2007-08

A REPORT ON THE 2007 CONVENTION OF THE MINNESOTA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
By Mike Bemis

OVERVIEW:
The 2007 convention of the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) was held in Mankato October 24 through 26. This year’s theme was “All The World’s A Stage: Becoming the Lead Player You Were Meant to Be.” The convention was housed at the Alltel Center at 1 Civic Center Plaza in downtown Mankato. A majority of the attendees were put up at the nearby Holiday Inn, which is connected by skyway to the Center.

WORKSHOPS AND PROGRAMS:
As always, this was the “meat and potatoes” of the conference. Generally hour and a quarter long sessions, presentations ran the gamut of library issues of the day, from technology trends to censorship challenges to the joys of children’s storytime. Indeed, there was seemingly something for everyone, regardless of one’s professional interests. Laid out below are a few choice morsels from the smorgasbord of entertaining and informative talks.
Online Resources: The Best Thing to Happen to Genealogists Since Microfilm! – It paid to come early to find a seat at this session – by the time the speaker got underway, there was a standing room only crowd gathered round. Designed to help librarians help patrons tracing their family trees, the audience was treated to a fast-paced rundown of genealogy related electronic resources: databases, websites, online repositories of primary documents, and the like. As a special treat, attendees walked away with a dandy spiral-bound book filled with tips and tricks in navigating the websites covered during the presentation, among other helpful info.

MINITEX Partnerships – The Express Tour – ELM, MnLINK, MDL. Lately, Minnesota librarianship has become an alphabet soup of abbreviations and acronyms. This guided tour sought to sort it all out for listeners, as each entity was pulled apart to see what made each one tick. For the record: ELM is Electronic Library of Minnesota, a collection of subscription (read: expensive) electronic databases that can normally be accessed only onsite at a library. Through ELM, Minnesota citizens can now log into a selection of these databases from their home computer, provided they have a valid library card (typing in one’s barcode is the key to unlocking a treasure trove of information). MnLINK is Minnesota Library Information Network. Basically, this is a one stop shop to the electronic card catalogs of over 20 library systems throughout the state. MDL stands for Minnesota Digital Library, a project in which photographs, maps, and eventually, three-dimensional objects, will be digitized and available for viewing on a computer screen. While we as librarians may take these initiatives for granted, patrons may not be aware of all that their tax dollars make available; this presentation certainly underlined the fact that information professionals need to promote the many services we have to offer.
Explore WebJunction Minnesota: A Service for the Library Community – This professional development tool allows librarians and support staff to share ideas, take online courses, compare best practices and engage in a host of other activities. Funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this is a terrific way to keep up with the learning curve, which as any librarian can tell you, is pretty steep at times. Overall, this was an interesting and informative presentation.

EXHIBIT HALL/SILENT AUCTION:
Vendors to the library profession were in abundance once again this year, each company’s booth displaying their latest wares. Publishers (Gale, Bowker, H.W. Wilson, et al), equipment dealers (Brodart, 3M) and professional organizations (MINITEX, Friends of the St. Paul Public Library) did their utmost to lure passersby to their tables. In a very real sense, this is like a state fair for literary types. There are always surprises; this year it happened to be the appearance of The Raptor Center, an organization at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Since their mission is to rehabilitate and release to the wild injured eagles, hawks and other birds of prey, it seemed like an odd place for them to set up shop. Nevertheless, chatting with their representative was a welcome respite from the otherwise unending discussion of book related topics. Likewise providing relief from the pressure to absorb all manner of information was the silent auction table. Located at the far side of the exhibit hall, and stretching for nearly its entire length, all manner of goodies beckoned convention goers to wager a guestimate. It should be noted that the daily schedule deliberately had “holes” punched out here and there to allow attendees guilt-free browsing time.

FUN, FRIVOLITY AND GENERAL GOOFING OFF:
While these annual get-togethers undoubtedly have a serious purpose and are a legitimate use of professional development dollars, there is no denying that a good amount of good cheer ensues with these proceedings. Drawings for prizes, renewing old acquaintances and making new ones, having a night on the town, all are part and parcel of the convention scene. Several tours were scheduled for interested parties, one highlighting the history of Mankato, which started out as a major port-of-call during the steamboat days, and another pointing out the real life landmarks and locations associated with Maude Hart Lovelace and her well known Betsy-Tacy series of books. As in previous years, the grand finale was the MLA Awards Banquet, this time held at the Mankato State University Student Union. This was preceded by a wine and cheese reception at the Blue Earth County Library and followed by a desert reception at the Mankato State University Memorial Library. Despite Mae West’s observation that “Too much of a good thing is wonderful,” there is a point when enough is enough. Sated and ready for sleep, the conventioneers of library land trundled off to their hotel rooms. Trite though it may be, it is nevertheless truthful, for a good time was had by all.


2006-07

Gina L. - National Educational Computing Conference

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to attend NECC in San Diego July 4, 2006 - July 7, 2006. I have made use of the knowledge I learned in four ways:

• I used information to add to my dissertation
• I used information to include in my presentation for Technology Integration for the MEMO Fall Conference, October 13-14, 2006
• I used information to make a brief presentation at the MEMO summer leadership conference
• I networked with others working on dissertations, working in schools, etc.

Again thank you, as this experience was invaluable.

Click here to see a pdf of Gina's PowerPoint presentation.

2005-06

Leslie Y. - Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)

CoSN Conference Thoughts

In early March of this year, thanks in part to support from Metronet, I was able to travel to Washington DC to attend and present at the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) conference. Formed in 1992, CoSN is dedicated to advancing K-12 technology leadership, and fostering advocacy for educational technology funding.

CoSN structures their sessions differently than other conferences, in that they "bundle" presenters with similar topics, creating panel or team presentations. Thus, I found myself co-presenting with Stevan Kalmon, a technology educator from Denver Public Schools. In conferring with Stephan prior to our presentation, I was advised to remove basic definitions and tech lingo (such as references to digital natives and digital immigrant) from my presentation since many of the attendees at the conference are educational technology policy or administrator types and are ostensibly familiar with such concepts. Our presentation, entitled 21st Century Literacy: On the Ground Strategies addressed how schools and districts can effectively and practically meet the needs of 21st Century Students. It was a packed session, with much good discussion and feedback. The process of preparing, revising and presenting my work was as educational for me as was attending the conference.

Since returning to the "real world" back in St Paul, I have been struck by the disconnect between the educators who made up our audience in Washington and the teachers and administrators I regularly work with at home. My colleagues are not familiar with the terms "digital divide," "information literacy" or "digital natives." Introduction and clarification of these concepts is a crucial element of my work as a technology educator, in the effort to prepare educators to use all available resources in their teaching in order to provide a level playing field for students. Those who make policy and control funding are sometimes operating under the false assumption that schools are farther along that they actually are in the use of instructional technology. I would argue that we still have a way to go and I am pleased to be involved in helping to lead the charge.

Kristen M. - Art Librarians Society of North America (ARLIS) Conference

Prior to leaving for the Art Librarians Society of North America (ARLIS) Conference in Banff, Canada, I did not know that I would be referred to as one of the "future scholars" in the ARLIS field. Judith Hoffberg, the first ARLIS president, embraced me and provided a few words of wisdom after I received an honor in her name as an emerging art librarian. She would not be the last to share advice throughout the five-day trip. Every morning I gathered with fellow students and recent graduates as we mingled and attended sessions. At the conference the participants were abuzz with such things as "what is a wiki?" "how do I use social tagging?" and "what is Flickr?" My fellow students and I smiled because we were not only able to learn from the more experienced librarians in the field on things such as digitizing resources, but we were being asked to comment on emerging technologies that some of the librarians had never heard of before. This conference was beyond an opportunity to present my research, "Artifact: Surveying U.K. Users to Analyze Its Use," but opened my eyes to how art librarianship is moving forward and my established colleagues that I look toward for support and guidance are seeking the same from new graduates as well.