I like to plan. I also like to throw plans out the window. Before coming to any given ALA conference, I pore through the online scheduler. I look at the schedules of people I respect to create a skeleton schedule, and then I go look through the raw data of the ALA scheduler.
The ALA Council breezed through approval of 2012 ALA Annual Conference Council minutes, among other actions at its first session of Midwinter in Seattle today.
For its 23rd customer appreciation breakfast on Sunday, Alexander Street Press invited as keynote speaker Temple Grandin, bestselling author, doctor of animal science, and autism activist.
Saturday’s Auditorium Series speaker Steven Johnson started the day off with a funny story about cholera.
No, really. The story, which he researched for his book The Ghost Map, depicted John Snow researching the cholera epidemic in 1850s London. In a eureka moment, Snow realizes that water, not miasma, carries cholera; stops the cholera epidemic; and saves London.
Midwinter-goers wanted to make a difference in Seattle, and on Friday they got their chance. As part of the Homeless Outreach project dreamed up and executed by ALA members and staff, a small group of librarian volunteers cooked meals and then served them to area homeless youth.
The late Douglas Adams was once forced to insist he didn’t write jokes in base 13. There’s been so much great tweeting coming out of Seattle, though, so in order to narrow it down to a Top 10 we had to fudge a bit and work in base 16.
Best-selling authors Ruth Ozeki (My Year of Meats, All Over Creation), Terry Brooks (Genesis of Shannara series, Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy), Gregg Olsen (The Deep Dark: Disaster and Redemption in America’s Richest Silver Mine), and Ivan Doig (The Bartender’s Tale) were the featured guests at the ERT/Booklist Author Forum held on Friday
