or an artist that everyone loves like all my friends are, but I'm doing something pretty damn amazing for the world by being an educator and a keeper and disseminator of knowledge. I'm proud of myself and my profession.

And holy shit was that a corny last paragraph of hokey-ness. All this motivational speaking here has infected me.