Me and my nerd conference
Which is what my rude sister is calling it.
Others know it as the annual Utah Library Association conference. It's being held at the Provo Marriott--this year with coffee! As soon as I saw the Devil's Brew sitting there on the tables I sat down and wrote a Shocked and Appalled letter. I'm sure there are templates online somewhere that I could download, along with "Vote for Mitt Romney" chain emails and "How to Have Your Own Harry Potter Bookburning Party" tips.
I've met some fun people despite my not having business cards. Next time, though, I'll be ready! I went to a two-hour long session on graphic novels & manga, except that it turned into one of those things where the speaker went down her "recommended list" and discussed every single book. That's why they needed 2 hours. I should have left at half-time with my booklists and gone to something else. Then I went to another one where people from the Provo Library discussed their summer reading program for teens, which they've only been doing for a few years. They talked about what has worked and what hasn't and what they've been learning. It was really helpful (maybe too late for this summer, but next year is going to kick). During their presentation a middle-aged man (I assume he's an academic librarian at BYU or UVSC something) spoke up:
MAMA: Now, I live in Provo and I have two teenaged girls. This seems like something that they'd really be interested in, but I've never heard anything about it. I didn't even know you offered a program like this. So you really need to work on your advertising.
Provo Library Staff: Well, we didn't really have a huge budget for that. We did put information up on our website . . . and big posters throughout the library . . . and handed out bookmarks . . . and included information on the City newsletter.
MAMA: But what I think would have been good is if you'd sent out flyers. Like to my home. Like if you'd sent out a mailing about it to all your card-holders.
Which is when I almost sustained ocular damage from my Massive Eye Roll. I mean, why didn't they just come to his house and knock on his door and tell him all about it, huh?
PLS: That's a great idea, but that would have actually been quite expensive and we really didn't have the budget for that. Plus, the people we were trying to reach those first couple of years were the teens who were already in the library and using it.
I leaned over to my neighbor and whispered, "Translation: if he or his daughters had ever actually stepped foot in the library they would have known about it."
Some people's children.
I'm Steph, a librarian and mom of 3 (not sure how that happened). Let's chat books, food, Sumptuous Literary Adaptations, poop, knitting and maybe some crazy Mormon Feminism.
9 comments:
But was it good coffee? That's the real question. I'm continually shocked and appalled at the low-quality coffee that is served at functions like that.
Was the woman who spoke on graphic novels from a comic store in Salt Lake? Because I sat through a very similar-sounding (i.e., almost unendurable) presentation last year at my library.
Lastly, I really don't know how anyone can live in Provo and not use that library. I moved off-campus just to get closer to it. And when I moved to Salt Lake, it was to get away from Utah Valley, not the Provo Library.
I didn't think you'd actually notice that I said nerd conference. I'm glad you have such an attention to detail.
I didn't have any, Jer. But the people who were partaking seemed happy. It wasn't flown in from Seattle or anything, though.
The woman was Patricia Foster, who does all the graphic novel purchasing for the SLC county system. And don't get me wrong, she said lots of great things, but that was more in the beginning. The rest was an extended Book Talk.
Lastly, I know!
Jen, I'm sharp. That's why they pay me the big bucks.
My wife calls the ULA conference "Nerdapalooza," which is just about perfect.
I was also at that graphic novel program and was pleased to hear about some interesting titles, but c'mon already...I wish I could get that second hour back somehow.
Lastly, like I said to a fellow library nerd at the Marriott coffee pot, "This stuff is horrible but nobody travels to Provo for the coffee." Zing pow!
P.S. I'm also in Cache Valley. I found yr blog via Flickr and am excited to read more.
Thanks for commenting, Shawn! And thanks for backing me up on the graphic novel session so people don't think I'm just a big whiner. ;-)
I've been reading through a few of your archives, and I love your blog. You've got such interesting things to say, and I love hearing about your "nerdy" librarian activities and what you're reading.
Janssen, thank you so much! That is really nice of you to say--I hope you'll comment again, and I'm heading over now to take a look at your blog. :-)
I'm one of the librarians who presented from PCL and I'm glad that someone found that session helpful (despite our apparent slackerly ways in the advertising department). My co-workers and I discussed it, and we think you should come to Provo, join our single librarian network, and maybe be our new best friend. Very amusing blog!
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