Hey there ACRL first timers!
Are you ready for some fun next week in Seattle?
I sure am. This is my first library conference and I am excited! I don’t really know what to expect from ACRL, but I am ready to experience my first national conference. This blog will tell you all about my experience as a first time MILS student at the conference. I must confess I did not get to sign up for any workshops because I had trouble with the links and pre-registration. I tried several times to register, but it just didn’t work out. A friend of mine told me to call, but I never got around to it, so I won’t be attending many workshops, unless someone doesn’t show up or I sneak into one. I am still hopeful for a great conference experience!
I will try my best to keep this blog brief, fun, and informative. I am looking forward to next week! See ya soon!
P.S. Part of this blog will include my favorite things to do in Seattle, because I just moved here six months ago and there are a lot of fun things to explore! Here are just a few fun places in the city:
Woodland Park Zoo, Pike Place Market, Seattle Public Library Central Branch, Ballard Locks, and Golden Gardens.
Good Eats and Yummy Treats:)
Green Leaf -Vietnamese food in the International District
Mighty O Donuts- Greenlake
Red Mango- Frozen Yogurt U-district
Trophy Cupcakes-Wallingford
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Hi Naomi,
Thanks for sharing. I’ll be blogging as a first-time attendee and from a community college perspective. I’m over in Spokane, but I get to Seattle every chance I get. I’d like to add to your list that great little Piroshky place in Pike Place Market. Those little pastries are awesome, and I never fail to get one.
Josh
Hi Josh & Naomi~
I’m also a first time attendee, blogging from a community college perspective–Minneapolis Community & Technical College Library, to be exact. So far I’m planning to attend the Radical Reference Unconference on March 12 & am joining a group of community college librarians for an informal dinner (after Naomi Klein’s keynote) at Von’s Grand City Cafe.
I guess I won’t be attending any workshops either, Naomi, as I neglected to register for them and now they are all full. Oops! I guess these are lessons learned by a first time attendee : )
Oh well, there is no shortage of other activities to choose from so I won’t dwell on this oversight any longer.
My previous exposure to Seattle was a brief drive-thru during a solo road trip (Summer ‘03) so this will be my first time exploring the city and all its wonders. Thanks for sharing your favorites–I trust the locals more than the guidebooks.
I’m looking forward to next week! I’m also wondering who else will be blogging among us…???
Hi Jennifer,
Well, I’d like to welcome you to the great state of Washington! Being new here myself, I’m still discovering new and wonderful things. I’d be interested in the Rad Ref unconference. I think I got an email about it some time ago. I’ll have to check out their website and see if I can fit it in.
As cheesy as it probably sounds, I think it’s really a must to go to the top of the Space Needle, as long as the weather is clear enough. The view is breathtaking, and, though you will pay through the nose, it’s a great place to have a relaxing drink and phone jealous friends and family :).
Thanks for the welcome, Joshua, and for the Space Needle recommendation (I’ll definitely have to take my mom there when she comes to join me for a few days of exploring after the conference ends).
One thing I’ve already observed as a first-timer is there is no shortage of vendors flooding my inbox. Solicitations and announcements, invitations to special meals, and my favorite–prize drawings for things such as iPods and Kindle2 to entice me to visit a vendor’s booth. I suppose I could have avoided this had I unchecked the permissions box during registration, but I secretly wanted to receive these messages out of pure curiosity, I guess. Not sure if I’ll consider this a first-timers lesson learned or not…because sometimes good things can come from opening yourself up to such communication. For example…
A friend from library school sent me an invite to a Gale Gala to be held Friday, March 13th in the Space Needle. Now, I can only assume this was sent to a more selective list of recipients for I was not directly invited to this event myself. According to the confirmation, the gala (doesn’t that sound fancy? Now I’m wondering if I need to wear a cocktail dress…?) takes place on the skyline level. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds cool and it’s free! I also know it’s being sponsored by a publisher we rely on heavily for reference resources at our community college library (Gale Virtual Reference Library is one of our most heavily used reference databases).
I decided to check out the radical reference unconference for a couple reasons. One, I have quite a bit of respect for the Radical Reference group’s work and am very interested in the topics up for discussion that day. I look forward to meeting some of the most active members of the group and if there is potential for me to get more involved, I figured what better way to find out than this. Two, it’s being held in the Capitol Hill Branch of Seattle Public Library, so it would be a great opportunity to visit a branch library. Three, it really suits my style more than some of the other options offered that day. It also suits my budget as it’s pretty much free.
If you’d like more info, go here:
http://wiki.radicalreference.info/index.php/ACRL_Unconference_2009
cheers!