Organisational aspects of ALA11 which I loved

From an event organisation point of view, there were some really great ideas I can take from the ALA Annual 2011 conference. Some may not work in the UK, but I’m willing to give it a try!

Changing sessions

You know what it’s like - you were torn between two different sessions (look how much there is to choose from!), and 5 minutes in to the one you chose you realise you’ve made the wrong choice. If you’re at a UK conference, the chances are you’ll stick with it in the hope that it might get better. But at US conferences, as long as it’s not rude to do so, you can just change sessions. There are so many overlapping sessions anyway, but whilst UK library conferences don’t tend to have over 2000 sessions (yes, there were that many at ALA Annual 2011!) there are still clashes and if something is not what you were expecting, I don’t see anything wrong with people changing sessions as long as it doesn’t disrupt either session. I’m not sure how speakers would react but I know when I’m presenting I’d far rather have a smaller group of interested people than a larger group of people falling asleep (though I guess having everyone leave would be difficult to deal with). What do you think - could we adopt this model in UK conferences?

Ribbons

Exhibit A: Awesome!

Aaron Dobbs with his many ribbons (and yes, that is me in the background!)

OK, so Aaron may have taken it to the extreme, but these ribbons are really useful. You can see at an instant what groups people are a member of or what their interests might be. Interested in knowing more about ALA as an organisation? Look for someone with an ALA Councillor ribbon! Want to find out about a particular group? Look for someone wearing one of their ribbons. I found the ribbons a great conversation starter and they helped me find people I was looking out for too. At CILIP West Midlands events I have used different coloured dots on badges for speakers and committee members, but ribbons are a lot easier to spot (also the comical ribbons are a bit of fun too - I added the Tired Feet ribbon to my badge on my last day!).

Battledecks

The previous photo was taken at Battledecks, where I was honoured to be a judge (thanks to Jenny Levine for volunteering me to stand in for her!). Battledecks is a competition for brave participants who present based on a slidedeck they haven’t previously seen. The slides often comprise of silly images which may well have very little to do with the focus given for the presentation and the challenge is to make a relatively comprehensive story from them whilst also keeping it entertaining for the audience. In ALA’s Battledecks there were 10 slides which the presenters had to get through in a maximum of 5 minutes - if they didn’t use all the slides they were penalised, and also if they came in well under time. This year, Andy Woodworth created the slide decks, and they were hilarious! All you need to run Battledecks is someone to create the slides, a chair to introduce each speaker, a timekeeper, some judges, an audience, and the brave contestants. 

At ALA the Battledecks is a lot of fun, it was definitely one of the highlights for me (and I think still would have been even if I hadn’t been a judge). Here’s a photo of everyone involved:

Uncommons

Unfortunately I didn’t find out about this space until right at the end of the conference, but the uncommons is basically a place to chill out for a while and get away from the madness that is the conference. People arrange to meet up here and sometimes people arrange social gatherings during the day here (as well as lunch meetups which are common too). A few of us had hoped to get a CraftCon set up, but we didn’t manage to this time - I think it would be good to have somewhere to wind down though at all large conferences. 

Weekend event

OK, so this is an interesting one. Most (if not all actually) of the events I have been to in UK are during the week, and usually between 9am and 5pm. Due to problems experienced getting time out of work, evening events have become more popular (I’ve organised two evening events for CILIP West Midlands), but not weekends. I’ve mentioned it as a suggestion in committee meeting and people have looked at me like I am crazy. However, at ALA, they had around 20,000 delegates all of whom were happy to spend their weekend at the conference (the conference was Fri-Tues but the main days were Saturday and Sunday). 

And whilst I was drafting this post, I’m really pleased that some people much braver than myself have taken the plunge in the UK and organised a weekend event - and the response has been amazing! Library Camp UK 2011 will be in Birmingham on Saturday 8th October, and 175 people signed up in less than 24 hours. Not all librarians want to give up their weekends, but there are some that are willing to do so. I’ll definitely be taking this into consideration for future events - we need events at different times to suit different audiences. 

…or go to a library conference!

Time for reflection

I’ve been back from my trip to ALA Annual 2011 conference and Louisiana State University libraries visit for a couple of weeks now, and have had chance to reflect on my experiences. I have to be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of New Orleans the city, but the bustling ALA Annual conference (with over 20,000 attendees!), the contrasting relaxed atmosphere at Louisiana State University, and the incredible people I met at both made it such an amazing experience. Some of the things which stood out for me include:

• Passionate librarians - everyone I met, whether librarian, vendor or consultant (or anyone else!) was incredibly passionate about libraries and ensuring they are fit for purpose and meeting the needs of their users. Despite the doom and gloom of budget cuts, the overall atmosphere was one of positivity and moving forward. 
• Sharing good practice - I love working in a profession that is so willing to share good practice and learn from one another. Every speaker I listened to was willing to share their ideas but not afraid to be challenged if others have experienced different outcomes. I agree with Jenica that every library is unique and what works at one may not work at another, but being able to share ideas and examples of what has and hasn’t worked for your library is a great way to inform experimentation. 
• Evidence-based practice - it was pleasing to see that most presentations referred to research (either their own or published research) which had informed their innovative approaches. Many also discussed how they had measured the success of their project. I was impressed with the research focus at LILAC 2010, and it was good to see this continued in ALA Annual 2011. Obviously, as a researcher at Evidence Base I’m always looking out for this, but it really is great to see the profession embracing the evidence-based approach. 
• Measuring the value of libraries - I had a number of interesting conversations about what librarians can do to measure the value or impact of their library. The ACRL session on their Value of Academic Libraries work (which I unfortunately couldn’t make due to a clash) was apparently overflowing, and librarians from other sectors were also discussing ways of measuring the value of their own libraries. It seemed to me that a lot of this is in the very early stages of development, but since coming back I’ve chatted to my colleagues and found out that they worked on a related project a few years ago, the HEFCE funded Outcomes project. They commented that at the time it hadn’t really taken off on a large scale, but it seems now is perhaps the time to bring this work to the forefront again. I’m hoping to be involved in more work to help librarians use quantitative and qualitative methods to measure the value and impact of their library. 
• Mobile technologies - there was a real interest in the area of mobile technologies being used in libraries (mainly academic libraries it seemed). This is an area I am really interested in, so it did shape my session choices but it was really great to hear from so many enthusiastic librarians who have spoken to their users about what, if anything, the library can do to utilise mobile technologies, and it was interesting to hear about some really innovative projects. 

I totally agree with others who have recently attended their first international conference (such as Ned Potter and Sam Wiggins) - the value of these conferences is the people you meet and the connections you make. I think I gradually got a little better at describing what I do and what my interests are, and I exchanged so many business cards (which I don’t tend to do so much at UK events). I had so many interesting conversations, both during the conference and over lunch/dinner. I don’t know how some people manage to stay up until the early hours and still make the 8am sessions though - I retreated back to my hotel room before midnight most nights! I hope the connections I made will lead onto interesting projects in future - formal and informal. I left feeling totally re-energised with ideas (though mentally and physically exhausted!).

It was an absolutely amazing experience and I am incredibly thankful to the CILIP John Campbell Trust and to my employer for supporting my attendance. I really hope it’s not my last ALA conference, I’d really recommend anyone to go if they can. I have to say though, I was disappointed not to experience any knitting librarians at the sessions I attended!

For those interested, there are some photos (many of them very poor I’m afraid!) in my ALA Annual Conference collection on Flickr.

Top travelling tips

Things I have learnt or been reminded of so far during my trip to New Orleans:

- ALWAYS take a credit card with you when travelling

- Check confirmation of bookings (and relevant payment) before leaving for your trip

- If you’re using a card whilst away (I use FairFX) take some cash too in case there are problems with the card

- Allow time for immigration - it can take a lot longer than you think

- If you have a long flight, paying for the extra leg room is worth it (unless it’s a crazy additional price)

- The US driving style is very different to UK driving style

- Americans offer exceptional customer service

- Americans sure do know how to cook a good steak

- Cocktails are awesome!

Looking forward to the rest of trip and hoping I learn lots more :)