goblin cartoons

I’ve written before about what a fan I am of DC Comics’ Justice Society of America and I’ve made no secret that when I came up with the name and logo for the Library Society of the World, I was heavily influenced by superhero comics, especially the JSA. Right, so…

Last Friday night, the CW showed a two-hour Smallville “movie” (it was originally going to be two connected episodes but instead was broadcast as one two-hour episode), “Absolute Justice.” The episode featured Clark, Chloe and Oliver discovering a secret group of costumed superheroes, the Justice Society of America. It’s quite possibly my favorite episode of Smallville so far. Geoff Johns wrote the episode and he really groks the JSA. The Justice Society wasn’t just portrayed as a team of superheroes, it was stressed that the team members considered each other friends and family. They didn’t just fight crime together, they socialized and celebrated together. They included their spouses and children. They considered the younger generation their students and heirs.

That’s one of the driving forces behind the Library Society of the World and, I think, the biggest reason why people continue to involve themselves in the LSW. We’re not just professional library associates, we’re friends and family. We don’t just work together, we play together. We learn from each other, we support each other, professionally and personally. We’re not a league, we’re not a professional association, we’re a society.

“Absolute Justice” has stuck with me in a way few TV show episodes do. In part because it hit a lot of my superhero fanboy buttons. But more importantly because it struck a chord regarding the Library Society of the World.

Excelsior!

My fellow Library Society of the Word carping nerdboy Steve Lawson has done a wonderful thing. He took an offhand joke I made about an award given out by the LSW and turned it into a real thing: the Library Society of the World Shovers and Makers Award. How do you win an award? You nominate yourself! And so I have. I’ve also added an LSW S&M badge to this blog, which you can see in the sidebar.

Are you a shover and maker in the library world? Than give yourself an award!

Yesterday was the second Library Camp Kansas. We had a slightly smaller turnout than we did last year, but everyone was just as enthusiastic and engaged, and we tweaked the format a little–for the better. And while we had attendees from out of state, just as we did last year, we also had an international attendee: my Australian friend Kathryn Greenhill, who is ferociously smart and adorably energetic.

Last year, we had three breakout session, one of them being lunch. This year, we left lunch as just lunch, and had one breakout session before lunch and two sessions after. Before the first breakout session, we had a session of “lightning talks,” where attendees could come up and talk, in 5 minutes or less, about a particular computer app or website that they really liked. The lightning talks proved to be a great icebreaker, a great way to get people talking and sharing. People liked them so much, they said they want two sessions of lightning talks next year.

The breakout sessions I attended were really good. The conversations could have gone on and on. A lot of different perspectives were shared, and I learned a lot. There was one session I was supposed to moderate, but nobody showed up for it. My feelings weren’t hurt at all, though. I spent the time chatting with my pal Bobbi Newman.

Once again, I came away feeling that I get more out of unconferences than I do from formal conferences. (Although I didn’t get an ugly totebag. Is that better or worse? You make the call.) I’m really looking forward to next year’s Library Camp Kansas.

In just a little over a month, the second Library Camp Kansas unconference will take place. Last year’s was such a success, I’m really looking forward to this year’s unconference.

It’s going to be in Manhattan again (that’s Kansas, not New York, dig?) at the Hale Library. It’s free, it’s fun, it’s educational. So, if you’re a library employee in Kansas (or heck, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado or Oklahoma, if you can drag yourself here), sign up and come join us for loosely-structured learning! What are you waiting for, an invitation? Oh, OK, fine.

The drive to and from Denver was long, but not as boring as I thought it would be. Western Kansas is flat as all get out, but it’s still beautiful to drive through. Denver itself is, from what I saw, a beautiful, vibrant city. The unconference was brilliant, and I’ve written about it on the LSW blog.

I had a great time hanging out with my library pals, but it’s good to be home.

I’m leaving this morning to drive to Denver, CO to attend the one-day unconferece Library Camp of the West. I’ll get to hang out with my friends Steve Lawson and Laura Crossett, as well as some other great library folks. This will also be my first time going across western Kansas and going to Colorado in 30 years. So, I’m pretty excited. Yeeee-hah!

Life has kind of been kicking me in the tush lately (which is one of the primary reasons I haven’t blogged much lately), and to be perfectly frank, I wasn’t looking forward to Tech Day this year. I just wasn’t feeling up to it. I was actually feeling pretty blasé about libraries in general (which is another reason why I haven’t been blogging much lately).

I’m happy to say I had a terrific time at Tech Day, and I’m very, very glad I went. In fact, I think this was the best Tech Day I’ve been to yet. Props to Sharon Moreland, newly established in her position at NEKLS, for her first time at organizing Tech Day. I expected Michael Porter to give a good keynote, but it was even better than I thought it would be, full of inspiring enthusiasm, curiosity and love for libraries, freedom, open source technology. Power to the people!

I had a good time hanging out with my coworkers and friends like Bobbi Newman and Royce Kitts (who deserves many congratulations for finishing library school and getting the job of Director of the Tonganoxie Public Library–both at the same time!), chatting with librarians from all over Kansas, playing video games and talking about the future of libraries. Tech Day was exactly what the doctor ordered for me.

Royce Kitts, the mad scientist of Kansas libraries, has started a new blog for the Kansas Library Association, and he’s looking for contributors. I’ve signed up (although I’m not a KLA member…for now), and if you’re a Kansas librarian, I encourage you to get in touch with Royce and get signed up to blog. Get on the bus!

I flew back to Kansas City from DC on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, I got up and drove 3 hours to Wichita to present at the Kansas Library Association’s annual conference. Erin Downey Howerton, Brenda Hough and I presented on using internet tools to network, to engage in conferences and community building beyond official conferences–blogs, wikis, IM chatting, Twitter and things like the Library Society of the World.

The presentation went well, although we probably could have done the presentation in one hour, rather than stretching it into a two-hour slot. Erin and Brenda are both extremely engaging speakers, Erin bursting with loads of energy, Brenda with a calmer enthusiasm. I talked about how important the LSW is to me and others, and used Laura Crossett as an example of getting professional help from the LSW when designing her library’s new website. (Laura has apparently become the poster woman for the LSW.) The presentation was much smaller, more intimate, more conversational than my Computers in Libraries presentation, which is just fine by me. I prefer smaller and conversational overall. Oh, and getting wifi at the conference was easy, because Wichita has a free citywide mesh network.

After our presentation, I hopped back into my car and drove another 3 hours back to KC. By that time, I was exceedingly glad to be home.

I left Kansas City on a pleasant, sunny day and arrived to a haze of gloomy drizzle in Crystal City, VA. The weather matched my feelings about Computers in Libraries. I just wasn’t feeling excited about the conference–seeing my online librarian friends, yes, but not the actual conference.

I left DC on a warm, sunny, beautiful day and returned to a cold, rainy Kansas City. The weather again matched my heart: while I was happy to be going home to my family, I was sad to leave my conference friends and a great conference experience behind. Computers in Libraries 2008 was terrific from start to finish.

One big highlight: this was my first time presenting at a national conference. I honestly wasn’t nervous before the presentation, but afterwards I was completely drained. During the presentation? I was in a great place, like when you’re doing improv on stage and you feel yourself click with your fellow performers. In this case, my fellow presenters were Steve Lawson and Rikhei Harris, and I would happily, enthusiastically present with them again, any time, any where, on any topic. Our presentation was on the Library Society of the World and it was a glorious mess, complete with inside jokes, non sequiturs and Rickrolling. I had a great time in the presentation, and we seemed to make people laugh, so as far as I’m concerned, it was a success. I’m not objective enough to say more about it, so I’ll link to what other’s have said about it:

• LSW FTW from Kate at Loose Cannon Librarian
• CiL Day 1 from Rochelle at Tinfoil + Raccoon
• LSW goes public by Jenica at Attempting Elegance
• Computers in Libraries (CIL 2008) – My Brain is Full by Meredith at Information Wants to Be Free

I should also give props to the our co-presenters, Hannah, Laurie and Kate of Infodoodads. Not only were they game enough to not denounce us after our ramshackle presentation, they gave a good presentation of their own. And I personally find Infodoodads to be an extremely useful blog.

I attended some other really good sessions which have sparked all kinds of thoughts in my head. But I’m not going to expand on that now, because I think these thoughts warrant a blog post all of their own. Outside of the sessions, I had an outstanding time reconnecting with old friends (including a very old friend, someone I haven’t seen since we were both in elementary school), connecting with new friends, sharing, exploring, bonding with people. Any words I type will not do justice to how crucial the social aspects of these conferences are, but I’ll say this: just before I left to return home, I was on the verge of tears. I was so moved by the generosity of these people, so happy and honored to know them and spend time with them, and so heartbroken to leave them behind. If it weren’t for the fact that I can stay in contact with them through the magic of the intertubes, I’d be crushed.

Was there badness at the conference? Well, the wifi situation wasn’t great. But it was immensely better than the last two years at Internet Librarian, and after talking with some people from Information Today, I know that they really tried to make the wifi situation better. So, as frustrating as it often was to try to get and keep a wifi signal, I have no complaints for ITI.

For more on the conference, I recommend listening to the latest Uncontrolled Vocabulary podcast (and you should be listening to UV anyway, right?).