I’m a little delayed in my celebration, but at least I’m not too late. September 27th to October 4th is Banned Books Week, a celebration of the freedom to read.
In observance of Banned Books Week and my favorite amendment, I’m going to finally read The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, one of the “10 Most Challenged Books of 2007.”
How will you celebrate?
I attended three sessions on Saturday, June 28, 2008: Kids and Ever-Cool: Find Them Together at Your Library (1030-1200), Metadata Mashup: Creating and Publishing Application Profiles (1330-1430), and Science Fiction and Fantasy: Looking at Information Technology and the Information Rights of the Individual (1600-1730).
Gene Del Vecchio
The main speaker in this program was Gene Del Vecchio, author of such nonfiction works as Creating Ever-Cool: A Marketer’s Guide to a Kid’s Heart (1997), The Blockbuster Toy: How to Invent the Next Big Thing (2003), and young adult fiction like The Pearl of Anton (2004), and The Sword of Anton (2006). He has been in the business for 25 years, and his clients include such brands as Disney, Mattel, and Nestle. (“How many of you played with Barbie? I sold that to you!”)
The purpose of his lecture was to encourage children’s libraries to create a logo or brand that is as strong as McDonald’s golden arches or Target’s bulls-eye while making it cool and successfully fulfilling a basic emotional need. A formula for success at the library, Del Vecchio claims, is to satisfy a timeless emotional need and dress it up in a current trend or fad (while updating periodically). Here are some examples of brands that fulfill a basic emotional need:
One particularly striking part of his presentation involved his presentation of user needs survey results, wherein children provided their opinions on what would make a library better or cool. Some of those results were in the form of pictures, like one that had an ice cream stand, bean bag chairs, and music playing, with a very small corner of the room for books; another child had drawn a separate room for listening to music. Most of the children came to a general consensus: they wanted their libraries to adapt to what they were used to and expected. They wanted Barnes & Noble in their libraries. (more…)
Welcome to Anaheim!
Yesterday, Friday, June 27, 2008, was my fourth day in Anaheim and my first day at the ALA Annual 2008 Conference. Joe Osborn and I attended YALSA 101 (from 1600-1700) and Intellectual Freedom 101 (1700-1800).
YALSA 101 was an introduction to the conference and YALSA as a division. I went to the ACRL 101 program last year, and I found that YALSA 101 this year seemed much more lively and easy-going.
YALSA 101
During the program, the current president of the division highlighted some of the cool programs YALSA is sponsoring during the conference such as Teen Spaces: Between Home and School, a program about creating both physical and virtual spaces for teens, and the YALSA Bloggers Meeting. She also highlighted the fact that YALSA and ALA are member-driven, and volunteering is easy to do: just fill out a YALSA committee form on the YALSA website (search for “volunteer form”). Overall, I found the YALSA 101 program to be helpful, even though this conference is not my first. I liked the culture and content of YALSA so much, I even joined the division online as I was sitting in the audience. (more…)
My experience at last year’s ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC, was guided by the 2 credit course I took with Scott Nicholson, IST 600: Leadership and Organizations. Scott gave us some tips and required us to meet with a leader in the field at the conference. I met with Sari Feldman, Executive Director of the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library, who has since been elected PLA vice-president.
Another perk of having taken that course in preparation for the ALA Annual Conference was that hotel accommodations were included with participation in the course.
I got to the hotel later than expected. There was a mix up from either the university or the hotel, but all was well 20 minutes later. One thing I didn’t do, as others suggest as well, is to check hotel reservations prior to arriving.
When I arrived, I met my roommate, Dawn Cadogan, shortly after making it to my room. We went to the Washington Convention Center via the metro to get our badge holders (and Dawn’s badge).
Welcome to Washington, DC!
When we got there, we discovered that many, many, many people had the same idea. It was crowded, but the lines moved quickly. There must’ve been hundreds of people ahead of me, but it took less than 15 minutes to get to the head of the line. Once I got there, I was greeted warmly and taken care of quickly.
By that point, it was already late and we were hungry. We entertained the thought of going to the Film and Libraries program, but our hunger won out. Near the registration booths, Dawn, her coworker, and I found another booth we put to great use. ALA offered dining suggestions. We asked the lady behind the booth where we could find good food at decent prices, and we were directed towards Chinatown. (It was really helpful as none of us knew our way around DC.)
We went out to eat at Tony Cheng’s in Chinatown (right near the Convention Center), and by the time we were done, it was too late for the film program. We wandered around Chinatown for a while and then came back to our hotel. (more…)
The last week of this month is the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California. Luckily, I’ll be in attendance for the first three of the five days the conference takes place (June 27-29).
In anticipation of the conference, I’ve compiled a list of programs that sound interesting to me. (more…)