Head Tale

If you're an OLA member, you might have received a copy of the 2007 SuperConference program in the mail today.  If not, FIMS alum, Jennifer Cyr (aka Canuck Librarian) has a link to the conference program on her blog as well as some thoughts (Jen's on the conference planning committee.)

I was able to attend for a day and a half last year and it was a great experience that I'd highly recommend to anybody.  This year's line-up looks great too.  The keynote speaker is Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing, the world's most popular blog, and that's worth the price of admission right there.  (He's also an award-winning  science fiction author, a copyright activist and he happens to be Canadian to boot.)  Beyond the keynote, there are always a lot of excellent sessions on all manner of library-related topics.  Plus Jen mentions a FIMS reception which sounds like a great event too.

Last year, I took in the annual “Top Tech Trends” panel, a presentation by Michael Stephens on “the blog people” and a presentation on a major cross-Canada study of children's reading habits.  I got to meet a whackload of people (including Jen), bumped into a bunch of people I knew from Saskatchewan and ended up hanging out with a mix of conference organizers, FIMS alumni and Saskies after a big party they had at the close of the day I was there. 

Vendor relations is on the schedule for Winter semester and I know that last year, that class did a day trip in to take in the conference trade show.  You get a reduced price to attend as a student but another option many FIMS students took advantage of was volunteering which gave them free admission to the conference (only on the day they volunteered I think but still enough to get into at least a session or two.  I may be mistaken on what volunteering gets you.)

Someone asked me at the FIMS mixer if it was worth attending and if I haven't made it clear, I really think it is.  One piece of advice – don't be afraid to just start talking to random strangers if you go.  The conference will only be as useful as you make it but I think you get as much, if not more, from the chance to meet people as from the sessions.