Long time no see...

Wow, it's been April since I've last posted. I think the last time I went that long without posting on a blog I just killed it. But...I still see use in this blog although I probably won't post as often as I'd like too. I tend to spend more time on FriendFeed and Twitter, but I'm sure I can come up with things to post here every once in a while.

So what's happened since April, a lot! In no specific order:

• July 1 I had a job title change to: Learning Commons/Emerging Technologies/Interlibrary Loan Librarian (more on that later)
• Attended Computers in Libraries 2009
• Attended and presented at Bigger 2009 (GA)
• Attended Gold/Galileo 2009
• Attended and presented at GA COMO 2009
• Attended and presented at Access Services Conference in Atlanta 2009
• Applied for promotion at work
• Serving on 3 different committees (Access Services, ACRL, and LITA)
• Had a presentation accepted to speak at ALA 2010
• Submitted several other presentations
• Floated an idea for a book
• Updated my webpage (ashuping.net)
• Learned a lot about Linux and Apache and built my own developmental server at home (still not live yet, but working on it)
• Played with a whole lot of free software to install and play with
• Helped build and launch a new webserver at work
• Working on a mobile webpage for work
• Made some financial decisions to get my future back on track

And the one that stands out the most to me, I've gotten to meet a lot of really cool, kick ass people both in real life and online from all corners of the world. I've been inspired by them and learn from them every single day and I can only say my life has improved because of it. Y'all rock.

And yes there was a lot of other stuff I did too, but I figure this covers the big things since April. I hope you all have a great start to the new years and I hope to share new ideas/thoughts/or at least make you scratch your head and wonder what the heck I'm talking about in the new year.

New! Access Services Conference fall 2009

I'm pleased to announce about the launch of a new conference taking place this fall: Access Services Conference 2009, “Unlocking the 21st Century Library”. This year's event will be held at Georgia Tech Global Learning Center in Atlanta, GA from November 11-13, 2009.

This event is being planned by library staff from across the country and some very creative folks. It was an idea started by folks at GA Tech library and they are working hard on planning it. I'm serving on the program planning committee and will post updates on the conference as we get moving.

Here's the call for proposals:

On behalf of the Conference Organizing Committee, we would like to invite you to submit a proposal for the Access Services Conference 2009, “Unlocking the 21st Century Library”. This year's event will be held at Georgia Tech Global Learning Center in Atlanta, GA from November 11-13, 2009.

The Access Services Conference is an opportunity for individuals working in all areas of Access Service in libraries to gather information and communicate with other professionals about Circulation, Reserves, Interlibrary Loan, Student Worker Management, Security, Stacks Maintenance, and other topics of interest.

We invite program proposals from March 30 until 5pm, July 15, 2009.

Accepted program proposal submissions should be able to fit within a 50 minute segment. Proposals might focus on any of the following areas:

Customer Service

Circulation

Interlibrary Loan

Consortia Agreements

Marketing

Reserves

Security

Space Management

Stacks Maintenance

Student Workers Management

Current technology for access service enhancement

Program Proposal guidelines:

Please submit an abstract, 300 words or less, with the program title and your name. Program proposals will be reviewed by the program committee and those presenters who are selected will be notified by August 15, 2009. In order to submit a proposal, please create an account at the conference website http://conferences.library.gatech.edu/access/index.php/access/access09/login,

login and select the “Author” link to submit your proposal.

Please direct any questions to Denita Hampton dahampton@gsu.edu

Computers in Libraries posts--Coming soon!

If your waiting for my posts on presentation don't despair! I do have notes on the presentations that I've attended and I'll be putting those up over the next couple of days. I took notes and I'm trying to clean them up a bit before I post. I'm not quite as good as some other folks like Librarian by day and librarianinblack at gathering their notes so fast (seriously those 2 are freaking awesome at their coverage!)

I've enjoyed my time at CIL and get to participate in an on the fly T is for Training last night which was a lot of fun. Once it's posted take a listen to it. And if you haven't listened to it before check it out! Maurice Coleman puts together a great podcast every two weeks and there's a great list of people that participate (such as Librarian by Day.)

CIL and me

This is my second year being at Computers in Libraries. Last year was my first time attending a library conference of this scale comprised of librarians across the country...and people whose blogs that I follow. I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated last year. I met and talked to a few folks whose blogs that I followed the longest and a couple of other really cool people, but for the most part I stayed back from the crowd.

This year is a bit different. Over the past year I've gotten to "meet" a lot of really cool people virtually. People that I missed last year at CiL. When some of these folks heard that I didn't talk to many people last year they told me the next time I can back I'd better talk to people or else. So because I really did want to meet some of those folks (and that "or else" was kinda of scary) I've been trying to talk and meet more of the people that I know virtually. And I've really enjoyed it. It's made the time go by faster, definately made the conference more interesting (and yes it's only the 1st day), and given me ideas of what I can take back.

I look forward to meeting more folks and attending some good presentations (already heard a few...posts coming!) If I haven't met you yet it's either cause I'm not sure its you or I'm a bit intimidated, so just walk up to me or something :)