At last year’s NYCC, New Jersey City University Library’s Head of Acquisitions and (founder of the ALA Dance Party) J. P. Porcaro gathered every single librarian in the ALA booth for the Epic Librarian Photo Shoot. The tradition continued this year, and as you can see from the photo below, we crammed every possible librarian into the cozy ALA booth. The photo shoot was so epic, we blurred the camera lens!
The fun of any conference, ALA or otherwise, is the show floor. You get to see some fun toys and games, pick up swag, and spend a little money. (“Little” being subjective. You don’t want to see what happened when I hit up the Doctor Who store, believe me.)
Many of our attendees indicated that this was their first NYCC Professional Day and were quite impressed in the breadth and depth of the panels.
Beth Cackowski of East Brunswick (N.J.) Public Library saw that every panelist was from New Jersey, showing the great things that are coming out of that state’s libraries. But New Jersey is only one of 50 states.
It’s hoped that some diversity in library types and locations comes to NYCC 2013 (something this Garden State expat can certainly get behind). Karen Klapperstuck of Monroe Township (N.J.) Public Library noted that four of the panelists across all three panels are New Jersey Emerging Leaders, affirming the scope of leadership in the profession on a local level.
Librarians have their favorites for NYCC, from panels (David Lisa wants to attend the Carrie remake and The Walking Dead panels) to popular vendors (more than one librarian was eager to get to the Baconery booth and try the bacon-flavored lollipops). You can find Craig Anderson walking around the exhibit hall reveling in the creativity of costumes.
And my favorites? I will be attending the Women in Steampunk panel as I am personal friends with many of the participating authors, anything connected with Doctor Who, and like Anderson, chasing down people in awesome costumes.
I have a few panels that may be of interest to librarians as well, including a history of comic book censorship presented by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and an overview of book publishing alternatives (“The Brave New World of E-Book Publishing”).
While wandering the exhibit floor, a vintage movie poster for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original Gene Wilder film from the 1970s and a childhood favorite) caught my eye. Sitting next to it was Mr. Mike Teavee himself, Paris Themmen, who was absolutely gracious and eager to meet with all those fans like me who grew up watching him be a brat and shrunk to the size of an action figure by Wonkavision. I know it’s only the first day, but that may be the highlight of the entire weekend for me.
More to come after I follow the Comic-Con golden rule of eight hours of sleep and one shower….
KATE KOSTURSKI received her MLS from Pratt Institute and is currently the institutional participation coordinator (UK and Northern Europe) for JSTOR. She is a member of GameRT. Visit her at www.katekosturski.com, and follow her on Twitter at @librarian_kate.
