by Another late conference post. I recently attended and presented at Computers in Libraries. It was another great conference (despite the fact that my laptop died while I was there). Mobile was one of the hot topics – so hot in fact, that I didn’t get to one of the sessions because the room was so packed. I’m particularly interested in hearing about what people are saying about mobile as OLITA’s Digital Odyssey theme is Going Mobile (June 11 at Ryerson). There were also great sessions on ebooks, infolit and too many others to remember. There was so much good stuff that at one point, I wanted to attend 4 out of the 5 sessions in one time slot. There were great conversations, in the lobby and in via twitter. One of the more interesting conversations I had with people (virtual and real) revolved around gen X leaders. While I have my own issues with stereotyping generations, there does seem to be a trend where people around my age aren’t stepping into the management roles. We’ve got lots of great leaders but people seem to be shunning management in a lot of cases and I haven’t pinned down why exactly. I’m a full believer that leadership and management aren’t necessarily exclusive, but what will this apparent apprehension to take leadership roles mean for the future of librarianship?
So, one conference down, four more to go (and a bunch of others I wish I was going to, like LOEX and STHLE). Up next week is a talk at the Ontario Association of Library Technicians conference. I teach a distance course for Library Techs and I’m looking forward to seeing them and their conference. Then, we’re hosting WILU at Mac May 12-14. This will be followed by the CACAL great debate at CLA in June and finally OLITA’s Digital Odyssey which I’ve been planning. Then vacation – I’ll need a rest after all of this!
