I just returned from the Internet Librarian Conference (and sunny Monterey, CA) yesterday, and my brain is definitely still trying to absorb new ideas, concepts, and nifty web tools. All the same, it’s safe to say that it was the best conference I’ve attended so far in my young library career. Luckily for those who couldn’t attend this year, there are numerous options for viewing content online (and my own extensive notes will follow after the cut).
First off, a lot of the slides are available on the Information Today site. Use IL2009 to get in.
Elise Brown, who I got to meet and chat with at the Searcher’s Academy pre-conference, was the official vlogger covering IL2009, and she took some cool video that you can check out via YouTube.
Some of the best moments of the conference were also covered live via UStream (and now available to watch at your convenience). Check out the keynote speakers, for sure. Vint Cerf, VP and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, was amazing (as was his interviewer, Paul Holdengraber). On day two, Paul Holdengraber (Director of Public Programs at the NYPL) had the tables turned on him and was in turn interviewed. My notes from both sessions are included below. One of my other favorite events was the Battle Decks, in which librarians have to try and create a cohesive presentation within a tough time limit and with slides they’ve never seen before. Some of the slides were crazy, but all the Battle Deck contestants did a great job, and many were hilarious!
For a more text-based approach, check out the bloggers who planned to write about their experiences via the Infotoday Blog. I know the Librarian In Black did quite a bit of blogging, many of which are excellent synopses of the sessions she attended.
Finally, for some pictures of the event, check out photos on Flickr tagged IL2009 (there are lots of them).
Some highlights and favorite ideas / quotes from throughout the conference:
The long wow: customer satisfaction is good, but what you really want is customer loyalty.
Use events networks like Eventful, Upcoming.org, Going.com, and Craigslist to create awareness of library events.
Let your users comment on any and every part of your site it is possible to comment on, even the director’s bio!
Put chat windows on your website where you know your patrons get frustrated.
Pandia Powersearch, an up-to-date directory of specialized search tools.
OneRiot: real-time social search engine, returns the websites people link to, not the individuals tweets, Diggs, etc.
“Even people who don’t use the web have figured out Facebook.” – Mary Ellen Bates
“Our culture is tending towards abstraction and brevity.” – Vint Cerf
Other IL posts: Index | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
Complete session notes are available in their own posts, separated by day. Days and sessions are indexed after the cut.
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Day 4 of the conference started with another great keynote: a panel of two high school students and one college student talking about how they view technology, education, and their own research habits. Some of my favorite sessions happened on the last day. I loved some of the comments that the teen panel made, particularly when the guy from high school said that in the future technology will make our leaves easier [and better], but ONLY if we use it in the right way. I got to attend my first Pecha Kucha session, too, which was neat (20 slides per presenter, 6 minutes and 40 seconds to present).
