Sunday, October 19, 2008

ILA Conference

I spent Wednesday through Friday at the Iowa Library Association conference in Dubuque. It was lots of fun, and very worthwhile.

My favorite day was Wednesday, which was pre-conference workshops, the grand opening of the vendor exhibits area, and the president's reception.

I took the Book Repair workshop, and I loved it. We learned to:
* fix the spine of a book with loose hinges
* repair a torn page
* make a pocket to store inserts (such as maps) in the back of the book
* "tip in" an extra page, like an errata sheet, or a page that has fallen out of the book
* sew a pamphlet into a permanent binding
* replace a torn spine on a book

I really enjoyed the hands-on work. It felt more like scrapbooking and paper crafts than like library and information science. And even though I really like the challenge of digital library applications, actually handling and working with books made a nice change of pace.

But as much as I liked the hands-on work, I also liked the opportunity it gave to talk with people. Working side-by-side with someone allows conversations to grow in way that isn't as likely during lecture-type sessions or designated social time.

Most people in the workshop were either public librarians, or school librarians. Lots of chit-chat gave me a perspective that's different from the academic libraries that we tend to focus on in classes.

I talked with two different male teacher-librarians, one middle school and one high school, and they both told me how great working in school libraries is, and encouraged me to consider it when I graduate. Well, it's not my "plan A", but it's worth considering. And it was interesting hearing their perspectives.

But the most interesting person I talked to was a retired librarian from Mount Mercy. She heard me telling one of the teacher-librarians about being a digital library fellow, and wanted to know what that means. So I told her about Iowa Sounds. She thought it sounded like a great project.

And then she told me about how she and her husband recently digitized their personal LP collection. They used essentially the same set-up I'm working with -- turntable connected to computer with Audacity software -- and did exactly what I'm doing -- recording sides, splitting into tracks, then compressing to mp3 files.

And then, they transferred all their mp3 files to their iPods, so they can take all their music with them wherever they go. They play their iPods through their car stereo.

It was cool hearing about somebody who has actually done what I'm learning to do. It was helpful that she told me Audacity is a free download software -- it means I can plan on using it after I graduate from SLIS, no matter where I end up. And it was REALLY cool hearing a traditional-looking 70-something woman talk about listening to her music on her iPod!

Who says that digital is the province of the young?

It's late, and I need to head to bed. I'll write more about the conference another day.

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