5 Things I learned @ Conference

5 Things I learned @ Conference

• Helene Blowers is sooooooooooooooooooooooo cool!
  
• Running the NJLA Podcasting Station w/IT was even more fun this time around!
  
• If you're going to ask a speaker to come to said NJLA Podcasting Station, it's best to be prepared, or they might just walk away!
  
• If you go to a luncheon at Ocean Place, don't order the vegetarian meal (or so I heard).
  
• Pete is a snappy dresser!

  

If you went to conference and want to share "5 Things" on your blog then, "Tag, you're It!"

Conference Swag!

Hello! The 'gardeners are just back from the NJLA Conference, and what a wonderful conference it was!!! (And some of us are off to another conference - The Mid-Atlantic Library FUTURES Conference, May 7th and 8th at The Borgata in AC!)

I don't know about anyone else, but I sure have a lot of stuff, or swag, from it! Plenty of free pens, notepads, lanyards (even flip flops - really!) abounded in the exhibit hall from the vendors.

And, of course, t-shirts!

Well, if you have too many t-shirts, here's a fantastic thing to do with them! My friend Beth Cackowski (go NJLA IT Section!) reminded me about a book called Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt, by Megan Nicolay.

I had seen this author on one of the morning shows once - Martha Stewart I think actually!

Check out this book and, voila! there you have it - something to do with all those free conference t-shirts!

• Make it into a skirt!


• A bikini!


• Turn a regular t-shirt into a tank or tube top!


• A handbag!


• iPod cozy!


• Leg warmers!


• and more............. (yes these are all real patterns in the book)!

I'm so glad Beth reminded me of that and I am passing the tip along to you! If you actually DO turn any of your conference t-shirts (or any other t-shirts) into something else, let us know! Beth was wise enough to choose t-shirts in larger sizes so she would have ultimate playing-around room with them!

However, I myself will not be taking scissors to my beautiful purple SUPER LIBRARIAN shirt!

I'm off to see the conference...

It's that time of year: The NJLA Conference!

The conference is one of my very favorite things! Last year was the first year that I found myself "behind the scenes" and I had the best time! I experienced the conference in a completely different way and got just as much, though different, things out of it! I had attended a few years prior to that strictly as an "attendee," but last year, due to my involvement on the NJLA Information Technologies Section, and the NJLA Member Services Committee, I found myself much more involved.

I spent a lot of time welcoming people at the Hospitality Table - boy, that was fun! And a lot of time at the Podcasting Station, which was also fun and very exciting!

I hope you'll stop by either one of those places, or both, if you're coming to conference....

I'll also be blogging the conference here for NJLA (really, I WILL! Which I intend to use to get back into blogging and stop being so lame!) so check it out! Really!

I hope to get to at least SOME of the programs - I am especially excited about:

• Of course, the IT and YA Programs, particularly Cool Tools and Just Push Play! with Steve Garwood; Let's Mambo at the Library, with Robert P. Rynkiewicz; and Harness the power of Social Software @ Your Library, with Liz Burns and Sophie Brookover!
• Our own Janie L. Hermann will be presenting 15 Fantastic Freebies in 50 Minutes, which I'm sure is going to be packed!
• And, especially the Helen Blowers presentations, Core Competencies, Core Values in the Era of Library 2.0 and Discovering Library 2.0 (Can you tell I'm a little bit tech-oriented!?)!

Gosh, I hope I can get to everything! That is usually the only criticism I hear and feel about the conference - too many good programs competing against each other in the same time slots!

One more invite: Lynn Schott and I will be hosting "Lunch Buddies" again at the conference - if you want people to eat lunch with, we'll be gathering people at the Hospitality Table - so come see us!

Gaming and more @ your library

Hey I just wanted to post a brief report on the NJLA Information Technology meeting that was held on Thursday at the East Brunswick Public Library. LG's Tyler Rousseau gave a great presentation on Gaming in Libraries! The full presentation and handouts will be available very soon on the "Links of Interest" section on the NJLA IT page.

After Ty's presentation everyone got a chance to do some hands-on gaming! We provided Play Stations with Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero (one of my personal faves); some online gaming and the new Nintendo Wii. The only downside to this event was that NOW I MUST HAVE A Wii!!! ;-)

I don't consider myself to be much of a "gamer," but once I tried this I found out what all the fuss is about! It comes with the sports game that includes bowling, tennis and a few other things. I played the bowling game (against a very formidable opponent, Mary Martin, who kicked my butt!) and I am really hooked! The "real action" play of using the wireless hand-held controller while performing actions very similar to "real" bowling was just so much fun! I am officially saving up my money as of yesterday!

Funny aside: The other night a newscaster was reading from the teleprompter and read "Wii" as "World War II"!

Also, if anyone is interested, our next meeting will be held March 8, location TBA, and will focus on Vodcasting! Check our page on the NJLA website for more information!

And, I wanted to point people to a great tool shared by Jessica Adler at the meeting (one of the regular features of our meetings is sharing information and sites or tools of interest)! The tool is Snipshot and it allows you to edit photos online before you share them. There is nothing to install - it is 100% web-based, with a one-click important from any site, and you can save to a free, permanent URL. I haven't tried it yet but it looks great! Thanks, Jess!!!