ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia

I was only back in Vegas three days before I had to hop on a plane to the East Coast for the American Library Association Midwinter conference. This means that I was only at work for about three days in five weeks and that after putting 5,000 miles on my truck during the Holiday Road Trip I would also be earning some flight miles as well.

I arrived in Philly and took the advice of a co-worker (who is from the city) and hopped on the train. So easy. It is amazing: from the airport to the convention center I didn't even have to go outside! I did have to hit the street to go to my more frugal hotel, the Hampton Inn but the walk was only about 4 blocks. I soon met up with my former boss and conference roommate (who I totally love and miss and was so happy to see)!

The next day we went to the LITA preconference on User-Centered Design for Websites (Day One) and Usability (Day Two). It was an intensive two-day workshop and I think I managed to absorb a lot of information that will help out with my work on the library's web site and on the digital collections. The only problem was that my brain wasa basically full by the time the actual conference started. I attended my required meetings (ACRL Arts Section, Library Research Roundtable, LITA Digital Library Interest Group, and New Members Roundtable) as well as the CONTENTdm meetings for users of the software we build our digital collections with. But, that was the boring stuff. There was also a bit of fun.

In addition to being reunited with my old boss, I also saw all the UNLV people, a friend from library school who is the digital projects librarian at Drake University, and even met a few new friends and contacts along the way. There was a great party, put on by Thomson at the Philadelphia Art Museum (of Rocky fame) where we got to tour the galleries and eat free food- though not at the same time! There was the night we went to the Afghan restaurant, Kabul ,and the couple trips to Chinatown for cheap and delicious dinners.

One of the best things about the conference was that the convention center literally sat above the Reading Terminal Market with all varieties of tasty food vendors, produce stands, coffee and tea, gifts, and sweets. It rocked! I could eat there a month and not try everything. We had falafel, crepes, Italian hoagies, Indian food, pastries, coffee, and I even tried the Amish pickles. Yum. This place really made the conference.

I got the minimum of required sightseeing in: Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's grave site and the historic buildings in Old Town. I wish I would have had more time to explore, but this conference was rather busy and I just didn't get to do much beyond scratching the surface. In fact, I only had one Philly cheesesteak- a bad one- at the airport on the way home.

It is good to be home safe and sound, though I will miss my friends until the next conference or visit. I saw the ad above as I was running to the train to catch my flight. I thought it was pretty funny that even the Hard Rock was trying to wrangle a few of the 100,000 librarians in for a bite to eat. Though we all know its true...librarians do rock!