Academic

Faculty Blogs: SLA, Part 2: You Don't Look Like a Librarian

Monday morning began with a 7 AM SLA Legal Division Business Meeting generously sponsored by BNA. I learned that BNA employs 200 reporters to cover the Supreme Court and was informed of its "economic stimulus package", which includes additional tools for SLA members. Contance Ard, formerly of Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, announced a great slate of programs for the 2010 conference. While there, I also networked with other law librarians from Toronto, NYC, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Indiana and was asked to a be a contributor to the legal division's wiki.

Following the breakfast meeting, I attended both a session by Jay Liebowitz, a faculty member at Johns Hopkins, about the use of mapping tools to analyze the relationships within an organization and the latter portion of the Radical Reference session where I learned about a volunteer army of social activists who lend their research skills to providing answers to those who question authority.

The next item on the busy agenda was a networking luncheon. I chose to join a table that included 20-something hipsters and pink haired heavily tatooed librarians from around the country. I chatted with a fellow genXer about Mac Tools and our local roller derby chapters. After that, I toured the vendor expo where I tested my global business knowledge at The Economist's booth, gathered maps at NOAA and schwag from other vendors to share with my colleagues in the law library. The highlight was a book signing with my friend and predecessor at the Gemini Observatory, Ruth Kneale, who just published You Don't Look Like a Librarian.

Later that afternoon, I transported a projector to the "Librarian 1.0 to 2.0" session. Upon arrival, I discovered that the presenter's Macbook had a USB connection rather than a serial port connection and offered several alternative options for connectivity, to which her co-presenter, a gentleman from Dow Jones declared me "brilliant". I reflected on his comment later that evening and delighted in the fact that amongst fellow librarians and information professionals, my gender is not perceived as a handicap. That has generally not been the case amongst the mostly male information technology specialists I've had to deal with throughout my career. There are exceptions of course, including some of my male colleagues at the law school. I've also observed that the attendance at state conferences (Hawaii Library Association and Kentucky Library Association) is comprised mostly of boomer generation females, while attendance at national conferences (SLA, Internet Librarian, and the School for Scanning) is distributed equally among the genders and comprised of roughly 50% baby boomers, 25% genX/genY, and 25% from the silent generation. It is this diversity that continues to attract and inspire me.

The night concluded with a fabulous seafood dinner at Johnny's Half Shell followed by the IT Division's Sci-Fi Night, where I met two local science fiction authors and picked up a couple of copies from Jack Campbell's "The Lost Fleet Series".

Full post as published by University of Louisville Law Faculty on June 17, 2009 (boomark / email).