A Student ALA : Part 3 July 3, 2006
Posted by rbesara in : ALA2006 , add a commentAnd the final chapter in my conference experience…
Tuesday: I attended the Coretta Scott King Award Breakfast. It was a wonderful occasion. Again, it was a chance for me to become familiar with cultures and titles that I will need to know to have a school media collection that will be meaningful to my students.
The last thing I attended was the exhibit floor. I was amazed by the exhibits and, in the little time I had, I expanded my perspective on how the ‘other’ types of libraries work and think. Coming from a background in education and a current focus in school media, I do not have an in depth knowledge of the needs of academic and public libraries and librarians. I had never heard of leasing popular new titles to save on purchase cost, soundproof booths that allow patrons to talk on the cell phones while in the library, and I had not considered the many security options to help prevent theft of books. For a new student, even something that many take for granted like the exhibit hall can contain a plethora of broadening ideas and seeds for reflection.
I was exposed to and learned so much at the conference! I have not even begun to absorb all the ideas and experiences that I had. As a student, I am still trying to catch up on the last bit of schoolwork assigned during my attendance at the conference. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend a conference to go. It is a more rewarding experience than I ever imagined. I look forward to sharing my experience with my fellow school library students and mulling over the ideas and taking part in the opportunities I learned about in my amazing 5 days at ALA in New Orleans!
A Student ALA : Part 2
Posted by rbesara in : ALA2006 , add a commentMy exhilarating experience as a first-time ALA attendee continued…
Sunday: I attended AASL Affiliate Assembly, and got a different feel for the organization than I did from Celebration Conference. It was really the perfect introduction. At Celebration Conference, I was given an overview of how to get involved. At the Affiliate Assembly, I had a chance to see what issues AASL is working on, such as discussions about information literacy assessment, supporting the role of the school media specialist in the school (which in all too many states the position is being ignored), etc.
Later on in the day I attended the Pura Belpre Award Ceremony, which was a great place to familiarize myself with the works about Latin culture and the award winning titles that I will want to include in my future media center collection.
Monday: The AASL Brunch and President’s Reception was the first event of the day. As a student, it was great for me to hear of the wonderful media center programs that were winning awards. The only fault with the brunch was that the speeches were cut short so that we would be able to get to the auditorium in time to hear Laura Bush and the panel in “School Libraries Work.”
Of course, “School Libraries Work” was my second event of the day. It was wonderful to hear the First Lady speak on her hopes for school libraries and her efforts to help the profession. The panel discussion afterwards touched on the interesting topic of how school media specialists can be leaders in the school. While the particular approach dealt with rebuilding the schools destroyed or damaged in Katrina, the major concepts of collaboration, advocacy, and service applies to all schools and media specialists.
The AASL All Committee Meeting was next on my Agenda. I had a chance to shadow Dr. Everhart on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Committee.
This was a treat for me because as a future candidate for National Board Certification, I had a chance to meet many of the people who moderate the listservs and write the books I have read to prepare myself for the process.
I topped the day off with the Printz Award Ceremony. I was especially intrigued with the Australian winners’ recorded acceptance speeches because I know so little about Australian YA literature, and in an increasingly global world it is important to provide students with materials that give them different perspectives. Australian is ‘easy’ because it is in English, but it does have enough difference to throw students off balance and make them look more closely at their own surroundings.
A Student ALA : Part 1
Posted by rbesara in : ALA2006 , add a commentI am going to give you a glimpse of my ALA experience as a first time conference attendee. However, my experience is not completely typical because I am really fortunate to have great mentors for my first trip to ALA. Since I am their graduate assistant and student, Dr. Eliza Dresang and Dr. Nancy Everhart have been guiding me and letting me know what they think I might want to (or should) attend.
Friday - The conference (for me) began that evening when Dr. Dresang let me shadow her to several publishers’ parties. While I was attending these parties, I had the chance to meet some of my favorite authors, such as Walter Dean Myers (I had just written a paper on him for a class) and Kate DiCamillo. They were very friendly, and Walter Dean Myers in particular was very kind, telling me of his ideas for future books and what he is currently working on.
Saturday - I started out the day at the AASL Celebrate Conference, which is a program put together so that new AASL ALA conference goers can become more familiar with the organization’s structure and how to get involved in AASL (if you are reading this blog, this information is old hat to you). In addition, the new conference attendees get helpful hints on how to make the most of their conference going experience such as:
• Wear comfortable shoes – you are going to be walking much more than you might expect.
• Choose a hotel near a landmark so you can easily find your way home – I found this tip particularly helpful. If my hotel had not been near Jackson Square, I would often have had trouble getting ‘home’.
• Manage your time wisely – you will find out that there are far more many events you want to attend than you have time for, so realize that you are going to be pressed for time and plan accordingly.
• Mail your ‘swag’ home – don’t end up paying premium price for the extra weight that it will add to your luggage.
Personally, the tip that hit me the most was the time management issue. I naively had planned to get some of my class work done in the ‘breaks’ between events. Little did I know that, if possible, the breaks would be busier than the events. The breaks are when you meet people, do professional networking, and cram in little extras like standing in on another interesting program for just a few minutes to get some fresh ideas.
My second Saturday event was the ALSC Division Leadership meeting. This was a great event for me to see how the organizations within ALA work and meet some of the people who had written many of the textbooks for my classes.
I then went to the YALSA Margaret Edwards Award Luncheon, but I didn’t get to stay to hear Jacqueline Woodson speak because I was co-presenting directly afterward with Dr. Dresang and Dr. Everhart in the program entitled, “AASL Supervising the National Board Library Media Candidate.” The presentation went smoothly, and I felt that I could more fully relax and enjoy the conference once I had gotten the presentation out of the way.
I then shadowed Dr. Dresang around for the rest of the day, until it was time to go to the Blogger Bash at 10 that night which was a combined reception for the librarians who had lost their collections in whole or in part to Katrina. It was a bittersweet occasion. On one hand, I had the chance to meet the authors of many of the library blogs I read. On the other, I heard the stories of libraries that had lost thousands of their books and their entire building to the hurricane.