This year the 2009 ACRL conference was held in Seattle from March 12 to March 15 at venues in the Washington State Convention and Trade Center and the Sheraton Seattle Hotel. From March 12 to March 14 the weather changed from sun to rain. On March 15 it snowed! The theme of the conference was "Pushing the Edge: Explore, Engage, Extend." This report is of the experience of one unnamed Peninsula College librarian at the ACRL conference.
First, I was psyched to hear Naomi Klein, who was scheduled for the opening keynote, and unfortunately she was ill and unable to attend. I did hear two other keynotes which were excellent: poet Sherman Alexie and Ira Glass, the creator of This American Life. Other featured presentations I attended were: Marilee Bresciani on "Confronting the Business Lens for Accountability of General Education," a presentation which generated passionate audience response: "They are not products, they are not widgets, they are students!" and Robin Chase, an entrepreneur who is pioneering in ways of collaborative sharing. Robin is the former CEO of Zipcar, and current CEO of GoLoco. She was amazed, and gratified, to see a ballroom full of librarians at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, to hear a talk on addressing global resource crises.
At a national conference there are often many things happening simultaneously, so one has to choose among many appetizing offerings. The other sessions and workshops this librarian attended focused on more library-related themes like these: "Brother Can You Spare a Dime? The 2009 ACRL Trends for Academic Libraries," "Reeling in the Faculty: Baiting the Information Literacy Hook," and, my favorite presentation: "Workplace Information Literacy: Cultivation Strategies for Working Smarter in 21st Century Libraries" where I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, to learn of Christine Bruce's new book, Informed Learing. After the presentation I rushed straight to the ACRL Bookstore to buy it.
On Saturday I got an ACRL veggie box lunch that was delicious: a sandwich with roasted vegetables, including my favorite: eggplant. It was a working lunch. The ballroom had 50 tables, with 50 different yet concurrent themes! I chose table 17, "From Instruction Traditionalist to Learning Facilitator: Exploring New Heights of Student Engagement."
The only sour note was my hotel experience. But once I got out of the fancy $165 a night hotel (plus $38 parking, plus $10 if you want an internet connection!) and went to a place in the University district, I felt at home. I paid $35 a night (which included free parking and free internet!), thereby saving the state hundreds of dollars. I was near my alma mater, the University of Washington, and I visited old haunts like the University Bookstore on the "Ave."
All in all, it was a great ACRL 2009 conference.
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