Another busy day at a conference that continues to offer enriching content to educate me to be a better librarian!
My day began early with the RIPS-SIS breakfast. I want to thank RIPS-SIS again for awarding me a travel grant to aid with the expense of attending this year. With one day still to go, this year has been very rewarding for me and I believe I will return to my library with a host of new tools and tricks to help me enhance my services to our patrons.
I hope many of you were able to attend – or at least get your hands on materials from – the Recharge session Own the Room: Presentations that Captivate and Win Over Any Audience. Led by Steve Hughes (Twitter handle: @stevehughes) of Hit Your Stride, LLC, this presentation lived up to its name. I left with copious notes and ideas for how I could improve my presentation style with any audience – faculty, colleagues, students. Presenting us with simple, yet effective, strategies, Hughes really does convince you that anyone can become a better presenter, no matter their personality, no matter their fears of public speaking, no matter the subject they’re speaking on. This was such a worthwhile program – just the kind I look for at conferences. So thank you so much to Janet Hedin of Michigan State University College of Law for coordinating this fantastic program!
In the afternoon I attended E2: It’s 2013: Do You Know Where Your iPad Is? Presented by a panel consisting of two court librarians (Julie Jones and Adriana Mark), two academic librarians (Debbie Ginsburg and June Liebert), and a firm librarian (Karen Helde), this program looked at how different types of law libraries (and their patrons) are using iPads today. Since I work at a law school library that has a couple of iPads, I’ll admit that initially I was only looking to hear from academic librarians on their perspective, but in truth, even listening to this from an academic perspective, it was great to hear how iPads are being used in courthouses and law firms. Because let’s face it: I may work mostly with faculty and students, but as those students graduate, they’re entering a legal world that is clearly using iPads; if I know how their future employers are using these devices, I, as an academic librarian, can help prepare them for what to expect. It was great to hear from a diverse panel their unique experiences with the same device, and the program offered many ideas, tips, and cautionary tales to take away.
As so often happens with Monday evenings at AALL, it was packed! I began by giddily attending the Knowledge Mosaic/Lexis event at the Seattle Aquarium. As always, this was a very classy event at a great location. On behalf of aquarium enthusiasts everywhere, thank you so much, Knowledge Mosaic, for a great event! I then attended the author reception at the conference center and the IU Alumni dinner at the Sheraton’s Daily Grill, two great opportunities to network and catch up with colleagues and old friends. My evening ended with the Thomson Reuters/AALL-sponsored party at the EMP Museum. As always, this party was loud! But, another great location (and who doesn’t love live ’80s music?). So thank you, Thomson Reuters/AALL, for throwing your event at another Seattle highlight that was fun to tour.From the program it looks like a lot of great events are still lined up for tomorrow, so Tuesday’s shaping up to be another busy one! (Plus I still have to get my Westlaw caricature done!) Enjoy the remainder of the conference!
(P.S. The photo is of the octopus at the aquarium – he seems to really like an audience!)
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