Conferences

An Idea For A New Online Library Technology Conference

Blake — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:15:30 -0400

Steve Lawson picked up on an idea from Meredith Farkas for a new online conference "that sort of fits into the big space between something like Internet Librarian and something like Code4Lib." He brings up some good questions:
What would such a conference cover?
Who would teach or present at such a conference?
Is an online conference really the right way to learn this kind of thing?
Lastly, Meredith writes about people feeling “over their head” at code4lib. Is that bad?

I'm with Steve on this... I still think the idea of such a conference is interesting, and I'm curious to see how other people feel about some of these questions.

Make That Next Conference a Little Easier on the Feet

birdie — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:25:51 -0400

Can you imagine cruising down the aisles of the next ALA on this? Not sure if it can accommodate seven heavy bags of schwag, but perhaps it could be modified to work for librarians.

Running Digital Library Software On An Ipod?

StephenK — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:19:19 -0400

Writing in the Greenstone Blog, Dr. Ian Witten of the University of Waikato brought light upon a paper presented at the recent Joint Conference on Digital Libraries held in Pittsburgh. Dr. Witten noted that New Zealand had more contributions to the conference accepted than South America, Africa, and Australia combined. The paper on running the Greenstone system on an iPod can be found using the Association for Computing Machinery portal.

Geek Pride at Comic-Con

birdie — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:42:27 -0400

Consider yourself a geek? You'd be in good company at San Diego's thirty-ninth annual Comic-Con(vention), which opened yesterday. It started as a comic book conference way back when, but has since expanded into a multitude of entertainment formats.

Reports from Reuters, E Online, NYTimes, Empire OnLine, Publishers Weekly, AP, various live-bloggers and more.

'Libraries landmark for intellectual society'

Blake — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 03:12:08 -0400

Borneo Bulletin - borneo,Brunei Darussalam - 'Libraries landmark for intellectual society'
The Brunei Darussalam Library Association (BDLA), with the support of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), organised a two-day national symposium, which began yesterday morning.
The symposium, held at the university's central lecture theatre, focused on library development surrounding its theme "Libraries: the Landmark for Intellectual Society".

Daniel at ALA

Daniel — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:25:18 -0400

Tho I'm having to do it on my own air miles and funding, I will be at ALA next week from Thursday through Monday. I'm staying with a friend who lives about an hour and a half, so no breakfast get togethers! But if you're a Newzter who's also going to ALA, let me know and maybe we can connect. The worst that'll happen is that I'll drag you along to some govdocs events or the gaming pavilion.

In a way going to ALA NOT sponsored by my work is liberating. First, it allowed me to advertise Free Government Information by putting it on my badge instead of my library. Second, I only need go to sessions that actually interest me instead of things that I "Ought to go to" because they fit with my job description or because another section really needs a summary of a session I'm just not into. I'm basically scheduling half-days at ALA

Finally, it gives me the freedom to visit the gaming pavilion, something I just couldn't justify if I was at ALA as an official representative of my special library employer.

Take care and hope to see a few of you next week!

Deadline May 31: Free tickets to the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder Banquet at ALA Annual

lcarscad — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:44:11 -0400

There is still time to send in your application for free tickets to the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder Banquet at ALA Annual: Deadline is May 31, 2008. Apply now!

AWARD and AWARD CRITERIA

Thanks to the generous support of Marshall Cavendish, NMRT is able to offer three tickets to the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder Banquet at the ALA 2008 Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA. Tickets are $89 each, which would be out of the financial reach of most NMRT members if it weren't for the generosity of Marshall Cavendish.

Any NMRT member who is not currently serving on the Marshall Cavendish Award Committee may enter. Just write a short essay (around 250 words) telling us why you want to attend the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder Banquet and how you feel you would benefit. For more information about Newbery, Caldecott and Wilder honorees, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/literaryrelated.htm

THE BANQUET

Newbery-Caldecott Awards Banquet, Sunday, June 29, 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Join us for this gala evening to celebrate the Newbery and Caldecott Medalists and Honorees, authors and illustrators of the year’s most distinguished books for children. Cocktails (cash bar) available prior to dinner; doors open at 6:45 pm. Tickets are $89 and will be available at the Online Registration Counter until the event is sold out, or noon Friday, whichever occurs first. No tickets will be available at the door.

TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY

Write a short essay (around 250 words) telling us why you want to attend the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder Banquet and how you feel you would benefit. Send it via email to the chair of the Marshall Cavendish Award Committee, lshippert@wsu.edu, by May 31, 2008. For more information, contact the award committee chair, Linda Shippert, at lshippert@wsu.edu.

ENTRY EVALUATION

The Award Committee will review the entries and select the winners based on their essays.

NOTIFICATION

All nominations will be acknowledged. The winners will be notified by email no later than June 15, so that they may attend the reception at the ALA Annual Conference.

The 2007/08 Marshall Cavendish Award Committee,

Linda Shippert, Chair
Laura Carscaddon
Inger Kruger
Jenny Oleen
Amanda Piegza
Corrine Syster
Kristin Whitehair
Merideth Willett

Librarians show off their moves

Anonymous Patron — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:25:22 -0400

Here's an Article in the Cape Cod Times about the Book Cart Drill Team competition at the Mass. Library Association annual conference in Falmouth.

The stereotypes that pester librarians — that they wear their hair in a bun, don tennis shoes, wear frugal sweaters and go around "shushing" everyone all the time — were shattered immediately when the ladies from Plymouth came out dressed as Rockettes wearing little black dresses and fishnet stockings.

The One Big Library Unconference: Friday 27 June Toronto

Blake — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:32:31 -0400

The One Big Library Unconference: The One Big Library Unconference is a one-day gathering of librarians, technologists and other interested people, talking about the present and future of libraries. It's organized and sponsored by York University Libraries and the YUL Emerging Technologies Interest Group. Friday 27 June 2008, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

ALA Visitors Follow in the Footsteps of Philip Marlowe thru Raymond Chandler's Downtown and Hollywood

Blake — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:55:45 -0400

WHAT: Private ALA edition of Esotouric's "Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place" bus tour, departing from Anaheim Convention Center
WHEN: Tuesday July 1, noon-7pm
COST: $125/person including fixed price luncheon at Musso & Frank Grill
GOODIES: City Lights Books is giving Esotouric 10 copies of their acclaimed anthology "Another City: Writing From Los Angeles" to raffle off among the 50 tour passengers.
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

In July Esotouric, the eclectic bus adventure company whose tours reveal L.A.'s secret history, presents a special ALA edition of a tour dedicated to the city's greatest detective novelist, Raymond Chandler, and his personal relationship to the mean streets of Hollywood and Downtown LA, where he lived, worked and set his stories.

RAYMOND CHANDLER'S LOS ANGELES: IN A LONELY PLACE delves deep into a lost city that exists in shadowy parallels to contemporary LA. Bungalows. Crime. Hollywood. Blondes. Vets. Smog. Death. This was Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles, which resonated from deft and melancholy fits of his writer’s bow.

ALA attendees are invited to join Esotouric on an exploration of the city that shaped Chandler's fiction, and that in turn shaped his hard-boiled times, in an afternoon's exploration of downtown, Hollywood and surrounding environs: Musso & Frank Grill, Union Station, the Hotel Van Nuys, Paramount Studio’s gates, and much, much more.

Through published work, private correspondence, screenplays and film adaptations, the tour traces Chandler’s search for meaning and his anti-hero Philip Marlowe’s struggle to not be pigeonholed or give anything less than all he has, which lead them both down the rabbit hole of isolation, depression, and drink. As the bus rolls from point to point, your guide Richard Schave draw the lines between Chandler's life and his fiction, offering insight into his peculiar marriage to the much-older Cissy, the enigmatic redhead who appears in many forms in his short stories and novels.

The tour includes a visit to Musso & Frank Grill, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, for a fixed price luncheon in the "new room" where, in its former incarnation as Stanley Rose's Bookshop, Chandler wrote "The Big Sleep."

Reservations are being taken now for this unique opportunity to explore noir Los Angeles with door-to-door service from Anaheim. Email toursATesotoricDOTcom for more info, visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat May 3 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place
Sat May 10 - Blood & Dumplings San Gabriel Valley crime bus tour
Sat May 17- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat May 31 – BookExpo Edition: Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
*Sat June 7- Visionary Hollywood
Sat June 14- Vroman's - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sat June 21 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat June 28 – Amoeba Music - Where the Action Was rock history tour with guest star Ruthann Friedman
Tues July 1 – American Library Association Edition: Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
*Sat July 12 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns
Sat July 26 - Pasadena Confidential
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore – Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA