Saturday at ALA....

So far, the conference is very good. There is something here for everyone, and the vendor exhibits are amazing. I went to the vendors later in ther day, and unfortunately did not get a ton of free-bees. Hopefully, I will have something for everyone when I get back.

The first session that I went to was Librarians Just Need to Have Fun: Utilizing Fun and Humor in the Workplace to Enhance Employee Performance. The speakers gave a lot of great tips and ideas on staff development that can be done on a small budget. Some of the ideas were library staff picnics, engineering contests with mini-marshmellows and spaghetti, and departmental open houses. The main idea of all of this is getting everyone in the library to feel comfortable working together and break down the barriers that sometime exist between departments.

The next session that I attended was Demonstrating Excellence in Higher Education. This was very interesting because the speakers discussed how assessment and accountability are not only concerns of high ed in the US, but also around the world. One of the speakers was from the UK, and he discussed how his institution approaches accountability and assessment. It was interesting to hear how academic libraries all over the world face the same issues when it comes to accountability.

I tried to visit all of our vendors, and even some that we do not use. Polaris Library Systems had a President Obama look-alike that you can have your picture taken with, and one of the other vendors had Star Wars characters walking around the exhibit floor.

As a librarian, I think that it is definately worth attending an ALA conference, but I am not sure that this is something that I would want to do every year.