How I plan to apply some of the things I learned at ACRL to have a direct, immediate impact on the way I do my job and conduct myself professionally:

Start Blogging (and Publishing) More Seriously. I have a blog, which hasn’t been updated since roughly January, but judging by some of the traffic that it’s received this week alone, it’s clear that several of my professional peers might indeed be interested in what I have to say. This was confirmed in the Mapping Your Path to the Mountaintop, where Steven Bell and his three panelists (as well as several insightful volunteers at the mics) championed blogging as a valid mode of publication, something to be reckoned with during the tenure process. I made the choice at my institution to be non-tenured faculty, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to publish, nor does it mean that my making the effort to do so, in whatever form, won’t be appreciated.

Use Google Docs for Collaborative Class Assignments. I’m so glad I stuck around at the Shed for its last presentation of the conference, Rosalind Tedford’s talk about how she and her colleagues use Google Docs, both internally and as a teaching tool. I am particularly interested in the latter, because the Medical Informatics class that I teach to first-year medical students has, as its final project, a presentation of a New England Journal of Medecine case that the students collaborate on, in groups of 9 or 10. When that many people are submitting data into the project, you can imagine what a mess these can turn into. Google Docs can alleviate much of this stress by giving all the group members access to the same presentation, enabling my students access to the same presentation and the ability to make instant changes that everyone will be able to see. Using Google Docs will take some considerable buy-in from both me and them (I have to commit to teaching it; they have to have Gmail accounts, if they don’t already) but the impact that this software could have on the efficiency and quality of their work could be considerable.

Resuscitate Reference. One of the poster presentations that had the greatest impact on me was the “But We’re Not Dead Yet” poster from Kansas State. My home library just shut down our reference desk after the new year, but it was fascinating seeing how small changes in design, location, and service brought reference back from the dead at K-State. Perhaps an autopsy is in order back home.

Tweet Like There’s No Tomorrow. There was no escaping Twitter at this conference, although at times I kind of wanted to! (One glance at my activity will tell you that periodic bouts of “Twitter-sickness” never lasted very long). But Twitter was a huge and essential part of my conference experience. I made so many contacts and held so many interesting discussions, which began as virtual “@replies” and often extended into real-world debates. Twitter provided instant, pithy updates of concurrent sessions that I happened to be missing. While I’m not completely sold on Twitter’s utility as a library marketing tool (full disclosure: I missed Saturday afternoon’s Shed session), as a professional networking service and a grassroots-level news feed, it was utterly invaluable. And when the regional meeting of the Medical Library Association rolls around later this year, I am going to encourage as many of my colleagues as possible to join and use Twitter.

I’m sure I’ll think of more ways to apply what I’ve learned in the coming days and weeks, but for now, let me just say what an amazing experience this conference has been. See everyone in Philadelphia!