Hong Wu, Library Director, and Denise Woetzel, Reference/Information Literacy Librarian, had the privilege to attend the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference this year in Las Vegas. It was a great conference and we would like to share with you some of the highlights and our top picks from the conference:
Highlights:
Looking for Annual Conference session handouts and slides? If they’re available, you’ll find them by using the Scheduler.
Top Picks from Hong and Denise:
- OCLC recently released its new research on the library of the future: Reordering Ranganathan: Shifting User Behaviors, Shifting Priorities. As like its previous study on the topic, the research is very informative and intriguing.
- Skip Prichard, CEO and President of OCLC, gave a great speech on leadership. His blog postings at http://www.skipprichard.com are inspirational.
- Ken Doctor, a news industry analyst and the author of Newsonomics, gave a speech on The New Golden Age of News. A similar speech can be found on YouTube – The Future of News: Ken Doctor
- The Now Showing at ALA Film Program screened a variety of films including the extraordinary documentary, Defiant Requiem: Voices of Resistance. To view the streaming version, go to the PBS web site.
- Jane McGonigal, game designer and author of Reality is Broken : Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (both DTC & PRC own a copy of the book) gave a presentation at the opening general session on how online games can help people tackle real problems and improve lives. Check out ALA’s YouTube video as well as Jane McGonigal’s web site.
- Jennifer Kahnweiler, author of The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength as well as Quiet Influence: The Introvert’s Guide to Making a Difference, gave a very engaging presentation that included audience participation on how introverts can communicate more effectively in the workplace. Check out Jennifer Kahnweiler’s blog and ALA’s YouTube video.
- It was a full house when ALA President, Barbara Stripling, interviewed both Lois Lowry, author of the popular children’s book The Giver (both PRC & Goochland own a copy of this Newbery Medal award winning book) as well as Jeff Bridges, who plays The Giver in the movie version of the book coming out in August. Check out ALA’s YouTube video of Lois Lowry.
- Jane Fonda also had a full house when she discussed empowering young people to make the right choices, her work with teens through the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential. Check out ALA’s YouTube video. A book signing of Jane Fonda’s latest book, Being a Teen was held after her presentation. Hong got a signed copy as well as a photo op with Ms. Fonda.
