01.22.09

More Midwinter Miscellany

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:35 pm by Leonard Kniffel

American Libraries Associate Editor Greg Landgraf and I will be blogging the daylights out of the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver, beginning tomorrow, January 23. In addition, Senior Editor George Eberhart will be producing next week’s issue of American Libraries Direct during the conference, to bring you a roundup next Wednesday of the latest happenings in Denver and everywhere in Libraryland. Associate Editor Pam Goodes will be covering the ALA Executive Board and Council meetings. Stop and see us or leave messages for us in the ALA Offices. Although more of a business meeting than a conference, Midwinter still offers a wide array of events and discussions.

  • I’ll be working with Greg to film ALA Presidential Candidates Forum on Saturday and post the entire event on AL Focus that evening. The candidates are Roberta Stevens of the Library of Congress and Kent Oliver of the Stark County District Library in Ohio.
  • Also, you’ll see new American Libraries Associate Editor Sean Fitzpatrick learning the ropes. Sean comes to ALA from Amigos Library Services in Texas; his MS in library science is from the University of North Texas in Denton.
  • Of the many meetings at Midwinter, the one most directly related to American Libraries is the Advisory Committee meeting on Saturday at 1:30 (check your program for locations), where Chair Laurel Minott will preside over discussions with the group whose primary function is to serve as a conduit for member feedback regarding editorial policy. “Hectic Pace” columnist Andrew Pace, who moved the column from AL to OCLC when he took a job there last year, is now a member of the Advisory Committee.
  • Some of the meetings and events where you should be able to find me madly blogging:

Friday
1:30-3: RMG Consultants’ “View from the Top” seminar
5:30-7:30: Exhibit Opening and Reception

Saturday
8-10 Washington Update
11:30-12:30: Presidential Candidates Forum
1:30-3:30: American Libraries Advisory Committee Meeting
3-4:30: Membership Town Hall Meeting: What We Want President Obama to Know

Sunday
8-9:30 AAP Trade Libraries Committee Breakfast
10-12:30: ALA Council I
1-2:30 Planning and Budget Assembly
3:30-6:30 ALA President’s Program featuring Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh, followed by a reception hosted by President Jim Rettig

Monday
7:45-9:00 Youth Media Awards Press Conference
10-3 Exhibits Technology Showcase and Exhibit Hall

Tuesday
9:00-1:00 ALA Council II

Wednesday
8:00-12:00 ALA Council III

  • Lastly, I’ll be stopping frequently at the Press Office to talk with Macey Morales, ALA press officer  who can be counted on to answer all your (and my) media relations questions. And don’t forget to pick up American Libraries for your Denver restaurant guide, as well as Cognotes for daily news from the show floor.

Midwinter Miscellany

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:48 am by Greg Landgraf

With the start of Midwinter imminent, I’ve got a few related announcements and hopefully amusing oddments to share:

  • Watch this blog for our Midwinter coverage. American Libraries Editor in Chief Leonard Kniffel and I will both be blogging from Denver. Also, I’ll be filming the ALA Presidential Candidates Forum on Saturday and posting the entire event on AL Focus that evening.
  • Also, AL is now on Twitter. Thus far, it’s primarily resyndication of Inside Scoop postings, but that’s likely to change as…
  • …in Denver, American Libraries will be welcoming new Associate Editor Sean Fitzpatrick. Sean will, among other things, be posting to Inside Scoop—possibly at Midwinter, although orientation will be his first priority. Sean is also a Twitter enthusiast and will probably be taking the lead on our efforts there.
  • My Midwinter schedule is pretty book-heavy. The Youth Media Awards will feature prominently in AL Focus this year; In addition to the Monday morning press conference where the awards will be announced, I’m also going to film the actual author notification calls that will be taking place at various times throughout Saturday and Sunday. I’ll also be working on a feature and associated video on the ALA book award winners (youth and adult) for the May issue of AL so interviews for that will dot my schedule. Events I’m planning to be at include are:

Friday
1:30-3: Forum on Library Education
5:30-7:30: Exhibit Reception

Saturday
8-9: Sunrise Speaker Series
11:30-12:30: Presidential Candidates Forum
1:30-3:30: American Libraries Advisory Committee Meeting
3-4:30: Membership Town Hall Meeting: What We Want President Obama to Know

Sunday
8-10: LITA Top Tech Trends
4-5:30: RUSA Book Awards Reception
5:30-8:30: OCLC Blog Salon

Monday
7:45-9:00 Youth Media Awards Press Conference
10-1:10: Exhibits Technology Showcase

  • What equipment does it take to cover an event like this? Most of the editors will have their own still camera and a Flip video camera, and some will also bring laptops. Since I’ve got additional video responsibilities, I’ll be boarding the plane with: Three video cameras (Two full-size, one Flip), one still camera (not counting the one in my phone), one to two laptops (I definitely will be bringing the office laptop for editing video; my personal laptop isn’t strictly necessary, but it does have nice things like Word for writing and Scrabble for airport delays), and an external hard drive for the office laptop. Fortunately, I don’t generally have to carry it all around at the same time.
  • The weather in Denver is looking okay. Weather.com says we’ll be missing the record warmth, which is leaving today, but highs generally in the 40s.