Head Tale

I did daily posts
from CLA in 2006 when I ferried a van load of UWO students for that conference in Ottawa
from London.  Last year in Montreal, I was too busy being
a Ryan Meili fan boy to do CLA-related posts but I'm back with a
vengeance this year.  So let's recap the day in random order…



– up and out the
Westin's door to Stanley Milner central library just next door for a
tour this morning.  Realised that everyone else on the tour (except for
about half a dozen of us who had the same idea) are convening at the
Shaw Convention Centre then making their way here.  Luckily, I have my
Deputy Director's phone programmed into my cell so call her and pass
along a message not to wait for a bunch of people to show up there. 
(And slightly related – how soon until *everybody* in downtown urban
areas is walking around with their heads down, looking at smartphones,
and bumping into each other or walking in front of cars?)



– tour is
excellent.  I have this idea of a conceptual “best library ever” in my
head and although I don't know exactly what it looks like, I know that every
time I visit a new library – no matter how big or small – I add one or
two things to the list.  After the Milner tour, I added about a dozen!



– grab Korean for
lunch and bump into one of the librarians who wrote me the reference
letter that helped get me into library school.  I will love her forever
for this. 



– Also grab a
couple six packs of Alley Kat from Sunterra Market and this visit to
Edmonton is a lot like a trip down memory lane for me since I spent
three years in Calgary and was in Edmonchuk on pretty much a monthly
basis for staff meetings during that time.  (Time to do another “Five
Things I Learned At…” post since I don't think I've done WGA
yet.)   I *loved* Alley Kat when I worked in Calgary and conveniently,
the pub next door to where I worked, the Hop 'n' Brew, served only
microbrews and the best pizza in Calgary. 



– go to Social
Responsibility pre-conference for the afternoon and this will sound
weird but one thing I love about conferences is how dumb they make me
feel.  What I mean by that is there are so many great ideas and
perspectives flying around in any session that it's a bit intimidating
and a bit overwhelming in that there is so much to know and so little
time. 



– after that's
over, come back to have a beer in my hotel room (sadly, alone but
might've had more success if I remembered to include the CLA hashtag properly!) 



– go to opening
reception and I'm a bit more comfortable than I used to be as, every
year that passes, I get to know more and more people that come to these
things.  Funny looking back at those 2006 posts as we were all worked up
about the “entertainment” which was bad Elvis and Monroe
impersonators.  This year's was circus acts – mimes, clowns, jugglers,
stilt-walkers – and very entertaining.  One highlight is the juggler
doing his thing then having one of the librarians pull balls out of
their pocket and start juggling himself!  [Edit: On re-reading this, I should specify that this particular library carried *juggling* balls with him and did not pull any other type of balls out of his pocket! ) 



– meet an unnamed
recent UWO grad who says that students still love the list of the “three
A's of library school” I posted long ago (Semester One = Anxiety, Semester Two = Anger, Semester Three = Apathy) but have added a fourth – Alcoholism.  “I
didn't even drink when I started library school and now look at me!”
she said, holding up her half-empty glass of wine. 



– Leave reception
and wander about downtown looking for supper and of course it's not CLA
unless I get caught in a downpour, totally under-dressed and unprepared
for it – three for three, baby! 



– now just
hanging out in my room watching playoffs as they go into OT.  Go Hawks!