Post-ALA: First Take

I came back from ALA with a mountain of work, both MPOW-ish and personal. Also, I have a long, not-so-casual piece I’m working on based on a tour of the flood zones with a friend (some pictures on Flickr). It involves research and follow-up. I appreciate the “in the moment” posts I’ve read (thanks, Jessamyn!), but this one will be a little different.

This was the most affecting conference I’ve ever attended. I arrived late and left early, and with flights so limited in and out of New Orleans had exhausting travel both ways, but wouldn’t have missed a minute.

It’s not just that everyone was appreciative we were there. It’s that I, a visitor, appreciated what I was experiencing. The amenities were fine, sure. Every program, party, and personal event I attended was just right. But for the first time I was aware that I was not visiting a set piece but a real city, one with a tenuous grip at this point, a city that is 80% devastated and 20% shell-shocked, but a real city all the same–a place where the doorman and the wait person and the shuttle driver all go home every night to struggle through life in the aftermath of Katrina. It put a new twist on eco-tourism for me.

Anyway, a few random highlights:

The MPOW program was smack up against Laura Bush, off in some small room, but the room stayed almost full (people do go in and out) and I think we all had a bash. At any rate, as presenter, I was enjoying myself, particularly the spelling bee where I gave away SWAG for correctly spelling terms such as RSS, Bloglines, and Siderean (MPOW’s forthcomg new search engine, and is it yummy–more about that later).

I seem to be the only one at the conference who noticed that the quizzes Google was using in its booth–take a quiz, get cool SWAG–were not exactly accurate. One question mislead the quiz-taker into thinking that all Google Book Search items have links to library catalogs, when as I’ve said before, that’s not the case. I’d submit that question was intended to mislead. But hey, what’s a fact or two to stand between you and a hat that says “I’m Feeling Lucky”?

Oysters aren’t very good in the summer–they aren’t dangerous, they just lack the sweet crispness they have in the winter months when they aren’t breeding–but that didn’t stop me from stationing myself next to a shucking station at John Berry’s farewell bash and eating, I don’t know, 20 oysters?

I had planned to represent the GLBT Round table at a new member’s event and then scoot to the GLBTRT social, but a friend told me Chris Rose was reading Sunday night, so I abdicated my responsibility and went to that, then to the Google party. I may have to return my toaster oven, but it was worth it. I’ll catch up with my GLBTRT buddies in Seattle.

I enjoyed the LITA Top Tech Trends session–which has not always been true of previous panel sessions; the new format is so much more comfortable–but I hate being the only dame on the panel. We need to fix that. I don’t buy that there just aren’t any women blah blah blah. With the possible exception of Cliff Lynch, all of us on that panel are basically smoke and mirrors.

The LITA program I was dimly connected with went quite well, thank you, though that’s because the presenters truly had their act together. The room was an overflow crowd. You think that blogging thing might catch on, eh?

I got some quality time to talk with people I care about–not enough time and not enough people, but some nonetheless. Zoe, Michelle, Christine, Bob, Vicki, Cary, Roy, Laura, Jenny, Lisa, Cal, even a quick hug with Jessamyn… the list goes on and on and on. Oh, the joy of meeting Jason, Kevin, Tony, and Stephen K. for the first time! So much of ALA is summed up by E.M. Forster: “Only connect.” (Speaking of “only connect,” I am dying to steal credit for Vicki’s inspired ALA conference motto: “ALA: Come. Bitch. Be Renewed.”)

Anderson Cooper was… perfectly himself. Sweet, emotional, unforgiving of a government that failed a city. I tried blogging his session but my laptop was acting quixotic so I stopped. I think that was a sign: fold the laptop and listen.

Burger’s Bash was a great event, and when was the last time you saw an ALA president’s tootsies? Unlike “Jane,” I was glad for the late-night slot and I don’t feel it was too over-packaged; in fact, I would have liked more of a what-you-can-do focus. But really, no complaints (and we’re entitled to our druthers).

Yesterday a wise person referred to ALA as a “strangely successful organization.” That about sums it up. It’s a lumbering behemoth that succeeds in spite of itself… because of us.

I was going to link to the LITA program I was connected with, but realized I hadn’t finished writing it up! Ok–a good goal to reach by the 4th.