Val does such a great job blogging, and I do not. Forgot my camera at the hotel this morning, so I didn't even get any shots to add to the blog once I get home - where, as you'll remember, I left my patch cord. Why to people keep telling me they think I'm "so organized"? I think I actually suffer from photo resistance - a hold-over from the old film is expensive days. This is the image of the new Seattle Central Library just used by our keynote speaker. Fabulous, no?

The keynote by Joseph Janes was really good. He spoke with humour and insight on what constitutes a library today. Nothing earth-shatteringly new, but here are some ideas I gleaned.

1. When libraries create their own blogs, they are not often "hit". Librarians do better when they seek out other blogs - such as to the local parents' groups, community services, etc. - get familiar with their needs, and post to them when the library could be useful to them. (Did you know that if you have a school-aged child you have free at-home access to a bundle of databases? The Consumer Health database has lots of information that addresses your needs. See your child's teacher-librarian for access information."
   
2. People generally like librarians and libraries. However, because it is an effort both to get there, and to leave, they tend to stay until they are satisfied that their task has been completed. This is not the case when they are looking for information online. If they can't find what they need from our online presence very quickly, Google or Amazon or Wikipedia are half a second away. Click. This means that our online presence needs to be even better than our physical presence.
3. "Right now, someone is figuring out how to do what you do better, faster and cheaper." So what are you doing about that? (I believe we already see the end of school as we know it on the horizon. The factory model of buildings and timetables is giving way to distributed learning. Is your school library program adapting to that?)

Gotta run. Lunch is on in the exhibitors' hall!