ALA 2009: Meet vs. Tweet

My colleague Rebecca Miller was unable to travel to the American Library Association (ALA) conference last month in Chicago. Instead, she attended an alternate conference, following the tag #ala2009 on Twitter and culling the “Top Tweets” for LJ at www.libraryjournal.com/ala2009. It was no mean feat—there were over 5000 tweets marked #ala2009. She called it a Twitter-fest, where “participants created their own…conference on the fly, exchanging news, insights, and sensations around the clock.”

While she trolled for tweets, I traversed the exhibits and meeting rooms at McCormick Place and traveled the streets of Chicago from hotel to hotel. Can Twitter be a substitute for a conference? Of course not. But by following Twitter, Rebecca added another dimension to our online coverage, capturing individual reactions beyond our episodic reporting.

Tweeting is only one way that conferences—and conference coverage—is changing. Those LJers at the show (and our School Library Journal siblings) posted stories, blogged, and tweeted. We also talk, talk, talked to librarians of every type and in every corner of the field, to vendors of every ilk, and to organization and association honchos and staffers. Like most of the tweeters, I'd rather be at the conference than just read about it. Nevertheless, in this issue of LJ, we give you our overall take on the meeting, in words and pictures—a condensed version of what we saw and heard and wrote.

While the reasons to attend are myriad, some of the tweets characterized my—and probably others'—feelings pretty well, shedding light on why we go to conferences and what we experience. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Someone told me 80% of learning happens in the hall- ways. I wanted ala2009's slogan to be “more hallways than any other conference.”
• Scheduled events become less and less important with each conference. Talking with people is where it's at.
• Far fewer computers in this meeting than normal, but also far more iPhones.
• Best ALA session ever was “Libraries and Obama's Information Policy,” which will be on blip.tv at some point.
• Going from the “war on sex” to Christie Hefner makes me realize I have very conflicted views on Playboy. [Hefner was the speaker at the Opening General Session.]
• Omg. My library and my college are SO FAR behind! Can't wait to get back.
• Life Beyond 2.0.... It is standing room only and crap cell phone access.
• If you want to innovate like DOK, you have to hire innovators. [Referring to the Dutch library whose three traveling librarians were on several programs and were named 2009 LJ Movers & Shakers.]
• So far it seems more like tech worries than tech trends. [On the Top Tech Trends program.]
• Bookmobile parade!
• Chewing off my own leg wouldn't really get me out of this dreadful session, but it might be a suitable protest.
• Leslie Burger suggest[s] possibility of boycotting ALA conferences to effect change. “Nobody twit that.”

That last comment quoting a former ALA president might be a personal favorite. Or this: Wish we could bottle and save the conference high. Am so energized and inspired....

Despite the crappy economy, the inability of many libraries to fund travel, and the need to contend with looming budget cuts, innumerable librarians dipped into their own meager coffers to attend ALA. Some were only day-trippers, possible when the convention city is Chicago, within driving distance for many. Others came and stayed. All contributed to the record-breaking attendance and vibrancy. As much as technology enables us to confer virtually, face-to-face encounters still have the power to draw us.