Eric Bryan - 2009 SLA Conference Washington DC

Thank you to the SLA-SCC scholarship committee for this opportunity!

From Washington DC

This year’s annual SLA conference, held in Washington DC, was nothing short of spectacular. As it was my first SLA conference, I certainly got to start with a bang. This being SLA’s centennial year, the entire event was extra-special, with celebrations, champagne toasts, and plenty of music provided by live bands. In addition, the library that I work at won this year’s Innovations award, so overall, this was quite the experience!
To start with, Washington DC is a truly amazing and international city. So many cultures of the world are represented, that it is easy to feel connected on a global scale with so many people in all parts of the world. Coming from southern California, I was also amazed by the truly awe-inspiring architecture of the buildings all around the city.
I attended the kick-off celebration on Sunday afternoon, where we shared a champagne toast, and had the opportunity to wander among the vendors in the exhibitor hall. Shortly after that, my colleagues and I attended a photo session with SLA President, Gloria Zamora, to commemorate the award we would receive later in the evening.
After receiving our award during the Opening General Session and Awards Presentation, I enjoyed seeing all of the other award recipients receive their honor. It gave me a sense of continuity, that this experience was not a one-time thing, but something that is a career and even life-spanning endeavor, no matter whether an award is received or not.
Following the awards ceremony, and to close the General Session, the keynote speaker enthralled the audience for the next hour. Former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell (Ret.) gave a truly inspiring and entertaining speech, in which he discussed the importance of remaining ahead of the curve with technology and information management.
On Monday morning, I began attending the various sessions, beginning with an EBSCO military libraries session, in which we discussed ways of better serving our users. The afternoon session was on the topic of “Greening Your Library”. It was presented by the founder of eco-coach.com, and we received a great deal of information on how to run our libraries more efficiently, which in turn lowers operating costs. On Monday evening, I attended a wonderful reception, hosted by EBSCO at the Decatur House. It was a great chance to talk shop and mingle with my fellow information professionals from around the world. We talked mostly about where our libraries are located, and the challenges we face that are unique to our library. It gave a great sense of being part of a much bigger picture, and while we each face different challenges in our careers, we are all working toward the same goal.
On Tuesday morning I attended a session dealing with Globalization, titled, “Globalization and Libraries: Emerging Opportunities for the Library Profession”. The first speaker discussed the challenges and benefits of her company’s outsourced information professionals located in India. The standout presenter was Jane Kinney Meyers, who started the Lubuto Library Project in Zambia. In a place riddled with so many socioeconomic problems, this library has had a considerable impact on the region for the better, as more children are learning to read and going on to more productive lives as they reach adulthood. The main idea that I took from this presentation – and also the most important thing I learned at the conference – was the notion that libraries should be a transformational force within societies. This idea is what makes libraries an integral part of the communities they serve, and I think will be one of the keys to our success.
The other standout session I attended was on Tuesday afternoon. It was presented by one of the founders and editors of the Onion, a popular media spoof publication. The entire presentation was couched in comedic humor, but the underlying message was relevant to the information profession, and that is the importance of not only keeping up with changing information demands, but to be ahead of them. This means it is vital to be innovative in using emerging technology, and to leverage current resources effectively.
The highlight of the “after hours” conference came on Tuesday night, when we attended “SLA Salutes!” an Awards and Leadership Reception held at the Library of Congress. It was truly breathtaking and the experience of a lifetime to have the chance to wander through the various parts of this historic library, to see Thomas Jefferson’s private book collection, to see the library’s card catalog, and to have the chance to stand at the podium of the circulation desk. What a fun time!
In all, this was a wonderful experience and one that I will never forget. The greatest opportunity that this stipend provided me was the chance to network; to meet my colleagues and fellow information professionals from all over the world. It expanded the scope with which I view my world, both as an information professional and as a member of the global community.

Joyce Hardy - SLA Conference Report

I want to thank the Scholarship Committee and the Southern California Chapter for providing me the opportunity to attend this excellent conference, especially for the educational and networking opportunities it presented to me. I will be forever grateful.

SLA 2009 Summary


Conference attendance was by 5,856 – up 16% from 2008 – and attendees represented 30 different countries. There were 299 vendors exhibiting, including 48 first timers.

Janice LaChance and Gloria Zamora spoke about Alignment ‘09 and the importance of growing the “tribe” of supporters for the good of the organization. A tribe is a group of individuals, connected to an idea, who communicate that idea widely and effectively to bring more people into the tribe. SLA is a tribe in that regard, and now we need to build our tribe around the alignment research and the pursuit of a new name for our second century that effectively and powerfully states our value. “Will you help us increase our tribe? Will you align in ’09?” Stay tuned!!!

One big announcement was that all non-certificate courses on Click U are now FREE to members. So members can now take advantage of this new SLA membership benefit at their convenience.

Keynote speaker General Colin Powell

General Colin Powell kicked-off SLA 2009 with an upbeat talk about librarians and their relevance to meeting the information needs of the nation. SLA members are responsible for playing that role, for conducting research and identifying the sources of quality information and bringing it into organizations.

Powell’s talk was enlightening, funny and down-to-earth. He commented on how the “born digital” generation expects things at their fingertips, shared his experiences with communicating with his grandchildren on Twitter, and discussed his transition from public to private life and his involvement in multiple foundations, including a foundation dedicated to building an education center for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The planned facility will house the many gifts left at the wall in remembrance of those who lost their lives.
He believes we will continue to see a desire for SLA members, for people who can bring good information forward. “They are the information specialists, they're not the knowledge experts usually. By that, I mean you give me and my staff the good information we need and you toss aside the information that's flawed and that really doesn't answer the questions I'm asking for. It is up to us to extract the knowledge from this information.”
Powell said “The way I use my folks at National Defense University (NDU) is to send them e-mails all the time--get me every speech I ever wrote about civil rights, get me the paper I wrote, or locate a photo taken of me. And since most of this is digitized now, they can usually respond to me almost instantaneously.” He acknowledged the NDU Library staff and thanked them for their excellent work.
Powell shared his views of leadership and the importance of information technology. I think many in the audience were surprised at his self-effacing humor, especially when discussing his grandchildren’s request that he get a Facebook and Twitter account (he Tweets but does not have a Facebook account).

Dr. Ellen Kossek’s session entitled “The CEO of ME” was an excellent presentation on managing your work/life relationships.

As CEO of your life, you have the choice to avoid the flexibility trap. You can learn how to use flexibility to make your life better. You begin by understanding your flexstyle, which is how you are currently managing relationships between work and personal life – your style for creating a workable life. You also should take stock of how well your flexstyle fits the people with whom you live and work. You need to know what’s working and what’s not and how to make changes – sometimes small and sometimes more drastic – to shift where you draw the line between work and non-work in order to be more effective on the job and at home.

In analyzing your work-life paradox you need to consider your work-life culture, work engagement and rising stress. Ask yourself “How did we get where we are? Why are we here?”
Flex styles describe the different styles you use to engage with your job:
• How you define your work life boundaries
• Where to focus your attention and,
• The relationships you have at work and in your personal life.

Three flexstyles were discussed:

Integrators blend work and personal life physically in terms of time, schedules, and space or location. Psychologically, they also mix work and personal life in terms of their day-to-day thoughts, emotions, and energy. Think of them as having an “open door policy” and allowing or even encouraging interruptions.

Separators segment work from personal life psychologically and physically. They tend not to take work home, but if they do so, they are good at creating a separate space for working at home. Separators use physical space, time, and mental perceptions to manage their responsibilities to keep work and non-work in different compartments.

Volleyers switch back and forth, at times experiencing work and life as tightly demarcated from each other and at other times mixing all aspects of their life.

Self-reflection exercises can help you to understand pros & cons of you, find the flexstyles that give you control and fit your values, help you work better with your colleagues’ styles and be more productive.

Technology is changing work/life relationship and it is very easy to get into the position of risk of overwork and a lack of time/energy balance. Technology has made it easier to work at home in a global competitive market and free time is at a premium because it is so easy to be always connected to work. It seems in the past few years organizations often reward imbalance, encouraging more blending of work/life and encouraging overwork. In order to reach a balance in our life work, we should all be aware of our time/energy balance at home and at work.

As CEO of your life, you can take control of your life to make flexibility work for you instead of against you.

Recommended reading for analyzing your work/life: “CEO of ME: Creating a Life That Works in the Flexible Job Age” by Ellen Ernst Kossek and Brenda A. Lautsch.

SLA Centennial Stamps

SLA Centennial Stamps are a great way to show your enthusiasm and support for the association's 100 year anniversary. Stamps are sold per sheet and contain 20 U.S. first class postage stamps with the SLA 2009 conference logo.