Envy of the Sun

I attended the Reaching Forward 2009 Annual Conference held in Rosemont, IL on May 1, 2009. An enjoyable experience, and none so much as the Keynote Speaker, Michael Stephens, from Dominican University. Despite a somewhat tardy appearance, wholly due to the fact that the men's restrooms were only accessible by a shuttle service (one does hope that, in the future, the library field becomes a little more equally distributed as far as gender is concerned), his presentation "Hyperlinked Library Services for Everyone" did much to entertain and inform. For a person who has already participated in a Library Web 2.0 program, this presentation provided a refreshing perspective on the role of the web in our ever-evolving library atmosphere.

I am probably including Dominican University on my list of prospective MLS schools, all because of Michael Stephens!

There were many short workshops throughout the day. I attended Internet Safety, Dealing with Difficult People: Why is No One as Nice as I am, and after lunch, Going, Going Green. Internet Safety with Detective Alan Krok was very interesting, but also presented for the anxious parent. Dealing with Difficult People, presented by Diane C. Decker was an interactive lesson, but not long enough for the message to sink in. Lunch was accompanied by a reading by author Elizabeth Berg. My final session, Going, Going Green, was unfortunately punctuated by many yawns, which I assume was an after-effect of a very complete meal.

Altogether, an enjoyable experience, with opportunities to network throughout the day (though some of us, including myself, probably did not take as much advantage of this as they should have). I still stand by the belief that the pièce de résistance was the Keynote Speech.