FLA 2008 - Stephanie's view

I'm back safe and sound from Guatemala and in the office for two days hoping to catch up a bit. FLA 2008 at the Tradewinds on St. Pete Beach was great! Good content, great atmosphere, lots of opportunity to network with colleagues. Here's some of what I came back with....

Day 1 - The Opening General Session was great! Kurt Browning, Florida's Secretary of State, welcomed the group and encouraged everyone to write or call Mike Fasano, public library supporter and champion. He also gave a shout out to Bradford County Public Library in recognition of their wonderful public/private collaboration which enabled them to do so much more in their new building. He closed with the statement - "Libraries contribute to the quality of life and you can't put a price on that."

FLA Scholarship Recipients were announced. Congrats to Christine Boatright of Suwannee River Regional Library who received the FSU Scholarship.

Keynoter Joan Frye Williams presentation, "When the Tide Goes Out, Everyone Can See Who's Swimming Naked" was very thought provoking. Some of the highlights for me -

• Emphasize the abundance, don't forget what you have when you're crying poor
• Don't do anything live (programming) you don't record - looks like NEFLIN needs to do a workshop on podcasting, webcasting and/or screencasting
• Floating collections - stop spending so much money to return books to their 'homes'
• Zone staffing - no empty desks, have roll-out service points and provide hip-to-hip service
• Do you have 'green' buildings and services - tell people about it!
• What do you call library patrons? A survey revealed they really want to be called 'members'
• Ask for partners, not donors
• Cool, real-time things to add to your website - live circulation activity (what's being returned), today's hot topics, live program excerpts, new titles just in, parking cam.

I attended a great presentation on the Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute. Good overview of the program and it's benefits. If you're thinking about applying the deadline is June 6th. Sessions will be in Manatee and Alachua Counties.

Past-President's Reception in the Exhibits was fun. They did a past-presidents trivia contest and I ended up winning a book. Woo hoo!!

Day 2 - Started the day with Technology is Easy, People are Hard - Leading Technology Shifts in Libraries. Great topic, session was led by Max Anderson of Solinet (until Wednesday when he moves to Chicago). One of my favorite things about Max's presentation is that all his links are up on del.icio.us! So I don't actually have to mention anything but I will highlight some of the things that I thought were interesting -

• University of Alabama has an RSS feed for their new titles done by LC class - are any of you doing this?
• Library Thing Local - lets you add your events to Library Thing - any of you doing this?
• The importance of using technology to further the mission of the library, not just because of technolust.
• Always include "I don't know what this means" as a survey response.

The Book Cart Drill Team demonstration might have been the most fun part of the day! Cheers to Suwannee River Regional Library for making this event happen even after they couldn't get others to participate. And huge thanks to Demco for shipping book carts, subsidizing SRRL travel and awarding SRRL 1st prize of $250! I'm expecting several NEFLIN libraries to participate in next year's demonstration. Check YouTube for ideas...

The Solinet Town Hall Meeting led by Kate Nevins was interesting. I definitely encourage you to attend the session here at NEFLIN on Wednesday, April 30th or watch for the online sessions. If nothing else, watch the merger webpage for updates and additional information. As questions are raised during the meetings, they are adding to the FAQ. Big things from my notes - there will be no change in pricing for 2008/2009 and check the Palinet site for a list of their services and to see what they bring to the table.

The other fun part of my day was break time with past and current Leadership Institute participants and mentors. We had ice cream, pretzels, and candy bars on the beach and we couldn't have asked for better weather. If you want to be part of this group as a participant or mentor, check out the website.

Day 2 ended with the President's Reception and Silent Auction Finale. Great music, food and atmosphere. I know that Mary Brown and her staff at Union County Public Library worked long and hard on the basket auction. THANKS to everyone who contributed either a basket or a bid.

Day 3 - another day starting with Max. Stories from the Front Lines of Public Computing provided an overview of the MaintainIT project and then examples of some of the projects included in the cookbook. Both projects highlighted just happened to be NEFLIN members - Be Astengo from Alachua County Library District's discussed their Laptop Checkout program and then Sherry Millington of Suwannee River Regional Library highlighted some ways they've made the most of their limited resources. We have a few copies of the first cookbook here in the office or you can download them.

Leading Volunteers: Secrets of Success was a great session led by Faye Roberts, formerly of the State Library & Archives of Florida and soon to be Executive Director of FLA. This was one of those times when doing introductions was a great way to learn so much about what's happening with volunteers around the state. News to me - consider calling them consultants, think about potential jobs to not only include what can be done onsite but also what can be done online or at home. Faye had good handouts and I'll try to get copies to post here.

Day 3 ended with what we had all been waiting for... Closing Session, Lunch and the Awards presentations. Lunch was good, business meeting was typical, the Awards rocked!!! Harold George of St. Johns County Public Library chaired the Awards Committee and presented our very own Brad Ward with the FLA Leader of the Year Award. The program ended with a presentation by Gary Mormino of USF about his book, Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams.

Other perks for NEFLIN members? Many went home with door prizes from the vendors

• Gerry Brent, Marion County Public Library, Brodart
• Christine Boatright, Suwannee River Regional Library, Unique Books
• Jae Bass, St. Johns County Public Library, Midwest Tape (an IPOD!!!)
• Michael Sullivan, Jacksonville Public Library, Sebco Books
• Bonnie Tollefson, Levy County Public Libraries, WT Cox Subscription
• Marlene Mitchell, Suwannee River Regional Library, HW Wilson

Check the cool video from Union County! - NEW

Hope to see all of you next year in Orlando!