Green Bags and Nametags

How can I describe the past few days?

I'll simplify it for you in two words.

Mass hysteria.

So, there's this thing called "Grad School". And, there's this other thing that comes along with it called "homework". Usually the homework involves reading something and writing something. This past assignment was a little bigger than that. A lot bigger than that. A demographic study of the patrons in our community. And, since we're a system with numerous locations meaning anyone from anywhere in the county could go to any library, I did a study on the county. Included statistics on age, gender, education, race/ethnicity and financial demographics. Then put it all together in a powerpoint.

And I have to say, I used to hate Microsoft Word 2010. I was not a believer. I was so used to 2003 and 2007 on Kate, that when I installed 2010 on Ziva I completely avoided it like the plague. The shortcuts are different, buttons are in different places, it just looks like a mess, I didn't understand any of the new features, etc. Now? It freaking rocks. Dude, have you checked out any of their graphics or clip art selection? How about the awesome SmartArt that gives you designs and you fill in the information? Plus, with building pie charts and bar graphs comes along Excel and all you have to do is plug in the numbers and it links the documents together. It's fantastic!

I'm now a believer. So, if nothing else comes from this project, at least I'll have that. "We'll always have demographics," I'll say, raising a toast and closing the lid.

I've spent every free moment I've had working on that project for the past three days. And spare moments in the days before that. And now, it's done! And posted as of last night! And I felt like celebrating! And you know how I celebrated that today? I went to a conference!

The NLA conference to be exact. Oh my god, the nerd convention, I freaking loved every minute of it. I freely admit that I'm a nerd. I've learned to just go with it. But being in a place filled with other fellow nerds? We like freaking took over the whole building.

Sessions on Web Reference tools, Digital Humanities, Turning your library around circulation and public-wise, learning about the scholarships available for the MLS program, going to a panel discussion on life during and after MLS. Which is me! And those are just the programs I attended, there were like 6 options for every hour session.

And OH MY GOD, I saw so many freaking classmates it was ridiculous. Granted it is a library convention, but still. Everywhere I went. Frankie, Kathryn, Linnea, Sherm, Angela, plus professors and the Library Goddess who is always ever present in times of library craziness and shenanigans.

Speaking of shenanigans, I wonder how Battledecks is going? Remember how we're nerds? Well, after they opened the bar, tonight's entertainment was basically these people go up and have to present the future of the library on the basis of a powerpoint they've never seen before. They literally have to think on their feet as soon as the slide is shown. Sounds awesome, but again, I'm a nerd.

Even more of a nerd that I came home to crash and burn instead. The demographic study has stolen more than few hours of sleep from me so I don't know how much longer I can be online. I will give you the highlights before I konk out.

There are some seriously funny librarians out there. I know some of you probably think of us as the mean old ladies with the glasses who sh! people and then glare when you don't shut up. But we're not. We're anti-stereotypical librarians. We take over hotels and hit up the bar. Oh my god, the place was crazy!

Let's start with walking into the hotel.
Fearless Leader: "There are gonna be sooo many nerds!"
and then again
FL: "Library swag" was a phrase used repeatedly during the day. i love it. We got these green bags to hold all our free stuff and it was hilarious because they were all green so when everyone left to go to lunch you could tell if they were one of us - even from like blocks away - because they'd have that giant green bag. and nametags. It was like a library cult or something. Green bags and nametags required.

Slim Shady: "I want my foam!" her day just started off bad, she got sausage for breakfast when she didn't want sausage for breakfast and then we were in a presentation and when she tried to take the lid off her coffee it started making these noises. And you know how when you're in a big group and someone's talking so you want to be quiet, and that you open your candy or pop or whatever as quietly as you can so that as few people as possible will notice? she was attempting to pull the lid off one centimeter at a time because she needed that foam.

Presenter: "I can say hola! and that's about it." on her spanish language skills, or lack their of.

Slim Shady: "What did she say?"
Me: "No idea but we should probably clap." what? everyone else was!

Mayor: "And don't forget about the sunken gardens!" well, figured out his favorite place in town. yes the actual mayor made a speech. that's big potatoes man. i've used that phrase so many times i don't remember if that's the actual phrase or if the actual phrase is "small potatoes" and something wasn't small it was infact big so I switched it? or maybe it is "big potatoes" and at one point something wasn't all that big of a deal so I said "small potatoes" instead. which is an actual phrase? i mean, i know they're both phrases, but which one is accredited to more than just me?

Keynote Speaker: "S.L.U.T.S. Southern Ladies Under Tremendous Stress. We wine a little, we laugh a lot." fantastic.

Keynote Speaker: "If I get a glamour shot at 60 I'll look like Whistler's mother!" she showed a picture of her mom when she talked about SLUTS, saying it was her idea.

Presenter: "And you can share it with the world! And people can use it for things you don't know about." the joy of uploading photos online. but the presentation was awesome - the fact that she's LCL made it even better. we're awesome like that. she gave a lot of good reference databases though, definitely gonna use those at work.

Kathryn: "It's Match.com for librarians!" about their facebook page, which we're supposed to "like" and upload librarian stories. i think it's kind of cool, like a community forum thing.


And here's a bonus from yesterday. "I'm a sweater addict. I admit that freely. She wanted a book on fashion in the 80's. Has it really changed?" I just sat there and laughed.

Alright all, tomorrow is an all-day at one branch day so I'm gonna gonna crash. Hope you have a good night. And if anyone went to Battledecks hit me with some highlights!