LibraryTechtonics

Blake Carver and I had lunch today after I spent the morning recording one session to podcast for the PLA Blog (file forthcoming) and actually attending another session on “Participatory Technologies,” the most technical and meaningless-sounding misnomer for a session on stuff like Second Life and MySpace (post forthcoming).

After lunch, we decided the proper plan of action was to hit the trade show floor (your people call it “the exhibit halls”). Right now, I’m sitting in a cushy chair with a swing-in laptop desk part at the KI booth (I was charged with looking for furniture like this by my boss, and I’m glad to do it), because we’ve had a priceless time, and I want to share. Besides, I’m test driving the chair.
Today’s trade show experience has included:

• Seeing the booth gal at Unshelved, who also happens to be Bill’s live-in babysitter.
• Talking to the Koha folks.
• Checking out the new Innovative Encore beta installs, and asking all sorts of questions.
• Bumping into Heidi Dolamore shortly after receiving a text message from her.
• Bumping into Pathfinder Linden, head of the Cambridge development office for Second Life.
• Eating free cake at the McGraw-Hill booth.
• After asking a nice man where he got his beer, drinking free beer at the Hale booth, and walking with free beer until…
• Stopping to watch the people at the Google booth, drinking the Kool Aid at the presentation, and snagging weird colored fortune cookies that tasted like blue crunch berries and red Kool Aid and contained Google tip fortunes.
• Looking with humored jest at people dragging shopping bags along the floor as though they were rolly suitcases, and seeing the mother of all rolly crates chock full of ridiculous swag, before…
• Ending up here, in a chair.

Too. Much. Fun.

I’m at the ALA conference, writing for PLA and putting my LibraryTechtonics conference content on the back burner for a time when I can devote more attention.

All the same, I want to share this little non-conference nugget. PCWorld published a piece on June 18 on nifty sites to watch. There’s a good amount of focus on services that enable mashups, web media (video & audio), and even some new takes on existing tech, like search refiners. It’s all very, very Web 2.0, so if you’re looking for examples to help you understand the trend, this article lays it out in digestible bits that read easily, even for the novice. I’ve heard of some of these sites (especially because some of them now have Facebook app versions), but many are new to my ears, so I’m hoping to carve out some time to play with these services in the next few weeks.

And, as ever, even if you don’t get what you see, KEEP READING. Poke around on the sites, try to understand the use of the tech, and evaluate it like a reference source (scope, audience, timeliness, documentation, etc.), to help get your head around how and why someone would use it.

In the meantime, check out the article, read the bits on the stuff you do know, and marvel at the stuff you don’t. Perhaps we can make a librarian invasion

So far, I have 11 bloggers signed up to blog the ALA annual meeting for the PLA Blog, most of whom are newbies, which rocks, in my opinion. I think of the PLA Blog as a point of professional development as much as an avenue to share information, ideas, and conference flavor. So, I’m excited to see all the new virtual faces.

I’m also trying a few new things. I’ve set up a practice blog on WordPress.com for people to play with, affectionately dubbed the “PLA Blog Practice Sandbox.” People who have never blogged for PLA before, and/or perhaps never even seen WordPress, can play in a private sandbox space and experiment with the guidelines and instructions from the wiki by their side. I also posted a HOWTO for blogging for PLA, which sorta sets out our general guidelines for blogging conferences, and gives people a sense of what to expect so that they can decide whether or not to participate. So far, both new bits are receiving positive feedback.

I haven’t really looked at the conference agenda, and I have no idea what my plans are outside of my itinerary, a few receptions, and the PLA President’s Program. At some point in the next 24 hours I’ll have a tentative schedule up here. I know there are a few people I’m definitely trying to get in touch with now so I’ll definitely see them, and if you wanna hang out, pop me a note somewhere (Facebook, email) and lemme know.

I got tagged by Rachel over at The Liminal Librarian at the end of May. Ah, the things that slip by when I don’t vanity search on a regular basis…

So here it is, 8 random things about me:

1. Despite my high-energy and social nature, I do enjoy *and* require quiet time and alone time. For serious, it’s true.
2. I absolutely abhor being called “cute,” “adorable,” or any other diminutive. I also don’t like being called “crazy” and a catch-all for “not normal” or “unreasonable.” Anyone who takes this fact as an invitation to test my limits or be funny is automatically null and void to me.
3. I, a huge fan of the B-52’s, met Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider quite accidentally while on my honeymoon at Kate’s Lazy Meadow. It’s a good story, ask me sometime.
4. I don’t eat cheese, mayo, sour cream, or whole milk, and I am *not* lactose intolerant.
5. Before I was a librarian, I did more than just tech. Some of my more interesting stints: briefly I was an assistant costume designer for a children’s circus; I also worked as a volunteer for the Butterfly Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, where I met Anthony Edwards and Dr. Ruth.
6. I hope to someday attend the Green Witch School of Herbalism in Salem, MA.
7. I love cows, hate clowns. It’s the ultimate litmus test for goth girls, according to my friend Colin.
8. I learned to program in BASIC in 5th grade, and it was wicked fun. I would borrow books on BASIC from the library, and practiced on my very first computer, an Intellivision Aquarius that my parents bought, which included a cassette drive for saving data, and a receipt-sized dot matrix printer.

I’m not good at tagging people for this kind of thing. So, feel free to follow the meme if it moves you.

I’ve really, really been trying to get back on the book-reading wagon, now that I’ve pretty much got my online interaction habits in a more palatable routine (I still have those pesky blog feeds to take care of… I wonder if people are reading blogs as much anymore). I’ve often lamented my lack of readers advisory skills, mostly because I’m just not attracted to best sellers, which seem to be the bulk of RA requests at my library, and I’m really bad at remembering names.

As it turns out, there’s a whole slew of people working the summer reading season angle, which makes it kinda handy for me. This morning I heard a story on NPR about small booksellers recommending summer reads, several of which are actually older books making a comeback. NPR actually has a whole Summer Books ‘07 feature, which might be nice to build a display around, including a sort of grown up Freaks and Geeks selection and summer cookbooks.

I received Libraries@Random in my inbox this morning which included their summer read recommendations, and I would link to it if Random House would fix their link to the email, but alas, I cannot. What I can do is give you the list, though, because in spite of all Random’s faults, it’s an interesting mix and should be shared:

Sheer Abandon by Penny Vincenzi

Mary Modern: A Novel by Camille DeAngelis: Something about this book screams, “Do a book club series with Children of Men by PD James and this book.” Who knows, I just might do it myself.

Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France’s Cote d’Azur and Italy’s Costa Bella by David Shalleck and Erol Munuz

Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Novel by Austin Grossman : This one is also on the small bookseller recommends list from NPR… looks like a must read for comic readers and morality fiction readers alike. This’ll be on my list this summer.)

Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship by John Baldwin and Ron Powers

The Manny by Holly Peterson: This book has a very urban chick lit feel to it. I’m guessing the Shopaholic crowd might like it. But I’m just guessing. It might also go well with The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy on the NPR small booksellers list.

Keeping the House by Ellen Barker

Last Nightingale by Anthony Flacco

Other summer book lists of note:
* Publisher’s Weekly (4/9/2007): Also includes Soon I will be invicible, which gives me the impression that I should put a hold on this book *now* so I’ll actually be able to read it soon.

* 10 Biz Books to Read This Summer (5/31/2007): There’s a lot to learn from in this list, even for librarians, like Coolhunting by Peter Gloor and Scott Cooper, Your Management Sucks by Mark Stevens, and Buddha: 9 to 5 by Nancy Spears, to name a few.

* Summer Reads: Salon Books (6/3/2007): Links to the first of a four-part series on summer reading recommendations. The ads are annoying, but the summaries are robust, and the selections for the “Killer Thrillers” this week look really interesting.

My Books application on Facebook is already updated with my desired reads.