I realize that many of you have been dying to know about my trip to Philadelphia for ALA. However, as far as my blogging goes, you all know that it could be described best as spotty. In any event, here is my update from the city of brotherly love (AKA Philadeplphia):
My trip to Philly was uneventful, probably because I left at 6am in the morning and nothing happens that early in the morning. I was lucky enough to travel with a bunch of my friends so we had someone to complain to when we couldn’t find our luggage when we got to Philly.
My hotel was near a lot of the major attractions so on my way to and from the convention center I could look at Independence Hall and the like from afar. It was nice, if a little frustrating since I really wanted to see this stuff.
Our meetings kicked off Friday night with the straw poll votes. It was really tiring counting all 200+ votes, I needed a nap afterward, but there was still work to do. Most of my work consisted of hitting the “Forward” button on the remote for my iPod. I have to admit, that iPod thing is one sweet invention. I mean, I can listen to music on it and run a slide show. Very handy.
Saturday, I hit the exhibits. It seemed a little small to me this year, but maybe that was because I’m getting bigger. Regardless, I still got a pretty good haul of stuff, sending 2 boxes of books home. Plus, I got a bunch of other SWAG that I packed in my bags. This year the odd bits of swag I collected included a balsawood airplane and a variety of squeezy items (light bulbs, earths and brains) and some kind of oversize luggage tag. However, this year was definitely the year of snazzy bags. I collected them for all sorts of companies—Barnes and Noble, Scholastic and Baker and Taylor just to name a few. I think I may have had more bags than books.
My committee was a great group of people. They worked really hard to choose the very best books this year for you and all of your peers. Sadly, I wasn’t able to pay much attention to their in depth discussion of the books since I was too busy trying to run the slideshow. And watch the time. And do vote tabulations. And make sure everything was running smoothly. It is actually a lot harder than it looks. Or maybe I’m just not that good at it. Either way, I didn’t give them all the attention they deserved. I did perk up for a couple of discussions. Specifically, for Beowulf by Gareth Hinds. I really wanted to talk about this book, but, due to my position on the committee, I was forced to remain quiet. But it made it, so that was OK. I also was interested in the discussion about manga Romeo and Juliet. My colleagues were very complimentary of the book and I had to sit there and bite my tongue--literally. It ended up making the list, so I was a bit disappointed. You might like to see the final list to if your favorites made it or not. http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/08bbya.cfm
Another highlight of the Midwinter meeting is the Youth Media Awards (watch it here) that happen Monday mornings. They have been described as the Academy Awards of the library world. This year, I didn’t really have as much of an investment in the awards as in previous years because I’m not a full fledged voting member. However, it is always still interesting to watch because it is so entertaining to watch other people’s reactions. Also, I have a number of friends on the various committees so I like to see what they’ve been up to. To highlight a couple of awards:
The Printz Award: (Your Own, Sylvia and others) Given to a teen book for literary quality
The Alex Awards: (Which includes American Shaolin) Given to the 10 best books written for adults but have an appeal to teens
The Margaret Edwards Award: (Orson Scott Card for Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow) Honors a specific author for his or her lifetime contribution to young adult literature by singling out specific works by that author for special recognition.
And some other selection lists that I thought you might find interesting:
Quick Picks: For reluctant readers
Popular Paperbacks: Themed booklists to help you focus what you read
Great Graphic Novels: Because some of you just can’t get enough
On Tuesday morning we took our final vote. I wasn’t feeling well so it was even harder to count to 15 than normal. But, with the help of my committee members we made it! We had a healthy list, complete with 85 titles. Then came the really boring bit we had to pack up everything and clean the room. It was about this time that I was wishing I had a gaggle of my STABies to clean up the room for me, but, alas, none of you were to be found.
On Wednesday I had some time to run around the city and see the sights. So I made a quick run to see the Rocky Steps, the Mutter Museum (also known as the Museum of Medical Oddities), the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall with my friend, Summer. Then we jumped on our plane and were back in Seattle after one of the most excruciating flights I have ever had the misfortune to be a part of. Yeah for air conditioning (or lack thereof) on planes!
It was a great experience, as ALA always is. I'll miss my committee work but it will be nice to have a break from it and to focus on more local stuff, like making sure I have enough snacks hidden around my desk. Oh, and STAB too.