AASL 16th National Conference takeaways

This is totally unpolished and sloppy, but I have to reflect about the AASL 16th National Conference right away, while it's all fresh, and before I go back to the real world.

True story: I was going through my files a few weeks ago and I came across my notes from the 2003 CEMA annual conference. I had pages and pages of notes from Doug Johnson's talks. I emailed him to share that everything I wrote down a decade ago was still relevant today - the ultimate complement. I attended his session on Friday, and it was entertaining, timely, and relevant. Great thoughts on how to inspire (and maybe try to measure) creativity. Here is the link to his presentation.

I also attended Kristin Fontichiaro and Debbie Abilock's session on data, data mining, and privacy. Wow! Here is the link to that one.

I was dazzled by the scientificity of the research Dr. Nancy Everhart, AASL Past Past President, conducted during her 2011 Vision Tour. Judi Paradis impressed us all with a heartwarming story of how her school visit changed one legislator's view of what a librarian does, and how that resulted in proposed legislation mandating school librarians in Massachusetts schools. It doesn't get better than that!

I was blown away by Project Connect with Mark Ray, Karen Cator, and others. Follett recorded that, and I look forward to watching the recording, because I had to dash off early to participate in the eLearning Commons, which was another highlight of the conference for me.

It was exciting to see a major unconference event at the national conference. Huge shout out to Joyce Valenza for organizing it! It was phenomenal - nearly 200 participants from 9-midnight on Friday night!


 Scheduled informal discussions and presentations (unconference and eLearning Commons) complemented traditional expert presentations beautifully, giving voice to a wide spectrum of attendees, and opportunities to converse about, not just consume learning. Bravo to the Connecticut and AASL volunteers and staff for making the 16th national conference a great experience.

Oh! And if anyone wants links to the sessions I did with Brenda Boyer, Gwyneth Jones, Shannon Miller, and Tiffany Whitehead, here is the Wiki.

I also want to give a major shout out to Molly James, NCHS 2013 and George Herde, NCHS 2014 for joining the gang on Thursday morning for the pre-conference presentation of A Library in Every Pocket. Their voice and insightful observations enhanced the presentation a great deal!