Anyone going to ALA this summer?

[Karin Dalziel]

I am spending my own $$$ to get to ALA this summer, partly because I've never been to DC, partly because I have a friend I can stay with, but mostly because I want to see what all the fuss is about!

I know at least one person on here will be going. Anyone else?

Maybe we can meet up one night. :)

[Sarah S.]

Oh man, I have been wading through the program/seminars booklet they sent out, highlighting/circling/dogearing like a madwoman. I have to sit down and come up with a good game plan. It's overwhelming!

I know Facebook's ALA Members group is having a meet up one night, too.

[Karin Dalziel]

You know, I have a facebook account, I could just never get into it. I suppose I should check it out again.

The sessions I'm thinking of going to are here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcvgckj9_55qhf6hf

Obviously, some time slots I still need to edit down quite a bit. :P

[Melanie]

I wish I could go! I have classes this summer and work so I don't think I'll be able to make it. I'll have to look at it again and see if I can work something out...

[Rhonda Crim-Tumelson]

I am going! We are staying in Georgetown to save money, but it looks like fun.

[librarienne]

I'm going - say, does anyone else here use Google Calendar? Maybe we could each make a public ALA calendar of the events we're going to and figure out a good time to get together from there. Or perhaps we could use the nifty Google Reader login as our collective Calendar login? Whatcha think?

[Karin Dalziel]

That's a great idea! People could use either /or- use the group login and create their own calendar there (calendar.google.com // [e-mail] // lisstudents), or use their own Google account and just post the ical links here.

Here's mine (nothing added to the calendar yet, I'll have to do that in a bit)

http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/msggtc1druilke3fn99q3aqq6c%40gr...

If anyone needs it, I could create a tutorial on how to make your own calendar- let me know if that would be useful.

If I had unlimited texting, I would suggest setting up a twitter account for the event, but I don't. I wonder if you can buy texting ahead of time or just for one month? I'll have to check. Keeping up at a conference is one of the few useful applications I have seen for twitter so far.

[librarienne]

Wonderful! I just added my ALA calendar to the library@nirak account. 'Course... it only has events during that one week in June. For anyone else thinking of doing this (please, oh, please do!) Here's a quick 'n' dirty guide:

To Create a Google Calendar

- log into Google Calendar (note: if you aren't using this already, I think you'll really like it. Default settings are private, so random people can't look to see where you're going. My ALA calendar is the only I've made public so far.)
- in the left-hand sidebar you'll see "My Calendars" with a big plus sign next to it, click on the plus sign
- "Create New Calendar" should pop up, give it a name and set the Share setting to be shared with everyone - Google will give you lots of warning messages about this, just keep clicking okay
- click "Create Calendar" at the very bottom
- your new calendar is now in your sidebar

To Add Your Google Calendar to LISStudents

- in the left-hand sidebar of your Google Calendars page, click on "Manage Calendars" in little print at the bottom
- click on the name of your ALA Calendar
- scroll down (if necessary) to the section called "Calendar Address"
- click on the green ICAL button
- copy the address it gives you, then click OK
- log out of your Google account
- sign in as [e-mail] // lisstudents
- click on the plus sign next to "Other Calendars"
- click on "Public Calendar Address"
- paste in the ICAL address you copied from your acount
- click "Add" and you'll see a new colored calendar on your sidebar
- click OK
- press "n" till you get to June to see any ALA events from everyone's calendars

[Karin Dalziel]

Thanks for writing that up!

[Karin Dalziel]

I hate lugging a laptop around a conference. I probably wouldn't mind if I had one of those nice, sleek macs, but I have a big, clunky Gateway (it was free, so I can't complain!)

[Joe Fox]

I'll be there helping with Greenwood's computer and display setup. Because of that I'll be there super early (I think June 20 ?). Would love to meet up with all of you .....