Today was my last full day in Portland. It was another full conference day and I'm so very excited to get back to the library and start working with more technology, weeding things that aren't working, and reaching out to more patrons! Can you tell I've been surrounded by librarians for a week?
My first session was about reaching out to pregnant and parenting teens. The presenter gave us many great suggestions for outreach to these parents starting with the very simple idea of doing a brochure explaining what we have for teen parents (collection, baby programs, and even teen programs...they need entertainment and creative outlets for their teen side as well as resources for their parent side) and leading to the more complex idea of offering regular parenting classes, especially ECRR, for this group. I was reminded again of the 40 Developmental Assets and will link to them as a reminder to brush up on my teen developmental knowledge.
My second session I did something a little different and joined a Talk Table focusing on having Teen Services without a Teen Librarian. Since we just have me and Meg and I'm split between little ones and teens and Meg is split between adults and teens, we truly do not have a dedicated person in our building who is focusing all their efforts on Teen Services. However, through this conversation I learned that we are a lot more fortunate than some. We have a great teen space, a fabulous teen collection, just one high school and one middle school to think about, and a GREAT Teen Council who actually supports teen programs through writing grants. So, I was able to share a lot about what we do and get some ideas for passive teen programs, ways to get more help from other staff members, and ways to update your space quickly, easily, and most importantly, cheaply.
Lunch was a PLA luncheon with illustrator Kadir Nelson. What a neat man. He gave a great talk illustrated by lots of pictures he's drawn, painted, or collaged and left us with some great quotes like this one: "Beauty defies negativity." This very talented man illustrated and wrote We Are the Ship and he illustrated Ellington Was Not a Street among others. Very nice speaker...will have to keep him in mind for CYPD.
My next session introduced me to some interesting Open Source tools like Scratch, Comic Life, and of course Audacity. Scratch was really cool and I'm almost afraid to share it with Bill from work. He'll be producing full length movies in no time.
Stopped by the AWE Booth to beg them to put chess on their computers. Please AWE...put chess on your PCs!!
My last session of the day was all about Marketing as a Conversation. GREAT presentation all about using tools like Blogs, Flikr, Facebook, and Twitter to really market your library and high-light your library's services as well as developing meaningful relationships with your patrons. I'm all ready to develop a Web Presence Team when I get back so look out MPL!
The day was over and it wasn't until I walked out of the convention center that I noticed I was no longer carrying a jacket. I could picture myself putting it on the back of my chair during my first session but I couldn't remember anything after that. After getting lost trying to find the Lost and Found (who does that?) I was able to pick it up from the temporary PLA office. YAY!
Okay, so here's the social aspect of my day and of course I'm ready to perish from exhaustion so it will have to be quick. Here's a top 10 of the Best Things that Happened to Me Between 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM today:
10. Wrote some emails for work.
9. Thought about packing.
8. Ignored my suitcases.
7. Didn't get lost at all walking around Portland.
6. Was given a PLA tee-shirt from my great Director, Diane.
5. Bought a pair of Doc Martens. Yay.
4. Ate an amazing food I've never eaten at the Everett Street Bistro. I can't remember what it was called but it had cheese in it. (Polenta! Remembered it in the morning!)
3. Learned two new phrases: "Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner" and "Peace Out, Boyscout." As least, I think those were the phrases.
2. Bought large quantities of chocolate.
And the number 1 Thing Happened to Me Between 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM today:
Saw a man walking around with a cat on his head (not kidding...yes it was real.)
Going to bed. Pictures and links tomorrow.
It's tomorrow! Here are some links:
Everett Street Bistro
Cacoa
Kadir Nelson
Doc Martens
40 Developmental Assets
Scratch
AWE PCs
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