HIT: PROF: Why bother attending ALA?

[Gabe Gancarz <gancarz@PRAIRIENET.ORG>]

Thank you very much to the over 40 individuals who responded to my
post concerning the person who told me, ". . .I don't think you should be
spending your money on [the ALA Annual Convention in San Francisco]."
After my bare-bones summary here I'll be posting 2 HITS of actual
responses.

Many are very enthusiastic about the ALA Annual convention, citing that
they get rejuvenated from attending such a large gathering of their
professional colleagues.  One aspect many really like is networking
and being able to speak with folks having the same problems as well as
learning new things.  A few say that it may be more beneficial to attend
school-library specific functions such as AASL or regional conferences
since ALA Annual aims to cover all areas of librarianship.  There are
several types of helpful responses from veterans, folks who have entered
the school setting recently, and folks like me who are graduating from
library school next May.

My favorite reaction comes from part of one specific message:

> Dear Sir,  The first and most frivolous reason for me is seeing all
> those attractive, smart,and powerful people who are members of MY
> profession. . .but the really true serious reason is librarians are so
> much more interesting and fun that any other group.

To which I must say, "Right on, sister!  'Nuff said!"

Judging from the majority of responses, conventions/conferences can be
what you make of them.  I personally would love to attend ALA and may just
say, "San Francisco or bust!" whether the person I quoted in my original
posting likes it or not. It would be great for me to meet some future
colleagues and be in a mass setting where nobody will ask me if I need to
go to college in order to become a librarian.  I am and still will be
taking summer courses, so that may get in the way.  I also need to travel
a significant distance to a dear friend's wedding two weeks later.
Whether I go to San Francisco or not, I really feel that conferences in
general can be a great way for one to develop and feel great about being
an information professional.

Thanks again, and take care.  I *love* this listserv!

Gabe

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Gabriel R. Gancarz, Grad. May '98
Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
* Graduate Assistant - LEEP Internet-Based Distance Education Program
* Labstaff Volunteer - GSLIS Learning Resources Computer Laboratory
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~gancarz/
gancarz@uiuc.edu
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