The 106th Annual CLA Conference

The 106th Annual CLA Conference
San Jose, California

I've been attending California Library Association (CLA) annual conferences for a number of years, but I got to experience a new aspect by being a presenter this time. I attended the Academic Section meeting in Ontario (CA) last year and became involved in the perpetual discussion about the disproportionately small involvement of academic libraries compared to public libraries. We decided we needed to make a concerted effort to create successful program proposals in order to increase our visibility. Because of my experience with our Reference/Information Desk consolidation, I suggested a program about changes various academic libraries were making to adjust to current fiscal, staffing, technical, and student population trends. Over the following months, through email introductions and email discussions with helpful librarians, I was able to submit a program proposal that was accepted by CLA. The idea was to share experiments, methods, and experiences - successful or not - by different academic libraries. We wanted to demonstrate the basic similarities between information services at all libraries: state or private, small or large, public or academic. I recently received a summary of the evaluations that are turned in after each session and was pleased to read that people had rated us as "the most interesting and useful session" and "nicely organized to encompass concerns of large and small libraries".

It was very interesting to plan our session without ever meeting in person. We were introduced and had all our planning discussions through emails, so I did not meet my co-presenters until the weekend of the conference; it was all virtual until I got to San Jose. Leanna Goodwater, a reference librarian and the humanities liaison at Santa Clara University, and Harry Meserve, a reference and instruction librarian at San Jose State, were my collaborators for the presentation of Innovative Trends in Today's Academic Reference Services. Our session was scheduled for Monday morning, after many people had already left, but I was pleased with the turnout we did get. I'm glad I was able to experience a workshop from the presentor perspective and appreciated having had the opportunity to meet more people interested in the field. I hope to have another opportunity to do something like that again.

Preparing for the presentation while completing research papers due that same day occupied much of my attention, but as the photo above shows, there was still time for a little fun. (Statues of the Mouse King and other Nutcracker characters were scattered around the Downtown area to promote the Ballet San Jose's upcoming performances.) I was able to attend some special events and listen to several interesting speakers during the conference.

Saturday began early with the Annual State Librarian's Breakfast. It was interesting to hear how the San Francisco City Librarian, who was in the process of moving to Arizona, got the call, interviewed for, and accepted the State Librarian position in the same week the movers were to arrive! Besides the "special guest appearance" of the Rural Initiative cow, there were some interesting announcements and introductions. We learned that 1 out of every 5 Californians has a disability and we heard how some libraries have been creative with their accomodations.

The keynote speaker at the opening General Session was Peter Norvig, Director of Search Quality at Google, who demonstrated a fascinating map manipulation program called Keyhole. The city of San Jose has undergone a fabulous redevelopment while refurbishing its historical structures. The Academic Section of CLA also sponsored a Walking Tour of San Jose and its New Library. Photos taken on the tour and at other events follow on the next pages.
- Renata Hundley

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