ALA Unconference

This was my first unconference, so I couldn’t compare it to others.  It was a great format that encouraged even those of us who don’t talk easily in groups to offer our ideas.  We had a series of 6 very short presentations, broke into discussion groups on specific topics, had 4 more presentations, and then ended the day with 2 discussion groups.

The presentations and discussion groups had been voted on a week or so earlier by the group.  The presentations ranged from gaming in the library to patrons as top priority in an academic library.  The discussions were just as varied, including iPhone/Android apps, the future of reference, and middle management.  All those present offered ideas for presentations and/or discussions. 

Just as with any unstructured format, some of the discussions were better than others.  Selfishly, I loved the one I led on Library Director 2.0.  It was quite a small group and we had two directors and two managers.  What capped it off for me was that one of the non-directors expressed interest in being a library director.  Hurrah! 

The day was quite a success for me.  I had gotten the joy of in-depth discussion, the thrill of new ideas, and a group of like-minded librarians to be with.