Librarians in New Orleans

One of the things for which I am very proud of librarians, and for which I can claim zero credit because I had absolutely no involvement (didn't even attend), is the decision to continue with the plan to hold the American Library Association (ALA) National Conference in New Orleans not long after Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina hit in late August 2005.  ALA held its national conference there in June of 2006, bringing 16,964 librarians to the city.  The decision was based on many factors, one of which was the desire to pump money back into an area that desperately needed it.

In the September/October 2011 issue of American Libraries, Molly Raphael writes in The Big Easy Revisited about that conference and about the most recent ALA conference, again held in New Orleans.  At this 2011 conference, many of the people in the city remembered the librarians descending upon the city in 2006 and thanked them for it.

Makes me proud to be a librarian.

March of the Librarians

Well, I've been berated by one of my... two? readers for not posting in such a long time (apparently she needs a means for procrastination...). I can't believe it's been a month. The beginning of the semester is always crazy. I'm teaching Library Research Methods again and that takes a lot of my free time.

Anyway, there is a most amusing mocumentary of the librarians at ALA Midwinter in Seattle. I don't know about the whole "mating" thing, but the lines for essential things like coffee and email are pretty funny. :)

I have not yet attended a large conference, but am registered for the ACRL Conference in Baltimore, which is quite exciting. I'm also contemplating the ALA Annual Conference in Washington DC, since I have friends (victims?) in the area who I can perhaps stay with. :)