With possibly a record contingent of Australians in Anaheim (about 20!), this year’s ALA Annual was a great one to attend. My last ALA was in New Orleans in 2006, so it was great to attend for a second time and not be so overwhelmed by the largeness of everything.
ALA is notoriously difficult to get around, and it did seem that everything was on at the same time in hotels several miles apart this year. Apart from my own session that I spoke at with fellow Australians, Alyson Dalby and Andrew Spencer, it seemed like we didn’t actually attend many talks. Despite this, highlights for me were Top Tech Trends and a session on the AMPAS library.
BIGWIG
After my talk I ran over to BIGWIG which was still in full swing. I missed the presentation part of the session but joining in the informal discussions and the video streaming was fun.
Top Tech Trends
So does TTT live up to the hype? It sure does! In addition to the panel of trend watchers, we were joined virtually by Karen Coombs and Sarah Houghton-Jan, and we could watch and participate in the toptech Meebo chat room. It was great fun to be able to interact with some of the audience and the panel through Meebo in real time. But backchanneling for me did have the downside of being terribly distracting from, you know, the actual discussion.
Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences library
On Monday I decided to go to a session just for fun, one that has nothing to do with my work - a talk on the AMPAS library. The challenges of maintaining a major film archive were discussed - everything from preserving billboard posters to photographs and handwritten screenplays. The session was accompanied by a fantastic video showing how they restored a billboard poster for the film King of Kings. Definitely a highlight.
Bookcart Drill
I was really looking forward to the Bookcart Drill Championships after missing the inaugural championship in New Orleans in 2006 and it did not disappoint. Such coordination and creativity! A lot of fun to watch. There will surely be plenty of videos on YouTube soon.
Blog Salon
Like most conferences, the socials are the most interesting and useful for networking and meeting people you’ve only ever met online. Blog Salon is always a fantastic place to do that.
The International Librarians Reception is another excellent place to meet people attending ALA from all over the world. It was great to put a name to many faces and catch up with others. This year the reception was held at Muzeo. It was formerly the Anaheim Public Library, built in 1905 and is the only remaining Carnegie library in Orange County.
Anaheim
Unlike most of ALA’s conferences, Anaheim is not a major city, and entertainment and food options other than Disney were limited. It’s similar to conferencing on the Gold Coast.
Overall ALA Annual 2008 was again a good, if tiring and overwhelming experience. If you’ve never been, it’s worth going just once to experience the largest library conference in the world.
Feed
July 3, 2008 at 17:19
Now entertainment options on the Gold Coast may not be like Melbourne and Sydney - but there are heaps of food options. Trouble is they are so spread out over the strip and public transport is *meh*.
Sounds like you had a great time. Why is it called ‘blog salon’? Just for bloggers to socialise or is it an internet cafe scenario with emphasis on the cafe?
How many attend ALA?
July 4, 2008 at 00:36
Peta:
This year, something under 22,000 people were at ALA–but that includes exhibitors (more than 5,000 people) and exhibits-only attendees. Last year, the total was around 27,000. It varies a lot…
The OCLC Bloggers Salon is essentially a reception, named that by the It’s All Good team when it started. (I’m not part of that team, so can’t provide details.) It’s a place to socialize–not at all an internet cafe.
I would say there were plenty of food options–but, in the immediate conference area, heavy on hotel and chain restaurants. What there weren’t many of: Reasonably-priced, good-quality local and ethnic places within easy walking distance…probably because the whole conference center area is a resort area, not a metropolitan area.
July 4, 2008 at 07:25
I don’t mean to sound like a shill for the Chamber of Commerce, but if you can manage to get outside of the Anaheim resort zone (i.e. by driving), there are actually many great food (and other) options in the area.
Well, I hope you have better luck here in 2012!
July 4, 2008 at 23:25
Sorry Peta, no intention to offend residents, but I do remember a lot of walking in a very hot sun up at ALIA 2004 and that is what dominated my days at Anaheim. Agree that there are a few nice places to eat up there and the beach is a good distraction.
Roger - As a non driver, it’s the bus, walking or nothing.