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Library Conference Fun
As Heidi wrote in last week’s column Shannan and I just returned from a joint Washington/Oregon Library Association conference in Vancouver, WA. I’m sure to many like souls this automatically sounds like an exciting week full of stimulating discussion and opportunities. But I also know to a few others this sounds like a potentially unexciting endeavor. Because what do librarians do at a conference anyway? Believe me I have been asked this question more than once. Do we sit around and talk about the Dewey Decimal System? Practice date due card stamping innovations? Learn to push book carts and shelve the ergonomically correct way? Stereotypes aside library conferences truly offer a lot. The somewhat generic yet sincere reasons to attend any library conference include connecting and networking with colleagues, getting ideas and practical knowledge that we can put to use here in our library, learning about new trends and developments as they relate to library services, and talking with vendors about services and products to benefit our patrons. More specifically I attended a session that looked at issues around creating digital collections and providing online access to historical materials, something we are in the process of doing with the Historical Museum and the State Library. I attended a couple of sessions about using statistics and numbers to evaluate services and to help tell our story. I had conversations with other directors, vendors, and library staff that sparked new ways of thinking about our services and offered systems to streamline procedures. Overall the conference really did energize me to continue to strive to offer the best services we can for our community. Of course Shannan and I did take an evening off to drive across the river to take advantage of a conference discount at Portland’s famous independent bookstore, Powell’s Books, and eat a delicious dinner at one of Portland’s many great restaurants with former library staff Ann Casey and her husband Jack. But I guess there was that one session on putting your hair up in a bun...
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