Off to Phoenix

I leave Thursday at the butt crack of dawn (seriously, it's a 6am flight!) for the annual NASIG Conference. This year it's in Phoenix, AZ, at a nice resort. This is the first time we've been at a resort, so it will be different. Yet the conference in Milwaukee, WI (2004) was the first time it was ever held entirely in a hotel. So NASIG is trying something new again.

I'll blog the conference, but whether or not I have internet access remains to be seen. It may be a flurry of posts reporting on each day once I get back next week. And of course, in addition to the fun conference reporting, there will be stories about all the festivities around the actual sessions. Like a birthday celebration for my mentee from last year. Yay for EL!!

And since it's in Phoenix, in June(!), at a resort with multiple pools and even a water slide, I'm so packing my bathing suit. I can guarantee I'll be doing whatever I can to work in some pool time between sessions.

NASIG 2007: day 4

Sunday, June 3rd, 2007

Last day. Going to bed earlier was a good thing, and I did make the final Vision Session. The presenter, Daniel Chudnov, talked about using technology to integrate library services with social software to make our services and resources more accessible. It was very interesting, and he approached it from the point of view of if everyone implements something small, it can cascade and work together. And what he was suggestion as options were all very practical and scalable. Truly a "vision" session as he has a very clear vision of what library services can be and how to begin to achieve that future.

I only attended one session on Sunday, specifically about serials cataloging. It reviewed a specific project done at another library on outsourcing a project and a review of its successes and failures. Interesting stuff, but it really was a report rather than ideas.

These last sessions were followed by the Conference Closing. By now the attendees are thinning out, with some people having to leave early to catch their planes. We were all leaving at different times, some of us late on Sunday afternoon and a few of us on Monday morning (like myself). Of those of us that were left, a few had a post-conference meeting for the NASIG Board, so B, my mentee EL, LH, and I headed out for lunch. B and I decided to split the cost of a car for 24 hours, figuring we could drive around on Sunday and then use it to get to the airport in the morning.

The four of us headed out in search of something we just don't have where we each live: Waffle House. I'm not joking. We were feeling the need for some WaHo. It's the ultimate in diner food and the waffles really are good. We did find it, but frankly, this was not one of our better WaHo experiences. Their cook was having issues and managed to screw up not one, not two, but all four of our hash brown orders AND forgot LH's bacon [proprietary conference joke reference: "I'm a vegetarian except for bacon" or, if you prefer, "bacon goes with everything"]. And I think our waitress was, um, not the brightest crayon in the box, but she was very nice and apologetic about the issues with the cook. Afterwards, we drove through Sonic for cherry limeades (I miss Sonic!!!), and that cheered us all up.

Unfortunately, this was followed by having to drop EL off at the airport. We all got a bit goofy with the picture snapping, but we got some good photos out of it (see my Flickr account for the pics). Hopefully we'll see her again next year, and maybe even sooner if I go visit my PCOR (previous city of residence). B and I dropped LH back at the hotel to do some work she had to do on a presentation, and we headed over to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.

We made it just in time for the last tour of the day. Since it was Sunday, the bats were not in production, but it was still neat to see. And, bonus!, we were the only two on that tour, so we got a nice personalized version. At the end of the tour you even get a free mini-bat. It was so worth the admission price, and I recommend it to anyone that likes baseball even a little bit. Additionally, the Museum has an exhibit right now called Peanuts at Bat, all about the baseball theme in Charles M. Schultz's comic strips. It was really cool. They had lots of the strips up on the wall, along with various toys and products related to the comic like the Snoopy dolls and Peanuts lunch box and banners. So much fun to look at! And of course, there were random goofy photos. B and I had fun acting like dorks for a bit.

We headed back to the hotel for some rest and to plan dinner. We met up with our friend AC, and headed out for more barbecue. Unfortunately, it was not our night, nor, apparently, our weekend for choosing restaurants. The place was closed. We were not the only one that was misled, as we pulled up there was a guy pulling on the door and looking confused and a bit cross about the place being closed.

Since we had the car, we decided to drive around for a bit. We happened across a Krispy Kreme place right as the "HOT" sign lit up, so we just had to stop for doughnuts. Again, not something we really have where we each live, but something we all enjoyed in PCORs. After our sugary appetizer, we drove around a bit more. Many places were closed, and we never did find a barbecue place. We ended up at Steak n' Shake for dinner. Not that this was disappointing. Like WaHo, it's something we all enjoy, but is a regional chain that none of us have where we live now. All I have to say is cheese fries and patty melts. Yummy. And milkshakes for dessert to go. After all this good food all weekend I'll be eating salad for the next week.

I always get so much out of this conference, both professionally and personally. I can't imagine not attending, and this year was no different. I learned a lot, gained lots of information to take with me and actually use, and played just as hard as always. Camp for serialists, indeed.

"This one time, at NASIG _[insert story here]_ "

NASIG 2007: day 3

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007

Well, I missed the morning Vision Session. Bummer. It was actually someone I would have liked to have heard, but, fortunately, I'll at least be able to see the PowerPoint presentation. All the PowerPoints and handouts are being posted online this year where people can go and download them and/or print them if they so desire. It's great, and I plan to go and look at it as soon as I dig my way out from being behind at work (this may take a few more days...).

Like Friday, I attended two sessions. One was on how to give presentations, given by my friend JS. Now, I did not just attend this session because my friend was presenting. I really was interested in the topic. I'm in a much larger library now, and I'm finding that I am doing more presenting to larger groups, many of them in other parts of the library. I figured I need all the hints I can get to make myself a good presenter. I don't do badly, but that speech class back in high school was a long time ago, so the refresher was fabulous. It was more of a mix of presentation by JS and discussion and feedback/ideas from the audience. I picked up some excellent tips that I plan on using. So thanks!

I also went to a session on mixing serials, a traditionally behind the scenes technical services aspect of librarianship, with public service aspects, and how that can make you better at your technical services job. They discussed things like spending time on the reference desk to really understand what users are doing and how they are searching for things, and being accessible to those on the desk for help when necessary. The speakers were great, and I really enjoyed it. It will be interesting to see how I can potentially integrate some of their ideas into my current job.

Also on Saturday were the two discussion groups, one topical discussion, and one "user group" session for specific softwares and programs. The discussion group I attended got a bit sidetracked from the topic, but it was interesting for awhile. Part way through, my mentee EL and I decided to go have our own discussion. She's new to serials cataloging, so it was nice to have an opportunity to talk to her about her professional development and issues related to being a serials cataloger and her career. We talked about everything from how to get involved on a national level to how to affect change in your institution and discuss issues with other departments in your library in an accessible way. I really enjoyed our conversation, and I hope she was able to take something away from it.

Later on Saturday afternoon was the user group discussion session. I led the session on a particular product we had purchased, and tried to focus the session on troubleshooting and questions people had, in addition to how they implemented the product in their libraries. I was actually looking for some ideas since we are still in the implementation phase, and came away with some information and ideas that I will be using.

After the sessions were over, six of us headed out for another "anti-dine around." This time we took a cab (rather 2 cabs), to a different part of town I think is called Bardstown (Road?) for some BBQ. Our cabbie, Mack, was a trip, but the ride was a bit harrowing to say the least. At the end of the ride he gave us his number to call for the ride back to the hotel after our meal. Cool. We went on a recommendation to Mark's Feed Store for our Kentucky bbq. It's a local chain and had very good food. Sweet tea, fried pickles (better than the ones B and I had previously), onion strings, and barbecue. Excellent.

Our tummies full, we wandered down the road, which had an eclectic blend of restaurants and shops. We did stop and browse a few shops along the way, and I think we bored JS, the only guy in the group. We jokingly referred to him as "alpha" during the night...and I believe someone (but not JS, to his credit) referred to us as his "harem" at one point. Yes, librarians have bizarre, twisted senses of humor. But we do have fun.

There was a point to our rambling, we were in search of the hockey game. Game 3 of the playoffs was on, and B and I needed to find out what was going on. We ended up at a bar called Willy's that boasted 68 beers on tap and 1 giant lizard. We never saw the lizard, but they did have a lot of beers. And they had stone benches and tables (literally slabs of stone you sat on). And, most importantly, they had the game on tv. B and I managed to amuse the locals by yelling and cursing at the game periodically. I think LH got a picture of the two of us focused quite intently on the game. After a bit, we decided to call our cabbie, Mack, and head back to the hotel. Mack showed up with only one cab, so we had to flag a second one down to get us all back. At which point a few of the crew headed to their rooms to crash, or to catch the end of the open-mic talent event, but B, JS and I headed back to our room to watch the end of the game. We were joined by another friend, MP, and, once again, B and I amused our "audience," who, consequently, didn't know much about hockey, but had fun anyway. This game did end better than the game on Wednesday, much to our joy.

By this point in the conference, the conference fatigue was really starting to set in, so we did all head to bed early by normal conference standards.

NASIG 2007: day 2

Friday, June 1st, 2007

Each day at NASIG starts with a Vision Session. A speaker is invited to come and talk to all of us on a topic that is relevant to librarianship, technology, and/or life in general. Our first speaker was Bob Stein, from the USC Annenberg Center. He talked about issues of authority and how to determine an authoritative version of a work from the beginning of printing to the digital age. It was interesting to think about how marginalia in a book can create a new version of a work. And how marginalia exists in the digital world and how that network impacts what it means to be human. One thought I really liked was the idea that before you can design the answer to a problem/question/issue, you have to understand the purpose of what you do.

After the group Vision Session, we had a series of Strategy Sessions and Tactics Sessions, with lunch and breaks mixed in. There are many simultaneous sessions, and fortunately most of them are repeated during the conference. A few, however, are not repeated. One such session was on leadership and how technical services has taught people to be leaders. Being a technical services librarian (which includes all the behind the scenes aspects like cataloging), I thought the session would be interesting. And it was. I now have a reading list of books and articles the three speakers recommended that sound really interesting. Nothing like a little light summer reading, no?

I also attended a session on a new vision for applying FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) to continuing resources. This is an issue that has been debated for years. Serials do not fit neatly into the FRBR model. They just don't. This project involves the creation of a superworkspression record that would function as an authority record for that particular serial title. I'm not completely happy with this idea. One, it involves re-cataloging things. I don't have time to catalog everything now, much less re-catalog things I've already dealt with. Besides, I don't see why we have to re-do things. Personally, I think we should be able to make our systems manipulate the data we already have. I recognize that this presentation was for an idea that is currently being worked on, it's in process, so there are obviously things to be worked out. It will be interesting to see where they go with this new application of the FRBR model to serials.

The nice thing about this conference, is that you aren't required to attend everything, so if there's a block of time that doesn't have anything that you're interested in or that relates to your job, you have some down time to visit with more people or just take a nap. There is a such thing as "conference fatigue" where your brain just can't handle anything else, and the lack of sleep combined with the intensity catches up with you. So down time when you can get it is immensely valuable for warding off "conference fatigue." Basically, I'm offering an excuse for the fact that I took some time to myself before the evening's activities kicked off.

Breakfast and lunch are provided at the conference, but dinners you are on your own. Locals attending the conference offer to take people on "dine arounds" to various restaurants walking distance from the hotel. A group of us usually have some sort of "anti" dine around where we go off and find another restaurant, usually something ethnic or generally weird. B and I picked out an African restaurant, even looked at the menu online, and we all headed out. There was a group of 10 of us, wandering down the street. On the way, we spotted not one, not two, but THREE wig shops!! NASIG is not complete without seeing a wig shop. We have seen one on each and every NASIG I've attended, and always within 10 blocks of the hotel. Fabulous!

So after our wig shop sighting for this NASIG, we continued on our way to the restaurant. Alas, the fates were not smiling, and it was closed! Bummer. Fortunately, a member of our group, PM, had a map, which he promptly pulled out. Now that's using your resources and being prepared. Impressive. Just down the street was the Bluegrass Brewing Co. So that's where we went. It was good. The beer was good, the company was good, the food was good, and our waitress, Kim, was excellent.

After dinner, we headed back to the 4th Street Live area for martinis. There had been many a discussion about the merits of a gin martini versus a vodka martini, so we decided we must have a martini night to compare. We landed at the Red Star Tavern. JS is a gin person, and I'm a vodka person. We each ordered our favorites, and then exchanged. Then we exchanged back. Not that the other option was bad, but I think we each preferred our favorite martini style. After doing more sitting and chatting, we all started to get restless.

A few people headed back to the hotel because they were tired, but the majority of us headed out for some dancing. When we walked into the street, we discovered that they were holding a fashion show in the middle of the street! Crazy. It meant that there was not only loud music inside the bars, but outside, and there were people everywhere. Talk about a party in the street. We headed to a place called the Tengo Sed Cantina (yes, I'm laughing quite hard about the name) for some dancing and craziness. And we all had fun. My mentee, EL, told me she had a blast and is already looking forward to next year. Awesome! But it was a very late night. Ah, the joys of conferences.

NASIG 2007: day 1

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

NASIG began with the First Timers/Mentoring Reception at 3pm. After a leisurely day, I braced myself to meet my mentee, EL. If you remember from my previous post, EL is a new hire at my first place of employment post-degree. I don't think either one of us had any idea what to expect. Fortunately, we got along famously, and hung out the rest of the weekend. She has been fully indoctrinated into the world and experience that is NASIG, long days and crazy nights and all the insanity. And yes, she was a willing participant for the entire thing.

After the reception was the Opening Program. The opening always has a few speakers, one to welcome us to the city, and one that addresses the history of the city. This year's speaker on the city history was Professor Tom Owen. He has a background in ministry, and boy howdy could you hear it. He was a wonderful speaker, engaging, humorous, informative, yet part of me kept expecting him to suddenly say "can I get an Amen." He's also a participant in the city government, and had some interesting information about how the city works and it's efforts to become more bike friendly. He's a bicyclist himself, having given up his car a while ago. I think that's awesome. And you could see it walking around the downtown area. They've combined bike-friendliness with art, commissioning artists to create bike racks that are actually visually interesting. Why can't every city do this? You can see one here.

After the Opening, we all walked down Main Street to the Frazier International History Museum for the Reception. There was food, and lots of catching up with friends and colleagues. In addition to opening up the Museum just for us, keeping the exhibits open for us and the Museum also staged a sword fighting demonstration. They two actors were quite good, and explained the different styles and the historical development of sword fighting. It was fascinating. I missed the beginning, but my friend LH explained to me I didn't miss much, except the stretching and one of the many staged fights. Bummer about missing the stretching...according to LH, the two guys were very thorough.

When we walked in, we were told they're was also a bit on the beheading of Anne Boleyn, complete with a fake head. Alas, they lied. No fake head. But the interpreter was very good, telling the story from the point of view of one of Anne's ladies in waiting, and remaining in character the whole time.

The reception ended rather early by conference night standards, so a group of us wandered back down to 4th Street Live and crammed into a booth at The Pub for some more catching up. We still had an early night, as Friday would be starting early, but it was so great to see people and visit more over a few pints. We all do talk between conferences, but e-mail and phone calls are no substitute for face to face conversation. We spend so much time together at conferences, but they can be so far apart sometimes. Many of my friends I hadn't seen since last year's NASIG, or most recently in January at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. So it was awesome to sit and talk and hear what was going on in people's lives. I wish we all lived closer to each other, except I'd never get any sleep.

NASIG 2007: day 0, arrival

Much like I did with CONSER, I will now be playing catch up with my posts about NASIG. Brace yourself for 5 posts in quick succession about the conference. Enjoy.

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

Travel day. This time I had to fly. I took the dog to the kennel on Tuesday evening, and got up super early on Wednesday to catch the bus and then the train to the airport (much much cheaper than parking). I didn't have coffee before I left the house, as juggling a coffee cup, luggage and my carry on bag would not have been pretty. I figured I'd get some at the airport. I arrived at the airport in plenty of time, breezed through check in and security (a rarity for me, I assure you) and then discovered something awful. NO REAL COFFEE past security in that particular terminal. Unless you count non-McDonald's fast food coffee as real coffee, there was no coffee to be had. The food court was next to non-existent. Ugh. I did buy a cup, but I couldn't drink it; it was just too terrible tasting. Fortunately, we boarded shortly and I slept all the way to my connection in Detroit. In Detroit, I had ample time to find real coffee, and options were plentiful. Life became instantly better, I became human again.

After arriving in Louisville, I took the bus to the hotel. I love taking public transportation when I travel. It gives me the opportunity to really see the city, and not just the "touristy" parts of it. You see neighborhoods, both good and bad, office buildings, warehouses, factories, all the stuff that isn't in the downtown or around your hotel and convention center. It's a great way to get a feel for things.

My roommate for the conference, my friend B (remember her from CONSER? yeah, we travel well together), arrived not too long after I did and we went in search of food. We walked up the street, and ended up in an area called 4th Street Live. It's an outdoor pedestrian area full of restaurants, a small mall area, and bars. We got carded going in and had a bracelet put on our wrists to mark us as part of the over-21 crowd. Apparently open containers are allowed in the pedestrian mall area. Who knew. We picked a place called The Pub. It's a chain, but anyplace that has something called the Beer Bible is OK by us. We had excellent beers and fried pickles (YUM!) for an appetizer. I had their Shepherd's Pie for dinner and it was delicious. A fancy schmancy version with beef and lamb and chive potatoes.

Now, one thing you need to know about B and I is that we are hockey nuts. And it's the Stanley Cup Finals right now. She's a Buffalo Sabres fan (but I like her anyway). I was raised on the Detroit Red Wings. Both our teams are out of the quest, and fortunately we're both cheering for the same team, the Ottawa Senators. The Anaheim Ducks are wrong for many reasons: it's an expansion team in southern California AND the franchise used to be owned by Disney. That's just wrong (and if you're a Ducks fan, I'm not apologizing if you're offended, you'll just have to deal with it). So after eating, we had our own quest: to find a place we could see the game (only broadcast on satellite). We ended up at Champion's Sports Bar. Shortly after we arrived, our friends AC and JS joined us. Neither one of them are hockey fans, but they were amused watching us watch the game and periodically curse at the screen. Unfortunately, Ottawa lost. There was more cursing.

After the game was over, we sat and chatted for a bit, catching up with each others lives, and then went to another bar. What you need to remember about librarians, is that while we work very very hard, we also play hard. Conferences can be like camp (cue American Pie movie reference: "this one time, at NASIG..."). So while we attend sessions and learn a lot during the day, we like to go out and have a good time. We got back to the hotel rather late, and all of us crashed out, needing to rest up for the start of the conference on Thursday afternoon.

Off to Louisville!

Tomorrow I leave for Louisville, Kentucky for the NASIG Conference. I've been to Louisville, but only in the "just passing through" variety. The Conference is packed, as always. Of all the conferences I attend, I frequently get more out of this one than any other. Maybe because it's focused. We're all there because we deal with continuing resources (i.e. journals, series, serials, magazines, newspapers, etc.) in some way shape or form.

NASIG is unique in that it doesn't matter what your role is in the continuing resources world. Vendors and all kinds of librarians from all types of libraries (including administrators) suspend the war for about 3 days each year and sit down to discuss the pertinent issues affecting all of us. There is no "us versus them" at NASIG. Our ultimate focus is on providing access to materials in the best way possible for the user. Sure, there are user groups for various integrated library systems, electronic resources management modules, software, etc., but they aren't the focus of the conference by any means. They're kind of a side note for an hour or two here and there. We're not there as vendors or librarians; we're all there as "serialists."

The other truly unique thing about NASIG is that it's casual dress. Like jeans/shorts and t-shirt casual. It's all part of our history of holding conferences on college/university campuses in the middle of June without air conditioning. Even though we've moved into hotel settings now and left the academic setting behind, the casual dress code has survived. It does make it hard to pick out the vendors versus the librarians when everyone is wearing past NASIG conference t-shirts and jeans.

This year I'm leading one of those user/discussion group sessions. I think that's a price you pay for knowing someone on the Program Planning Committee (gee, thanks, B). Oh well. I don't have to give a presentation or sit on a panel, just facilitate. I can do that (I hope). I'm also, as mentioned in a previous post, a mentor for a new attendee this year. I'm looking forward to meeting her. I'm feeling like I actually have enough experience and knowledge after 5 years that I can help a new person along. It's a nice feeling.

I'm also looking forward to seeing my friends, some of which I haven't seen since last June. B and I are rooming together this year (saves money), and we have plans to meet up with our friends when the conference meetings are over and go out and explore Louisville in the evenings. And do some bourbon tasting (because, apparently, it's one of those things to experience in Louisville). Should be fun. Louisville, be warned, you are about to be inundated by librarians out to have a good time. We'll learn during the day, but by night, we do like to relax and have some serious fun.

Now back to packing.

From the It's-A-Small-World-After-All Dept.

Cue music. Got that immensely irritating song stuck in your head now? Now add the word "twisted" before "world" and the song becomes much more apt.

I signed up to be a mentor for the upcoming NASIG conference. This will be my fifth conference, so I figured it was time to help a new NASIG attendee. Once upon a time I also had a conference mentor for a different conference, and it was really nice to have someone I could ask all my questions regarding the conference. Attending your first conference of any professional organization is always a bit nerve-racking. Even if you've attended a conference for a different organization, like ALA, each organization's conference is different so it presents new challenges and sometimes even new anxieties. So being able to be there for a new person is important. You're the first wave so to speak. The "official" welcome wagon. Even if you don't become the best of friends, just greeting them and being there to answer questions is a way to give back to the world of librarianship and can set the mentee's mind at ease so they can get more out of the conference. They'll at least know one person attending.

Yesterday I received my conference mentee assignment. This is where the "small twisted world" comes in. I just can't make this stuff up. Really, I'm not that creative.

My mentee works for the first institution I worked for after I got my Master of Library Science degree. My first professional job, otherwise known as a "real" job (vastly different from being a student worker or intern), was at that university. Most of the people I worked with are still there. So I not only know my mentee's boss, but most of my mentee's colleagues. My former colleagues and I have been known to socialize at various conferences and I used to have lunch with several of them when I still lived in the same city. I'm fairly certain the person doing the mentor/mentee pairing doesn't know I used to work there, but you never know.

Out of all the possibilities for all the new attendees from all over the US and the world, we get paired. I'm just sitting here chuckling to myself that I'm the mentor for someone that works at the first institution I worked for post-MLS graduation. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's just funny and very random and just a teensy bit ironic. It was that same institution that set me on my current career path of being a serials and electronic resources cataloger. A career I love. And now I'm the mentor for their new serials cataloger.

It really is a small twisted world after all. But isn't that randomness what makes life so entertaining?