LITA Forum 2005: You Know the Way to San Jose!

I think I forgot to add LITA Forum (Sep 29 – Oct 2) to my list of conferences because I take it for granted. Miss LITA Forum? When monkeys fly out of my butt! (There’s an endorsement I hope to see on the LITA web page!)

LITA Forum is my favorite library conference, bar none, a perfect blend of techy goodness, bonhomie, and just-in-time technology. It’s a treat when I can get to LITA Forum (last year, in St. Louis, was delightful), and this year all I have to do is drive ten miles down the road.

I could ramble happily for pages about why I love this conference, but I thought I’d take a page from Michael “Tame the Web” Stephens and give you a list of the top ten reasons geeks, near-geeks, and geek lovers should go to LITA Forum 2005:

1. Fab preconferences, this year on Shibboleth (it’s about the Web and privacy–trust me), Web services (you will no longer have to pretend you know what that means), and Developing a Culture of Assessment, which sounds like what it is and will be presented by can’t-miss Frank Cervone…

2. Great programs, and that we don’t know what they are yet is a plus; LITA Forum a conference about current and emerging technologies, and nearly every session shines…

3. Shoulder-rubbing with LITA members, who are a very cool bunch… just imagine three days when you don’t have to get out the hand puppets to explain what XML is…

4. Networking dinners where by the second glass of wine you will be promising some new friend to implement Shibboleth as a Web service within a culture of assessment…

5. Fun, sunny San Jose, with nifty tourist areas such as Santana Row (eek, turn down your speakers before you click that link) …

6. You’re just a Caltrain ride from San Francisco, should you be so inclined…

7. Pretty close to several big ballparks, if you go in for that sort of thing (someone asked me if a “game” is going on during the Forum, and all I can say is that it’s been a while since I played shuffleboard but I can look into it)…

8. Some of the best food on this planet in our polyglot Bay Area, including great Chinese restaurants and, on Santana Row, Amber India, an exceptionally good Indian restaurant with a breathtaking interior…

9. A chance to warm up, if you live in the colder climes (I have to force my roses to stop blooming for two months so they can rest; now they are growing again!)…

And the top ten reason to go to LITA Forum 2005:

10. Come on, you gotta see Winchester House!