Your ALA Conference & You!

Because it's all about you!  Saw this in the FB feed this morning and thought I'd share:

Two Days to GO!!!

I can't believe it's almost time to go to ALA!  What a trip it's been to work on this blog, get funding to go the conference, and now work as a stringer for American Libraries!  Feeling very lucky and very grateful to all the folks who helped make it happen.  Hope to see many of you in Las Vegas, but if you can't make it please subscribe to the UStream feed and keep up-to-date with activities from the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center. I'll also be blogging here, tweeting, and facebooking.

I think ALA.org is also doing some broadcasting, but they've been a little opaque about where and when they are doing this.  When I can't go to conferences I still love watching live-feeds or reading live-blogs about them, and hope those of you who keep up with Zen and Loaning will get as much enjoyment out of viewing it as much as I will in producing it for you.

Exhibitor Interactive Map

Have you seen this?  Oh my gosh, this is going to be make navigating the swag - I mean, exhibitor booths - so much easier!  

Email Roundup for Monday, June 9, 2014

Getting a lot more notices from the various roundtables I subscribe to, including New Member Round Table (which, if you haven't joined, has been priceless in terms of information for newbies like myself).  ALA 2014 is the big topic of conversation here, so I'm going to start summarizing the notices I get regarding the round tables and their offerings for the conference:

Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) posted their schedule of meetings at ALA 2014

New Members Round Table sent out a notice that ANMIG will have a chat forum on navigating ALA 2014 on June 16th from 2-3pm EST.  Please be mindful that you need to be registered for both ALA Connect and the ANMIG (ALCTS New Member Interest Group, in case you were wondering) in order to participate.

OIF blog reports that there will be a Banned Books Week booth at ALA 2014 where you can read from your favorite banned book (BYOB is suggested) on either Saturday or Sunday from 9-5pm, which will be recorded and then put on the official Banned Books Week YouTube Channel and provides a link where you can beat the rush and register for this project early.  I plan on reading from The Catcher in the Rye, one of my favorite coming-of-age books in the whole world.

ASCLA is supporting some Exclusive and Valuable Programs at ALA 2014 which you can view here.

UPDATE:  ACRL has two newb sessions:

ACRL 101 - June 17

Start Time:          06/17/2014 12:00 PM Central

Duration:             01:00 hour

URL:       http://ala.adobeconnect.com/r8f49xp8f2y/

Access: Anyone who has the URL for the meeting can enter the room

Passcode Protection:     No

ACRL 101 - June 19          

Start Time:          05/19/2014 12:00 PM Central

Duration:             01:00 hour

URL:       http://ala.adobeconnect.com/r8mk979vse5/

Access: Anyone who has the URL for the meeting can enter the room

Passcode Protection:     No

Your Unofficial Guide to Fun at #alaac14

This might be considered a don't...

Haha, actually it's an article on INALJ today entitled, "Your Unofficial Guide to Socializing at the ALA Annual Conference 2014."  But "socializing" equals fun, right?  It's a great list of every social function on the ALA Schedule, where and when it's happening.  Check it out - I know which functions I'll be attending, how about you?

Also, this article also links to a handy-dandy do's and don'ts guide for ALA specifically geared for #alaac14. I was planning on walking around in my bathing suit the whole time, but the guide suggests that I do bring a sweater!  And don't forget to keep rockin' out!

One last thing, the do's guide suggests that if you Tweet you can meet your followers, but also don't forget to use #alaac14 so people can find you!

New Member Round Table's Mentoring Program for First-time ALA Attendees

Some will inevitably need a hand to hold - or an arm to hold you up, in the case of an after-party, but there is a way to have that presence should you find yourself alone and agog at ALA 2014.  The New Member Round Table has a Conference Mentoring Program, and I think this could be a real winner for those who are going to ALA for the first time and specifically want to network.

Here is more of the information from the email I got earlier today:

The NMRT Mentoring Committee will pair up "newbie conference attendees" with "seasoned vets" as part of our Conference Mentoring program. As a ground rule you must be attending the conference for at least 3 days; and it is recommended you plan to attend the mentoring social Friday June 27th from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm at Caesar’s Palace hotel in the Sorrento room. You should plan to meet with each other two  times during the conference.  Membership in ALA is required, and NMRT membership is encouraged.
Applications are due June 6 with the goal of notifying the matching pairs by the week of June 16. For further information and to apply, visit:
http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/mentoringcommittee

Hope this helps someone out there!

ALA Pinterest boards.

ALA is in Vegas! is the name of the Pinterest board where my first blog post for American Libraries has been linked!  Hooray!

Transportation options for Vegas during #alaac14

So, you're in Las Vegas, Sin City, the land of the bright lights, and other names I could make up for this bustling town - now what?  Transportation is going to be a big question for a lot of folks so here is a handy guide to links and resources for getting to and from and around the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Vegas dot com has a lot of information about getting around Las Vegas, and I just love Trip Advisor because they seem to have good reviewers and lot of excellent tips (if you're a Yelp-er, as well, there's also that!  I especially enjoyed the Yelp reviews about The Deuce, as pictured above, and I'll have to save the discussion thread entitled, "why does everyone hate the monorail?").

Trip Advisor also has a lot of great information about the RTC bus system in town and I'm planning on getting the 30-day pass and doing most of my traveling via bus as I have to shuttle a little further than most folks.

So, what about the monorail?  And why does everyone hate it?  Seems to be that it is only used by tourists and convention goers, which makes sense as the main action is on the Strip, right? ALA Annual Conference Attendees get reduced rates here.

Should also add a link to an article about the shuttle system that runs behind the strip, so if you're decidedly anti-capitalist about the monorail, even with the ALA-subsidized prices, this might just be the option for you although the map they have posted looks a little limited.  Still, it seems like a cool, tourist-y thing to do!

I'll update if I come across any other cheap and/or interesting transportation options in Las Vegas, but in the meantime - did I miss anything?

NOTE:  Thanks to commenter Mary, who reminded me that there is a page on the ALA website that gives you all the transportation information, including how to get the reduced price tickets (there is no promo code, just click through to get the reduced price)

One month to go! #alaac14

Okay, let's try this again - I just deleted the first post, so now I have to rewrite the whole darn thing - how do I manage to do these things?  It is a mystery.  The Google Hangout last night went well, if not a little disorganized on my part, and I definitely learned what NOT to do with hangouts, like try to pause the broadcast, which essentially ended the scheduled one I had been advertising for about a week.  So I had to create another hangout on the fly, got the time wrong, and started later than intended.  I'm sure I lost a lot of potential views because of that, but all I can do is try again with another hangout.  I think what I will do is synthesize the information that folks generously gave during this last one and then present the information at the next one.  Or I'll just post it on the blog.

Hey, and a big shout-out to those who attended and generously supplied their time and expertise to the topic of attending a huge conference like #alaac14.   I am truly appreciative of the people involved in building community online and in person, and it encourages me to keep on keeping on.

Will have to post on some of the activities outside of the scheduled events.

Google Hangout May 26th from 9-10pm EST

I decided to do an online Google Hangout this coming Monday to get together with folks who are old and new to ALA conferences (or any conferences) to come hangout and talk about strategies for navigating such a huge event.  I've never done one of these Google Hangouts online so it'll be interesting.  Come join me!

Woo-Hoo! I'm a stringer!

Just got the first email from George Eberhart to the people chosen to be stringers for ALA 2014.  While it looks like live-blogging might be a problem because the wifi might be poor (or nonexistent), I now know how to submit blog posts to ALA Direct's blog, The Scoop, where we'll be posting all the news and views of ALA in Las Vegas.  Really looking forward to it!  I'm hoping to still do a lot of photos and short video interviews with attendees, as well as longer, U-Streamed, events like the ALA Think Tank's pub crawl on Thursday night.  I'll work with the limitations and do the best I can!

Love/hate the ALA 2014 Scheduler

I saw the handy-looking scheduler on the ALA Facebook page and they weren't kidding when they said "over-schedule!"  Case in point:

Interactive Exhibitors Map for ALA 2014

This interactive map of all the exhibitors at ALA 2014 is a great find!  I was able to find the ALA Games and Gaming Round Table area which I'm looking forward to visiting.

Exhibits (a.k.a. Swag Central)

Totally going to blog the ribbon cutting and opening ceremonies for the ALA Exhibit hall, taking place from 5:30pm to 7:30pm on Friday.  Not only because it is a massive exhibit experience, but also because there is going to be SO MUCH LOOT!  And probably tote bags and t-shirts, I hope!

My card...

Just realized imma have to bring lots of business cards with me to ALA!

Right? That's what I should do?  I'm feeling kind of clueless about what to bring/do/be while in Vegas.  

So, keep up to date with the blog because I'll be doing a google hangout with a couple of nice chaps from ALAAT (the acronym remains a mystery!) and other seasoned ALA Annual attendees.