ALA Midwinter 2011: LJ's Pick of Sat/Sun's Top Tweets
ALA Midwinter attendees' weekend conference report, as told in tweets By Margaret Heilbrun and Anna Katterjohn Jan 10, 2011SATURDAY'S TOP TWEETS
Saturday’s Midwinter tweets seemed to focus less than in previous years on the actual content of the meetings and speakers’ programs and more on vendor promotions and giveaways. Not surprisingly, with vendors playing social-media catchup, a significant number of tweets this year were vendor-generated booth invitations; additionally, there were the requisite tweets about particular swag and galleys grabbed. Some conference attendees vented their frustration at the spotty wi-fi, both at the convention center and in the hotels, but the shuttle service got raves. Far and away the program that received the most—and most enthusiastic—tweets was that headlined by futurist and sf author Vernor Vinge. Ebooks, Google, and QR codes also got attention.—Margaret Heilbrun
sanantonerose: Catching up on #alamw11 via Twitter. Srsly? This is the only way to attend conferences. Short sweet & to the damn point. #notravelmoney
kongtemplation: Are librarians shooting themselves in the foot by using google 1st when helping ppl? How does that build confidence in librarians? #alamw11
librarian_cyn: Put a #QR code on a closed sign to redirect after hours patrons to virtual services. #alamw11
oodja: Vinge- Librarians as "guardians of the past" are needed as the ultimate failsafe, in case we need to reboot civilization. #alamw11
gsyferd: 84% begin their info search on Google, 3% wikipedia, 0% Library web sites per OCLC study. #alamw11.
julian2: #alamw11 #alallama Current topic: MLS vs. non-MLS.
Bourne: The elephant in the room is the federal government and funding mandates. That's what will drive change. #alamw11
Jeffsidcala: I don't really do swag. I'm not alone in this, right? (to be honest, the exhibit floor totally overwhelms me.) #alamw11
LLevinsohn: Ebook reader device lending debate rages on…#alamw11
SUNDAY'S TOP TWEETS
Starting off a busy Sunday, Council I passed a resolution to change wording from "required" to "encouraging" regarding the necessity to list domestic partnership benefit availability in job ads-news that lost some important nuance in most tweets (laurenpressley: ALA will encourage employers to list the presence or absence of domestic partner benefits). There was plenty of buzz about Nancy Pearl's interview of Neil Gaiman (not so much for Ted Danson's keynote). LITA offered Top Tech Trends in the morning and the simultaneous afternoon Interest Groups, Emerging Technologies and Mobile Computing (#mobileig). During the Best Fiction for Young Adults Meeting (#bfya) teen feedback session, attendees tweeted many savvy quotes, and the book lists made the rounds after the evening's RUSA reception.—Anna Katterjohn
HopeBaugh: "It makes a girl dream and I like that" - 14-year-old's comment on The Grimm Legacy by P. Shulman. #bfya #alamw11 #yalsa
ninermac: "notion of context" is difficult to get a handle on; "anywhere/anytime" approach doesnt take the user's needs in context #alamw11 #mobileig
LipstickLib: ACRL Futures Thinking & why i'm here: because I want to know if l'll still have a job in 20 years. #alamw11
Gustorama: Now time to interrogate vendors re: what they are gonna do to make our #ereader fantasies come true #alamw11
jenwpa: Came in late to Tech Trends, but saw little relevance to public libraries. We still need tech literacy & gadgets more than data. #Alamw1
Click here for LJ’s pick of Friday’s top tweets. For additional coverage of the Midwinter Meeting, visit LJ's ALA Conference News page, and follow us on Flickr and Twitter (@LibraryJournal).
