I just returned from Sacramento, where I attended the ARSL conference for the first time. It is now on my short list of favorite conferences to attend. I'll list a few highlights... things that I am thinking about now as I return to "regular" life.
Ten Things I Enjoyed at ARSL:
- Listening to the opening keynote. George Needham and Joan Frye Williams were funny and thought-provoking. I had conversations throughout the conference that referred back to some of their opening remarks. Isn't that what a good opening keynote should inspire?
- Learning that digital picture frames exist.
- Seeing the nice neat way WebJunction has pulled together ARSL and rural library resources.
- Finally meeting Kieran Hixon and Judy Van Acker and attending their presentation about video games in libraries.
- Pondering Bill Harmer's prediction that "Senior Services Specialist" will be an in-demand library job in the future.
- Discovering at least 20 new resources during Sarah Houghton-Jan's Online Marketing for Small Libraries presentation.
- Meeting a fellow doctoral student, Linda Heuertz, and hearing about her research with three rural libraries.
- Spending time with other Kansans attending the conference; Laura DeBaun, Carol Barta, and Helen Rigdon. Helen presented an excellent breakout session, based on her experiences as the director of the Coffeyville Library in Kansas during that community's major flood in 2007.
- Working with fellow MaintainIT-ers Sarah Washburn and Erin Denny ,at the TechSoup/MaintainIT booth. The Cookbooks were popular!
- Finding out that the 2009 ARSL conference will be in Gatlinburg. DOLLYWOOD! Smoky Mountains! :-)
I'm sure I'm missing some other favorite moments in this re-cap, so maybe I'll post more about the conference later. Were you there? If so, what's on your list?
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Sounds Fabulous!