MLA Conference (Chicago): 5/20/08

Hi,

Heard the McGovern Lecturer: Andrew Zolli, who was great!

He's a futurist who was a dynamic speaker who inspired the whole room of hundreds of participants. I even got a picture with him after the talk!

Sunday pm went to the poster sessions and saw the NAHRS posters. In the evening attended the EBSCO dinner at the Shedd Aquarium, which is the largest indoors aquarium, in the U.S. What a beautiful aquarium, w/ beluga whales, dolphins, a huge tank w/ fish and the diver goes in there to feed the fish. There's columns, etc. in the aquarium, just beautiful. I attended w/ Lee Adams from JABSOM, and we saw Joy Graham there, who sat w/ us for dinner. It was nice catching up on what she's been doing. Sounds like she enjoys her job at San Francisco General Hospital.

Monday am. heard Thomas Basler who was the Janet Doe Lecturer who spoke on: There are no more giants: changing leadership for changing times. He emphasized that we work for our institutions, the librarian is very important and on social networking.

Worked in the Hawaii booth Monday from 10am-12pm with Ginny Tanji and other Hawaii librarians. Enjoyable telling people about MLA 2009 in Hawaii. They are very excited about attending...hopefully if funding comes through.

Visited poster sessions again, saw Lee Adams' poster (JABSOM) on using PDAs with first-
year medical students.

Attended the OVID dinner at the Planetarium w/ Lee Adams and Ginny Tanji. Again, another beautiful and impressive building. Saw the planetarium show. There were supposedly 500 people attending.

5/20: 9-10am: Business meeting, where the Hawaii entourage led by Ginny Tanji and Mabel Trafford extended an invitation to the members to attend MLA2009 in Hawaii. The Polynesian Cultural Center sent 5 performers who were a hit!

It was announced that about 2,400 members attended the meeting this year.

1:30-3pm: working in the Hawaii booth for the last shift, and the dancers performed again.

Aloha,
Linda U.

MLA Conference (Chicago): 5/18/08

Hi everyone,

Had a busy day yesterday, attended my CE course on Evidence-based Nursing. Learned about the various ways and terms involved in evidence-based searching and got titles of some books I would like to purchase on the subject.

Then, in the afternoon visited the Art Institute of Chicago...what a beautiful building and interesting collection. The second floor's European collection was fabulous...saw works bu Renoir, Monet, Chagal....and the first floor's Oriental collection, also, was fantastic. However, I must say, I think the Academy of Arts in Honolulu has a better collection, which makes sense, considering we're closer to Asia.

The Exhibits opened last night, and the stand for next year's conference in Hawaii was looking great! The librarians from Hawaii were all there, with leis on, and got a lot of attention. The video is playing, and getting a lot of positive comments. They love it!

I wanted to attach photos, but there are only 4 computers for public use, and there's a long line behind me. I'll try to find another time when the computers are slow, or I'll send my photos when I come home.

At the first Plenary session this morning, Mark Funk, the outgoing President of MLA spoke of Web 2.0 and spoke of Web 2.0 participation by libraries using flickr, facebook, blogging, and rethinking MLA committees using Web 2.0 applications. He ended w/ comment: "my voyage to MLA 2.0 is still on its way."

Second plenary session is in about a half-hour.

Aloha,
Linda U.

MLA 2008: Chicago

Hi,

 

I made it in one piece to Chicago, safe and sound....arrived at 5:30am Chicago time (12:30pm Hawaii time!)

 

Fortunately, I saw another librarian from Hawaii on the plane, so we took a taxi together to the Hyatt Regency, were fortunate enough that they had rooms available, and were able to get into our rooms by 6:30am....I was so happy that I didn't have to wait until 3 pm.

 

We then had breakfast, and walked the "magnificent mile" (Michigan Ave.), which is equal to being in Waikiki. The tulips are in full bloom, and just beautiful. The weather is nice today (they say it was nice yesterday, but today is even better), and I'm happy about that. We walked down to the John Hancock Tower, it is huge!

 

Later, we registered for the conference, rested, and then I went on a city tour of Chicago. I'm pretty pooped right now. Will have a good night's rest.

 

Tomorrow, I have my class from 8am-12pm.

 

There's a high school prom here in the hotel, so it's fun seeing the high school students all dressed up in their gowns and tuxedoes.

 

Take care, will email soon,

Linda U.

MLA 2009 video