Comments on: ALA Midwinter 2007: It can be confusing!

By: FIKSZ :: [ Fiatalos | Könyvtár | Szemlélet ] » Blog archívum » Tíz technológia-alapú áramlatról könyvtárosoknak

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:02:05 +0000

[...] jó kis történeteket találunk még a hálón, például David Lee King összefoglalóját az ALA Midwinter konferencia helyének meghatározhatatlanságár�… (Videóval! QuickTime kell a lejátszáshoz), vagy Alane jelentését a trendwatching.com-on: 2. Az [...]

By: David Lee King » Blog Archive » How David Makes Videos

David Lee King » Blog Archive » How David Makes Videos — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:04:23 +0000

[...] comments on my ALA Midwinter 2007: It Can Be Confusing post, Nancy Dowd [...]

By: Nancy Dowd

Nancy Dowd — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:13:44 +0000

David,
What great quality video- what kind of camera did you use? Any hints on how you posted the video?

By: davidleeking

davidleeking — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 05:11:00 +0000

Cool, Karen! That’s why I’m putting them out there

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:55:49 +0000

David, your insights are terrific. I’m going to share them with the ALA Membership Participation Task Force (which I’m on).

By: Meredith

Meredith — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:18:03 +0000

I’ll tell you, I’ve been to annual twice (even bigger – EEEK!) and expect to be in a near constant state of confusion when I attend again this summer. The only thing I’ve learned is that it’s normal to be that confused. My first time, I apparently had an old version (read: a week-old) of the schedule and ended up at several meetings, discussions, and award ceremonies that weren’t at all what I was planning on going to (the award ceremony one was the most embarrassing). That experience convinced me to create the ALA Wiki for ‘05. The second time I did a little better, but it was really overwhelming and I felt the whole time that there was some secret language or some way of decoding all this to make it make sense that I just didn’t know. I guess that’s why people get involved in their little area of one of the sections and just focus on that — because being a generalist really doesn’t work.

I’m giving three talks at Annual this year and I’ll be truly impressed if I can actually make it to all three of my own talks!

But, yes, it gets better, bit by bit.

By: walt

walt — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:56:01 +0000

David,

As you’ve probably figured out by now, it’s called the ALA Midwinter Meeting for a reason: It’s a set of business meetings, not a conference as such. With very few exceptions, programs (what I think you’re calling sessions) aren’t allowed at Midwinter; they’re reserved for the Annual Conference.

Open meeting policies should be on ALA’s website (and should be in the conference schedule). Briefly, all meetings are open with two exceptions: Award committees and committees discussing personnel issues. Those (and “unaffiliated” meetings that are invitational) are starred in the schedule. Otherwise, all meetings are open to all registered members. Council is certainly open, and I’ve always said that everyone should attend at least one Council meeting–the one and only I’ve ever attended cured me of any desire to run for Council.

As for involvement: For a committee, volunteer to the division or ALA vice president (there’s usually some sort of form). For a discussion group or, in LITA, interest group, show up and express interest in formal involvement.

Discussions that are “really normal sessions” are fudging the Midwinter rules, and that happens a fair amount. They’re not described fully simply because formal programs don’t happen at Midwinter.

Much of it really does boil down to the idea that librarians seeking programs shouldn’t need to go to two conferences a year. That does make Midwinter a much smaller conference (I know 12,000 doesn’t seem small, but it’s about half the attendance of somne Annuals.)