So what do librarians do in the summer?
Librarians are busy working in the Vassar College Libraries during the summer on projects that improve the collections and allow users to use resources in new ways when they return in the fall.
But we also go to conferences, big conferences, like the American Library Association annual conference which brought 26,000 librarians to Chicago June 28th-July 2nd. And no, a parade of jubilant hockey fans does not stop librarians from attending a conference.
So what does 26,000 librarians at a conference look like?
Rahm Emanuel, Temple Grandin, Oliver Stone, Ann Patchett, Khaled Hosseini and many others spoke to audiences at ALA. In addition, there were sessions on banned books, library resources for teens, usage of e-books compared to print titles, hybrid records in library catalogs, next generation library technology, and much, much more. ALA is known for the mix of librarians from public libraries, academic libraries and special libraries. Most of the sessions I attended were on changes to cataloging guidelines, potentially paint drying like for non-catalogers, but interesting for those of us who work with these rules. At ALA it can be exciting to chat with librarians from all over the country who do the same things we do, or have very different work responsibilities.
However, I am a little regretful that while I attended serious sessions I missed this.