So wait...BEA is over!?

You guys, has it *really* been 3 months since the awesome BEA conference!? My how time flies!
As I go through catalogs for collection development at my library I am starting to see ALL the books that got ALL the buzz at the conference! And I feel like I earned SUPER cool points by adding them to our various collection lists BEFORE they were hot in the catalogs! Score!

So with BEA behind us, and another one on the horizon...how many months away is it....9...oh yeah, it'll be here before we know it, I bid adieu to all of you!

It's been a wonderful journey blogging on a professional level for BEA and having the opportunity to attend one of THE most awesome conferences in libraryland!

Thank you all for reading, commenting, and being all around awesome followers of the blog! I hope that you all got out of it as much as I was able to put into it!

I'd love to keep in touch and can be found around the Interwebs, favoring the ever popular Twitter social media site!

Hope to chat with you soon!

Thank you all so much for an amazing opportunity!

BEA Book & Author Breakfasts!

I was able to attend both the Adult and Children’s Book & Author breakfasts offered during the conference – that being said, as Rick Riordan said - the term “breakfast” is used rather loosely considering it consists of a pitcher of OJ and pot of coffee and one bowl of bagels and muffins to be divvied up amongst 10 people per table – and that’s just the people who had tables – there was also chairs set up in rows in the back in order to open the session up to more people (who can, coincidentally just bring their own bagel and coffee or juice and enjoy it just the same) – but the “breakfast” aside, because really, who is going to be able to focus on food at an event that is chock full of awesome authors including Mary Pope Osborne, Veronica Roth, Wally Lamb, Octavia Spencer and Chelsea Handler anyway right! 

The event started out with the Emcee’s giving a brief welcome note (or in Chelsea Handler’s case, a comedy sketch) which was chock full of awesome and sang the praises of the authors and their works (both past published and pre-pub titles), and was followed by 3 authors (how they picked these authors out is beyond me because EVERYONE was amazing). Then each author came up and gave a talk about their background, writing process, the whole experience of being such  well-known and respected authors, and in some cases, they mentioned the their latest book. 

Veronica Roth gave an outstanding speech about how humility is freedom when it comes to writing. And Wally Lamb stated that us (librarians, booksellers, bloggers) are the electricity connecting the reader and the author to one another.  

 Heartfelt stuff you guys! 

Definitely worth the extra cost if you are able to swing it!

BEA 2013 aka GET ALL THE FREE BOOKS...not really...read on :)

As I mentioned in my previous post – the whole ‘GET ALL THE (FREE PRE-PUB) BOOKS’ was so NOT the angle I took in attending this conference. I was in it for the panels, the knowledge and to fill up our order cart when I got back to work from all those buzz panel titles mentioned, and to implement ALL the awesome social media tactics I picked up in various sessions - among other things! Meeting librarians I had spoken to only online (say HI Twitter friends!) was a TOTAL perk for me! 

However each morning when I walked in I saw a line of people snaked around the lobby, people sitting with their coffee and copy of Publishers Weekly, at 7:45am, waiting for the Exhibit Hall to open at 9AM. And to their credit, there was MUCH MORE to the Exhibit Hall than the free books – AMAZING NY Times bestselling authors were doing in-booth signings of their latest (and to be released) books, there were 3 feature stages which hosted various sessions for editors, publishers, authors, and even celebrities! Autographing tables were set up to host hour long sessions for fans of their favorite books.  So yes, waiting in line = AWESOME. 

And you know what you guys – the first time I stepped foot in the exhibit hall I was SO overwhelmed. ALL the people, the big fluorescent lights, the HUGE signs (thank goodness for the signs), the BOOKS, the random running into Grumpy Cat and various celebrity authors as I perused the booths – and OH THE AMAZING of it all. Seriously I had to stop a minute and look at my agenda and see who was where when and WHY was I there again and, oh yeah, did I mention this was like a surreal experience!? 

Never have I seen such dedicated readers, librarians, booksellers, bloggers, and everyone gathered together in celebration of the book! Truly amazing! 

So yeah, totally NOT a GET ALL THE BOOKS conference – although bonus if you snagged some good ARCs and are promoting them on your blog, giving them away at your summer reading programs etc!!! 

Plus - if you missed some of the events being held in the exhibit hall, you can view the videos of author interviews and buzz panel presentations here! 

BEA leaves me breathless!

I know erotica is like ALL THE RAGE now but c'mon you guys, get your minds outta the gutter because .... just read ....

Please ‘scuse me while I catch my breath …. BEA was last week and after the catch up at work, I’m FINALLY able to fill you all in about ALL THE AWESOME that BEA had to offer.

I’m telling you guys, if you’ve not gotten the chance to go before, it is definitely worth the conversation with your library director or supervisor to  try to carve out a wee bit from the budget to attend because let me tell you – IT IS WORTH IT – and I’m not talking GET ALL THE ARCs worth it (that’s another post and also – gasp – NOT the angle I was going for when I got into this gig to begin with), I’m talking, expand your knowledge base, learn how to promote your library, meet amazing people in the industry, get a first peek at upcoming titles, really feel the LOVE for LIBRARIANS and libraries – WORTH IT.

At first I was a little discouraged that ALL the people were there to snag ALL THE ARCs – but then I saw the STANDING ROOM ONLY panel sessions and my theory was quickly squashed because you guys – these sessions were not your typical run of the mill – gather librarians for a panel – session – these sessions included presenters from the BIG 6 publishers, Twitter, ALA, and then some! Like TOP NOTCH people folks! Like, you have a question, you ask it DIRECTLY to the publisher or editor on the panel – AND you GET AN ANSWER! Talk about exhilarating! 

In addition to the panel sessions, I was fortunate enough to attend a couple of the Books & Authors breakfasts (more on that love in a separate post), as well as wonder the Exhibit Hall and run into a certain celebrity chef or two – ahem Giada & Anne Burrell.

But more on the intricacies of the conference later – I’ll just tell you all – PLEASE, do all you can to score yourself a ticket to this conference – I’m cannot emphasize enough how amazing it is and how exhilarating and inspiring it is for us librarians!

Follow along over the next few posts as I take you through MY journey at BEA 2013!

Your very own Personal Learning Network

So with all of these social networks out there, you’re bound to hear the phrase Personal Learning Network. And maybe at first glance you think, “wait, ANOTHER network I need to join?”  - but no, this isn’t its own website like Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn – this is a group of people who help you on a professional level to learn various things. And in my experience, a majority of the interactions are online via social media sites. Although it’s a bonus if you get some face to face interaction!  

So how can YOU get yourself a Personal Learning Network? 

Get out there! Sign up for a Twitter account (it took me months to finally relent and stop thinking it was silly and who wanted to hear what I had to say!? ), create a Facebook page, and most importantly, INTERACT on them – the interaction is the key element to maintaining your PLN. 

But HOW do you do it? How do you manage the time to be on these sites and establish a relationship with fellow professionals? 

Well…there are several different ways to go about it – you can dedicate an hour or so to it each day – after all it *can* be considered work related since you *are* building your network professionally. Or, you could concentrate on it on your off hours at home. Whatever you do – if you create an account, and you realize that you can’t spend the time necessary to get out of it what you want, don’t be afraid to delete that account and try something else that you can handle and maintain – in my opinion there’s nothing worse than finding someone on Twitter to discover that their last tweet was 3 months ago – I mean really – why bother.

Once you’re online, work on creating a reputation for yourself – follow others – post articles relevant to your industry, and join in on chats (twitter is famous for their various chats, varying from readers advisory to author chats in the library field). And most of all – have FUN – you never know who you will meet and who you will teach and learn from! 

Here is a great article that goes a bit more into depth about PLNs if you want to take a peek

And this article talks about social media in schools - which is another spin on the PLN

It's all about the trends

I recently read this article http://bit.ly/WaFjxh , and it got me to thinking – is your library a trendsetter or a trend follower?

As it is in libraryland, things tend to change in the blink of an eye – new devices are constantly being rolled out, software is being updated, eBooks and publishing houses are changing terms hither and thither, and then there are our patrons wanting to learn the latest and greatest of EVERYTHING. 

And what are libraries to do but … 

Keep up …

Right? 

And how DO you do it? How do you make sure that your staff is aware of ALL the new things going on relevant to libraries?

Do you have an Emerging Technologies committee who work together to keep an eye out for the trends?

Do you have a sole digital initiatives librarian who works to implement things BEFORE they are hot – in essence, a trend SETTER? 

Or do you just follow along as best you as you can and jump on the bandwagon when you start seeing things like maker spaces, technology fairs, new iPad Mini and Kindle HD+ pop up online and in libraries? 

I think that the core of all of these trends should be YOUR patrons … every library has their own community of patrons – weather you’re in an urban library where your branches are mere blocks apart, or a more rural library where each town is its own system.  

I think that libraries need to really analyze THEIR patrons – throw some surveys up their websites, run some stats in your ILS – let the PATRONS tell you what THEY want. Don’t necessarily fall in line with the trends just because they’re hot -  because as soon as they’re hot … they’re …. Not. 

How do you handle the hustle and bustle of the new and emerging technologies in the library field?