NYLA 2009: My first library conference!

This week I spent about a day, or two half-days, at the 2009 New York Library Association conference in Niagara Falls. The theme of the conference was "Libraries: Peace, Love & Freedom," and many of the vendors and NYLA division booths were decked with tie-dye, lava lamps, peace signs, and other hippie paraphernalia. There were also some sessions on intellectual freedom in libraries and other relevant issues, although I only made it to two panels due to time constraints. I must poke gentle fun at the theme, having lived a bit too long in Berkeley, but it was a colorful theme and I got a neat pair and a half of socks!



I volunteered at the iSchool booth when I first arrived, chatting with prospective students and alumni. I also attended two conference sessions. One was a panel of representatives from library schools around the state, talking about what's going on in their programs. Megan Oakleaf, my professor for 605, represented Syracuse and discussed the cooperative projects between students and libraries in IST 613, Library Planning, Marketing, & Assessment, which I'll be taking next semester. I'm glad I went to that, because it got me thinking about what I might do for my project. I also went to a session on Living History Through Social Networking, which discussed the use of social networking tools to teach information literacy. See the wiki here. I learned a lot about Twitter especially that I didn't already know, and now I have a better idea of how to use it both personally and professionally.

The best part of the conference was the SU reception for students, faculty, and alumni on Thursday night. Not just because of the wine! but also because I got to meet alumni and other students. As a distance student, it's easy to feel isolated from other people, so I really enjoyed interacting with people in person, and especially meeting students who began the program this fall on campus and are in roughly the same place that I am. It's also interesting to hear perspectives on how courses are taught in person vs. online.

It also occurred to me that conferences are like the gateway week in the summer (or maybe it's the other way around!) - you can get away from the distractions of daily life for a few days (and I've discovered as I go on how many distractions we distance students have, especially jobs, families, and kids) and dive head first into the exciting world of librarianship. It's really invigorating; as I did after IST 511, I came home full of ideas and enthusiasm for the path I'm headed down. I also discovered that sections of NYLA such as ASLS (academic and special libraries) have their own little conferences, and the ASLS is having theirs in my husband's hometown of Ithaca next June, so I have a lot more of these to look forward to!

IST 511, Day Four

So in an earlier post I briefly mentioned the potential conflict between intellectual freedom and my concerns as a parent. My daughter isn't even two yet, and aside from randomly grabbing books off the shelf when we're in the library and carrying them around because she does that with everything, she hasn't shown any interest in inappropriate materials. So I have a while before I worry about whatever content she might come across in her reading. But I am a moderately protective sort of parent and have certain values I would like to instill in my child and all that, so this is on the far horizon for me.

According to the ALA Code of Ethics, librarians are supposed to provide equitable access to all library users and safeguard their rights to privacy and confidentiality. There's nothing in the statement about minors. There's also no way the ALA can defrock or disbar you, and there will clearly be cases when the code of ethics will conflict with the interests of parents, the community, the library's own interests (what happens when the person who wants you to ban a book also controls your funding?), the law, and so on. At first the contrarian in me wants to rebel against this code, and it's not just because I'm a parent (because, let's face it, I was a contrarian before I was a parent). I am not, and I doubt any librarian really is, a librarian first and foremost with no other allegiances. We have other bonds, to our families, to other members of our community, to our local and national governments. We're each at the center of a unique web of obligations and have to figure out how to negotiate them for ourselves. Each of us holds our own unique middle ground, and nobody else can stand there with us. So I am glad the code of ethics is there, to provide the full force of its pull in the tug of war between intellectual freedom and whatever struggles against it. I hope I can always uphold it, and one reason I look forward to academic librarianship is that the university is the ideal environment for free inquiry and I'm proud to be a part of that pursuit.

This all plays into my fascination with first amendment issues. Until now I've mainly been interested in the religion clause, but it is interesting to see how intellectual freedom, the corollary to freedom of speech, plays out in the world of librarianship. Sometimes I get caught up in the debates, but for the most part I enjoy considering issues from all sides and chilling in the big gray areas.

On a lighter note, we also talked about professional organizations. In the past I've attended annual conferences for the American Philological Association (the other APA, the one that doesn't have a maddening citation style, not that I'm bitter) and the American Academy of Religion, both of which are small beans compared to the ALA, which has TWO annual conferences, plus various divisions with their own annual conferences, plus regional organizations with THEIR own annual conferences, plus other specialized organizations like the American Theological Library Association with THEIR own annual conferences. And everyone who goes to these conferences knows the point is to 1. present scholarship 2. get free stuff from vendors 3. drink and 4. hook up. Well, some of us are happily partnered and not interested in #4, but free stuff and drinking? Several times a year, in some of the country's most fabulous metropolitan areas? I'm there. Here are some librarians in my hometown at the 2007 ALA Midwinter conference.