A Wandering Eyre

Recieved in email from Mr. Rochester in regards to those who say, “But we have always done it that way.” : Hello, off to green pastures you go, Dinosaur.

Now you know why I love that man.

–Jane, the grass is always greener

I am back at work today, but I still have a Top 10 Trend post to write up for litablog and for this space. I promise to try to get those done today. Really, I have to finish them so I can get to work on a few other things that I have put off until after ALA, namely updating an article for submission and developing a training on Blogs etc. for other librarians at MPOW.

So until then, here is a nifty article on a new toy from Google. Do these people ever sleep?

–Jane, happy to sleep in her own bed last night

My Aunt S lives near Milwaukee, so she came down to Chicago to have dinner with me on Monday evening. I have not seen her for about three years so we had quite a bit of catching up to do. We started out at the House of Blues Hotel bar. If you can picture Arabian Nights meets Victorian brocade with the random Egyptian statue thrown in, you will get a sense of the feel of the bar. It was dark, cool, and we sat at the marble topped bar. I had cosmos with just the right amount of pink. Aunt S had vodka martinis, Grey Goose, dry, with two olives.

After three rounds, we left the bar and headed north on State St. in search of dinner. We had no particular destination, though we came to the conclusion that sushi would suit us both. By some beautiful mystery of the cosmos, we stumbled upon Jin’s Chinese and Sushi House. We ordered five different rolls and hot sake. If you are in Chicago and want some reasonable sushi, I would highly recommend Jin’s. The tuna literally melted on my tongue. Those little spheres of perfection are going to be in my memory for quite awhile.

After dinner, we wanted a few more drinks to top off our night. We walked towards Michigan Ave. and headed south. It is mostly stores in that area and we were becoming despondent of finding a good bar when Aunt S remembered a famous little place in Chicago. Underneath Wabash, the Tribune Tower, and the old Chicago Sun Times building there is a little bar in the bowels of the city called Billy Goat Tavern. I am positive that it has been there forever and Chicago was built around it. We had a great barkeep who kept us in perfectly mixed drinks.

At about 1 am, it was time to call it a night. We weaved home happy. We talked about everything and I could not have enjoyed the company more.

–Jane, loved Chicago

I have quite a few things to say about last night. The most important is that I should know better than to drink wine on an empty stomach, but I rarely learn. Rarely, as in never. The blogger get together was the best thing I went to all conference. It seemed like everyone who has a library blog was there. I was a bit star struck. It was like watching my blogroll walking around in the flesh.

Everyone was about what I expected and I think I managed not to scare off anyone…except Michael Stephens. Karen Schneider was about to leave with him and so I ran up to him and said “Hey, My name is “Jane” and I have really been wanting to meet you. I read your blog everyday….” And he was like, “ok”… and I had nothing else to say. I just looked at him. My mind was totally blank. Also had him cornered and he had no escape. I ran away. Seriously, Michael, I am not crazy, I just forgot how to form coherent words. I usually have no lack of wordage to throw at people.

All in all, it was a fabby party. I was able to meet some people I respect very much and who do great things for libraries. I even got to talk with Jessamyn West who was my gateway blog into the LIS Blogshere.

I have some summaries of yesterday’s LITA programs, but they need some work. I will try to get those up sometime today.

–Jane, had a REALLY great time last night…. her head hurts

I have two things to say: free wine and OCLC. I just tried to post more stuff but It’s All Good (rocks my socks) should do until I am sober enough to gush about all the blog celebreties I met tonight.

–Jane, is tired and needs some rest

After the very fine Mayor Daley spoke to the thousands of assembled librarians (and boy do I want a mayor like Daley), Barack Obama graced us with his very commanding presence. I would be lying if I told you that I was not star struck by this man. This is a man who believes that words are power. That they have the ability to change a person into an educated, contributing part of the community. He knows that the reason that some people in government, including ours, are afraid of words is because they have power. Power for good. Power for evil. Power to move people beyond words, to make us laugh, cry, and to create social movements.

Obama talked some about his faith. He stressed that faith and intellectual endeavors should have not contradict each other. He said, “Our faith in not a contradiction of fact”. Amen! In a world of dichotomies, we do not have to square off reason and faith. We can believe in our faith and believe in evolution.

The recent attacks on privacy, via the USA Patriot Act came up, and the Senator made a point of saying that we can be safe against terrorism without trodding upon the rights of our people. We can do both. They are not exclusive of one another.

My favorite Barack Obama quote of the night:
Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible.
It is important to teach our children to read, to support our libraries, and to protect the rights of people in a free democracy to read as they choose.

–Jane, reads without Big Brother

I have quite a few things to say about Chicago, not the least is that I think I am in love with this city. On a whim, after greasy hamburgers and a couple pints at J. Randolph’s Bar and Grill, we stopped into the Tribune Towers last night. If you have not stepped inside this beautiful building yet, it is a must. The walls inside are covered with famous quotes about the freedom of the press and freedom in democracies. On the outside of the building, there are stones inlaid randomly from all over the world. Cool beyond words.

–Jane, freedom is being able to disagree

One of my meetings got cancelled this afternoon, so I hopped in a cab and went for a late lunch at Renaldi’s. I had the New York style pizza with sausage and cheese. Wonderful. It was everything Leo said it would be. It seems like everywhere I look there are librarians galore. I am going to head on up to McCormick shortly to see Obama speak. I will go laptopless because I realized that I get free wifi in my hotel. That really made my day.

A close runner up was chatting with a couple guys at the Better World Books booth. They were so nice that they let me bore them with blog talk for about 10 minutes.

–Jane, spreadin’ the word of blog

I got into Chicago and after a long hot cab ride, being dropped off at the wrong hotel, and having to trek 7 blocks to the right one; I finally reached my destination. Walking around Chicago has reminded me that I live in a really ugly city. I am a native Houstonian and I love my city, but it is not easy on the eyes.

I had my first Chicago style pizza last night, not Rinaldi’s, but still great. I also dropped by LITA Happy Hour and rubbed elbows with some people that I respect and look up to. Colby Riggs bequeathed me with a glowing LITA necklace, I met some other LITA bloggers, and finally met Karen Schneider. It is always fun to meet people you have only encountered online. I was struck by how friendly and fun LITA people are in general.

At the moment, I am sitting in Searching Digital Resources: Designing Usability Into Digital Interfaces with Frank Cervone, Steve DiDomenico, Jeannette Moss, Stephen Abram, and Mike Visser. So far, the Northwestern folks have been discussing the extensive usability testing they did before restructuring their site. Usability testing has always seemed like something everyone should do before embarking on a new site design, but there are obvious things that get left behind. Libraries spend a lot of time creating new websites and then forget that in five years we may have to redesign again. We can become so attached to the beautiful website we spent so much time designing, that we refuse to see its problems.

I think usability testing should be an ongoing process. We should be able to tweak and update our web presence continually, not just when it becomes a major issue. By always looking for new ways to improve our web sites, we would be better serving the needs of the people that use the site.

Frank Cervone - “People want our catalog to work like Google” – There are other tools that work better than our catalogs and they will go and use them instead of our tools because the other tools work. AMEN! There is so much animosity towards Google, *ahem* Michael Gorman *cough*, but it is not their fault that their product works. Librarians need to suck up our pride and admit that Google has a search engine that often works better and is more user friendly than our catalogs. The truth hurts, but life goes on.

–Jane, give the users what they want for Pete’s sake

I have a layover in Dallas for about an hour and then it is off, finally, to Chicago. I am looking forward to quite a few things, not the least of which is meeting some people whose blogs I have been reading. I hope I do not end up acting like a crazy person after running around for three days, but I will, I know. I will be posting a bit for the litablog and I will be posting here as well.

Since ACRL, I have learned that I tend to run at mouth a bit about sessions, so I will try to keep it short and sweet. Wouldn’t want to bore anyone. I know that ALA is a great networking opportunity, though the new things you can learn are nothing to be snuffed at either. I think what I will appreciate the most is conversing with others who share my views of technology. I will like being in an environment where the sky CAN be the limit, where every move is not questioned by a committee, and where our patrons are served in big ways. I am an idealist, but if you have not figured that out by now, you have not been doing any critical reading.

Alright. Back to my book and the company I found on my flight from Houston to Dallas, a friendly librarian from MPOW who happens to be on my flight. Good times.

–Jane, on the road again