Need a break from fast-paced conference food? Looking for something a little more natural, and down-to-earth? Look no further than the Dallas Farmer's Market, begun in the late 1800's and still regularly held near downtown Dallas.

Stroll the market to shop for fruits and veggies, meats, flowers, and a variety of unique and hard-to-find items.

Hours:
Sunday through Saturday, 7am to 6pm

Location:
downtown Dallas
(DART will get you there via the Route 35 bus line)
1010 South Pearl Street, Dallas, Texas 75201
map: http://www.dallasfarmersmarket.org/

It looks like we need a few more volunteers for the Transportation Area, at any time during conference, and the Hetherington Fun Run on Thursday morning, April 17th.

Dean Washington is heading up the Transportation committee and I know he would love to talk to you about the benefits of helping in his area.

David Rathvon is organizing the Fun Run. Shoot him an email if you need more details about the volunteer responsiblities for this event.

(Image courtesy of Dean Washington at Ft. Worth Public Library)

Today's post is from Dreanna Belden at UNT:

That’s all I have to say about Dr. Stephen Klineberg, a demographer who has been conducting research and collecting data in the Houston area for over 26 years. I saw him as a keynote speaker at the Texas Association of Museums conference a few years ago, and I never forgot how tremendously effective he was. Imagine 300 people chowing down on lunch, preparing to hear a speech on demographic trends. Sounds like a recipe for a nap, right? This Harvard educated sociologist knows his stuff, and can relate it in a way that is entirely compelling, fascinating, and engaging. Plan on attending this session, “The Changing Face of Texas: Tracking Economic and Demographic Tranformations,” on Wednesday afternoon from 2:00–3:50pm in D162/164. I guarantee that this is not a session you want to miss.

(Photo courtesy of Steve Todey at SXC)

On Friday, there will be a volleyball convention on the other side of the convention center. Because the garage can house only 1000 cars we strongly encourage you to take advantage of DART and the shuttle buses.

Trying to figure out how to get to the convention? Check out the previous post on Parking and Transportation.

TRE:
Those of you coming in from Ft. Worth, Arlington, and Irving might use the Trinity Railway Express (TRE). You can check out their schedules at this web site: http://www.trinityrailwayexpress.org/newweekeb.html. At Union Station you'll want to switch to the DART Rail Red Line or Blue Line going south to the Convention Center. The Dart schedules are available on this web site: http://www.dart.org/schedules/schedules.asp

Driving:
The driving directions from everywhere are too complicated to put on this blog so I'm going to refer you to the Convention Center's Driving Directions page: http://www.dallasconventioncenter.com/driving_directions.php You can also call the Convention Center's Direction Line: 214.939.2700

If you plan to MapQuest it, the address is:
Dallas Convention Center
650 S. Griffin St.
Dallas, Texas 75202

Today's post is from Dreanna Belden at UNT:

Please join us for a special one day event, the Digitization Expo 2008 at the Texas Library Association's Annual Convention, sponsored by the Digital Libraries Round Table. Everyone is welcome to attend, and the cost is just $15 at the door. Are you interested in Digitization, but don't know where to start? Visit the Digitization Expo to learn from practitioners, talk with vendors, and see live demonstrations of equipment and software. From digital cameras to high end scanners, you can see it all here!

When? Tuesday, April 15, 2008 9 am - 4:30 pm
Where? Dallas Convention Center, corner of Young and Griffin, Ballroom A, 3
Who? Anyone interested in digitization, you do not need to be a TLA member, you do not need to be registered for the full conference.
What? From digital cameras to high end scanners, you can see it all here!
How? $15 at the door of the ballroom.

Vendors:
Innovative Interfaces, Inc.
Backstage Library Works
Archetype Digital Imaging Alliance
S-T Imaging Inc
Zytron Imaging
Amigos Library Services
IImage Retrieval
Safe Sound
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative
Portal to Texas History

Speakers:
Danielle Cuniff Plumer, TSLAC
Lisa Spiro, Rice University
Susan Clarke, Stephen F. Austin University
Laura Zavala Garcia, Corpus Christi Public Library
Alex Hatley, Corpus Christi Public Library
Mark Phillips, University of North Texas
George Blood, Safe Sound
Larry Guyer, Archetype Digital Imaging Alliance
Derek Jenkins, IImage Retrieval
Julianne Smith, Backstage Library Works

Today's post is from Dreanna Belden at UNT:

Thursday, April 17 is a great day for the TLA conference, because you will not have not just one, not just two, but three great opportunities to hear the ever-popular, nationally renowned Roy Tennant. Explore a no-holds-barred look at the “Future of Catalogs,” with Roy at 10:00–11:50am in rooms D221/225/226. The “Future of Catalogs” was selected by Steve Brown as a President’s Program. And for those who are having trouble keeping up with technology, plan on attending “Riding Shotgun Down the Avalanche: Strategies for Keeping Current,” from 2:00–3:50pm, in rooms D170/172. And last but not least, Roy will dishing it out in General Session II with Stephen Abram, Joe Janes, and Karen Schneider on “Transforming Libraries.”

You will want to be there when these visionary library pundits bring it on!

For those using taxis these are the going rates:

(from http://www.dallastaxi.com/rates.html)
FARE SCHEDULE
$2.25- Initial Meter Drop
.20- For each 1/9 mile
.45- Per 1-1/2 Minute Traffic Delay/ Waiting Time
2.00- For each extra passenger (Up to rating seat capacity)
8.00- Minimum for trips originating at Love Field Airport
1.00- Love Field loading fee
18.00- Flat rate for each trip either originating at Love Field Airport and terminating within the Dallas Central Business District or originating within the Dallas Central Business District and terminating at Love field Airport
40.00- Flat rate for each trip either originating at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and terminating within the Dallas Central Business District or originating within the Dallas Central Business District and terminating at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
15.00- Minimum for trips Originating at Love Field Airport and terminating within the Dallas Market Center Area or originating within the Dallas Market Center Area and terminating at Love Field Airport
32.00- Flat rate for each trip either originating at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and terminating within the Dallas Market Central Area or originating within the Dallas Market Center Area and terminating at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

Look at this page for a list of Taxi companies in the area: http://www.visitdallas.com/visitors/visitor_resources/category.list.php?category=1713&location=&search=&x=6&y=6

A few things you might want to know about:

(Photo courtesy of Dean Washington at Ft. Worth Public Library)

Internet Room
Look for the c: drive folder with the program handouts if you need them at conference.

Information Booth
The Information Booth is in Exhibit Hall A across from Registration. Here you'll find the Fun Run packets, lost-and-found, DART information, and more.

Bag Check
Bag Check will be in the lobby outside of Hall B. Remember that you won't be able to take rolling carts into the exhibit hall. This is a good place to store them until you are finished with the exhibits.

Recharge Zone
If you find your cell phone losing bars in the middle of the conference, there will be a convenient Recharge Zone (a table with several power strips) in the lobby outside of Hall B. Or you can avoid lines and recharge your electronics in your hotel room.

Tomorrow or Friday I'll tell you more about the Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson General Session.

Annie Frank from Parr Library in Plano wrote this one for me:

Aargh, Mateys, ye won’t be wanting to miss General Session I! Dave Barry, the Pulitzer prize winning humorist, and Ridley Pearson, bestselling novelist, will be regaling the audience with tales of their Peter Pan prequel collaboration, Peter and the Starcatcher, now three books into the series. And, if we’re lucky, they’ll bring free eye-patches!

If you’re an early riser, you will have an opportunity to queue up to purchase a book and get it signed by both guys! Hyperion will be distributing tickets on a first-come basis beginning at 7:45 a.m, Wednesday, in the Arena/Ballroom A Lobby near the glass windows. Immediately following the General Session I, the book-purchasing and signing queue will begin forming in the lobby for those with tickets. You must have a ticket to queue. One book per person, no personalizing. The guys will be able to sign until 11:15, when they have to leave for other obligations.

General Session I is sponsored by netTrekker d.i..

From Baker & Taylor:

HELP WANTED
CAT ACTORS NEEDED

Two people needed to wear the Baker & Taylor cat mascot costumes during the Texas Library Association Conference in Dallas, TX.

The dates needed are:
Wednesday, April 16, 10:15am – 11:15am
Wednesday, April 16, 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Thursday, April 17, 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Duties include waving to attendees, having pictures taken with attendees and handing out the Baker & Taylor shopping bags. Mascots are not allowed to talk while in costume and must stay in the Baker & Taylor exhibit booth.

The ideal height for wearing the mascot costume is 5’7”- 5’9” and maximum weight, 185 lbs. A white tee shirt must be worn and short pants are preferred. No shoes are allowed; only socks or ballet slippers.

Wages are $75 for each 1 hour appearance.

For more information, contact Carlyne Patenaude in the Baker & Taylor Conventions Department at 800.775.7930, Ext. 3231 or patenac@btol.com.

From Susi Grissom, Travis Vanguard and Academy Librarian at Dallas ISD:

If you haven't checked out the YA author interviews on the YART public blog, click the YART BLOG link under TLA PUBLIC BLOGS on the right-hand frame on this page. You can read the responses of YART panelists Brent Hartinger, Robert Lipsyte, Will Weaver, Jim Murphy, Susan Vaught, Cinda Williams Chima, and Jacqueline Kolosov -- with the promise of more to come over the next few days. Feel free to comment to a posting, if you'd like. Enjoy -- and plan to hear each author in person next week in Dallas!

(Image courtesy of Ann- Kathrin Rehse at SRX)

On Thursday, plan to stay for General Session II. We'll open up with Dennis Gonzalez and Yells at Eels from 3:40 to 4:00. Then, at 4:00, we'll start the session including the Transforming Libraries Panel.

Join Stephen Abram, Joe Janes, Karen Schneider, and Roy Tennant as they debate and discuss the latest and most contentious issues in Libraryland. As our library community takes up the challenge of Transforming Texas Libraries, this general session will be like no other: entertaining, enlightening, energizing, and (most importantly) all about the future of libraries and what we, as a professional community, need to do to control our destiny.

General Session II is sponsored by Brodart Company.

(Image courtesy of Loretta Humble at SRX)

I can't believe that conference is next week! Because I'm an Events co-chair I won't be able to blog about the conference. But have no fear, Star Hoffman has agreed to let you know what is happening next week.

At conference, feel free to stop by and let me know what you think of the conference and if the blog helped you prepare for it. I'll be at one of the booths by the meeting rooms. You won't be able to miss me because I'll be one of those goofy people with a headset on.

I'll write a wrap-up post after conference and, if you didn't catch me at conference, you can leave comments or email me with suggestions about the conference. I'll take them to the Local Arrangements Committee's follow-up meeting. Or you can fill out the survey that will be posted.

See ya' there!

Today's post is from Dale McNeil, Director of Community Library Services Department at Queens Library (formerly of Dallas Public Library):

Many public libraries in Texas are masters at serving customers who speak English and customers who speak Spanish. And may are experienced professionals at serving customers who speak other languages as well. Serving these communities is nothing new (I remember a large Japanese-speaking community when I worked for Houston Public Library many years ago).

But there are challlanges and it's useful to talk about them with colleagues.

I'll review just a little data about languages in Texas, talk a little about the Queens Library, and provide some resources. Fifty minutes isn't long, so I'll start with questions from the audience. I do have a presentation, but it will just be available on the TLA website after the conference.

Be sure to either attend or look at the handout for "Serving Diverse Populations: Building an International Collection" which provides contact information for publishers/distributors of international language materials.

Just briefly, to serve populations speaking several languages:
1) Build political/stakeholder support.
2) Know the community: who's in your service area? what languages do they read? (reading knowledge and speaking knowledge are not the same)
3) Develop a plan and include priorities: which populations can your library serve? what services will be provided (books? DVDs? magazines? programs? classes?)
4) Partner with community agencies/media
5) Get the word out
6) Continually assess success

All during this process, you'll want to learn as much as you can about the customs, history, languages, education, and so on of the particular community you're serving. For example, people who read Chinese may be from mainland China, from Hong Kong, from Taiwan, or from many other places. The *spoken* languages of Chinese readers may be very different. Reasons for immigration may be very different. As librarians or library workers, we are mostly very curious and very polite; those are the two main qualities needed to interact successfully with people from other cultures. We're often not quite as good at *asking* questions as we are at answering them, but that's easy enough to learn.

I hope you have a great time at the TLA conference in Dallas, a city that was home to me for 10 wonderful years. And if you're able to come to my session, I hope you'll be inspired a bit, have a laugh or two, and learn a little something.

Serving Multi-Lingual Populations
Wednesday, 11:00 to 11:50am

This program caught my eye. You should put it on your agenda.

GeekBrief.TV: Podcasting about Technology
Net Fair I
Wednesday, April 16
2:00 – 2:50 pm

Hear first hand from Cali Lewis how to start podcasting. Learn from her experiences and gather valuable tips for creating a successful podcast. Also learn about various technology promotion endeavors and how you might adapt them to promote library services.

Cali Lewis is the host and co-producer of GeekBrief.TV, a video podcast covering the latest gadgets and tech news. She co-hosted Call for Help with Leo Laporte, a TV show in Canada and Australia for three months, and appears regularly on MSNBC, and other tech related shows.

GeekBrief.TV appeals to hard core geeks, but has found a home with casual consumers and strives to put an "everyone's welcome" face on technology.

She and her husband and producer, Neal, are about to embark on a year long road trip, covering 50 states in 50 weeks. They're going to be producing three different shows while on the road, and will be pushing the boundaries of technology.

I just attended a fabulous session on providing services to immigrant populations. It encompassed academic (Georgia) and public libraries (Austin), and featured a third speaker from the Mexican consulate, who spoke about joint programs they offer with the Dallas Public Libraries. I'll be posting my notes from this session later this evening--having trouble finding the time to plug into the internet at the moment!

I'd also like to say that today has illustrated another thing I love about being a TLA member. I'm driving to Plano and taking the DART-rail in each day, so I don't have a "conference buddy" to travel with... but I've already run into people I know from TLA, from Dallas Public, Denton Public, UNT, TWU, and various other groups and committees. It's fabulous to be in such an active group of interesting people. If you're looking for a place to get involved, I strongly suggest you attend Wednesday's 10:15 session on "Getting the Most out of TLA: Your Guide to Active Involvement" (Convention Center C, room 144/145).

Just wanted to add a short note: registration is in the "A" section of the Convention Center. I noticed this isn't very obvious when you're coming in from the DART-rail. If you're using DART, when you exit follow the signs to the convention center, and then follow the signs to "A." (But don't worry--if you end up in the wrong section of the center, there are lots of helpful TLA people at information kiosks to get you on the right path!)

I just attended a session by Dr. Samantha Hastings, formerly of my own UNT and now in North Carolina. She gave an engaging talk about preservation of digital objects, questions we need to think about and strategies we can take to protect the objects we've spent our time, money, and energy creating or harvesting.

She discussed big preservation issues like migration of data, as well as issues such as who's maintaining our hardware, and do the people in charge of our servers really understand the importance of the data that they are protecting? One of the most interesting approaches she discussed was using a universal virtual machine (UVM) that has the ability to simulate any format or operating environment. She also stressed the importance of having a clear mission with good goals, to support your project.

I'm enjoying a little downtime now at the Starbucks kiosk near Ballroom C, which is not only feeding my caffeine habit, but provides free wifi access during its open hours. The connection is great for getting these blog posts and my email done, but word of caution: it's not handling my flickr uploads well, so you may need to wait to get back to your hotel room or home for those memory-hog applications.

Well, I'm about done here, so I'll head off to one of the sessions on gaming in libraries, and then maybe I'll take a quick jog around the exhibits hall.

I had never had the opportunity to get into the TLA exhibits hall at previous conferences--too... many... sessions!--so it was nice to have an hour there today. I was impressed--it really does rival ALA's exhibits, and I'm particularly pleased to have found an advance copy of Neil Gaiman's Coraline in graphic novel format. (Bat your eyelashes, and you may get one, too!)

I'm about to run off to my Government Documents Round Table meeting, so I'd better hibernate the laptop and head that direction. The facilities at the Dallas Convention Center have been great, but boy do they encourage a lot of walking! (I have more than worked off my Starbucks calories from this morning, let me tell you.)

I've heard a bit of discussion from various TLA members who would like to read session notes for sessions they've been unable to attend. However, I didn't want to 'clutter' the conference blog with my long, meandering notes--I tend to be a blazing fast typist at conferences, making notes pretty lengthy. So I'm going to post links here to my session notes, which I have a habit of posting on my wiki.

Tuesday, April 15
-- Library Services to Immigrant Populations: Best Practices
-- Being PRO-active: Encouraging Professional Reading

Wednesday, April 16
-- General Session I: Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
-- So Now it's Digital: What Next?
-- Gaming, Learning, and Libraries: Why Screen Time Can Be Well-Spent

Since we've got open comments on the conference blog, I encourage anyone who'd like to share their notes to post a comment with a link to whatever form your notes are in. This could be a great tool to share what we've learned with each other!!

It's Day 3 of conference, and you begin to see people grabbing their caffeine of choice with whiter knuckles than the first two days. The Starbucks has been a nice place to catch up on my internet-ing, and there's the nice relaxation station near Hall A, where you can get a short massage--and is conveniently located across from the bag check. A friend and I were discussing that the only other thing TLA needs to add now is a nap station!

If you think you can't get away to the Exhibits Hall... try to anyway! I didn't get to last year, and I had a blast this time. Lots of interesting products to see, and of course those prized advance reader copies, as well as a lot of gracious authors signing autographs. I got my copy of "American Born Chinese" (first graphic novel to win the Printz Award!) autographed by Gene Luen Yang this morning, and he was patient and gracious with all our fan questions.

So far today, I've been to:
-- Beyond Bytes and Books: Lee Rainie on the Role of Libraries in a Networked World
-- Wikipedia Smackdown!

Each link above will take you directly to my notes for each session. The powerpoint for Lee Rainie's session should be up on the TLA website tomorrow--if you're looking for any slides or handouts, keep checking this page:
http://www.txla.org/conference/Handouts08/handouts_08.html

I'm sloooowly getting my many conference photos uploaded (keep checking back--I should be finished with uploads by early next week).

Lastly, I hear that the Doo-Wop Sock Hop tonight is only $20, for a good cause, and most impressive of all, they opened for the Beatles back in the day. Sounds like it could be quite a romp!

Well, it's been quite a conference. As always, I've been impressed by the size and variety this conference offers.

This morning, I attended (the titles link to my notes):
-- Beyond Gaming in the Library: Gaming for Information Literacy
-- All the Rage: YA Graphic Novels

My complete notes for all conference sessions I attended (including last night's interesting and hilarious General Session II panel discussion), are linked on this page. Again, if you've also taken notes from sessions you attended, feel free to link them below, or comment about things you learned.

Again, if you missed any of the handouts, you can find them here.

And don't forget to fill out evaluations for the sessions you attended, to help us pick the future programs you're interested in.

So how did you like the conference?

I heard over 8100 people attended. That's more than the population of some of our Texas towns! From Star's posts it sounds like it was a fun conference.

The Local Arrangements Committee will be meeting on May 2 for a debriefing of the conference. Feel free to send me an email or post a comment and let me know what you thought. I'll compile a list of the suggestions and bring it to the meeting. If you want me to include your name let me know, otherwise the suggestions will be anonymous. So far there have been two suggestions:

-Create a wiki for people to post restaurant reviews, information on programs they will be presenting, and anything else needed for conference.

-"a big freakin' map to the convention center or a clear and obvious address to the place, right smack dab in plain and open view of all."

I was at the Meeting Rooms kiosk in the A Lobby. I hope you found your rooms! I know I'll be bringing the A area signage issues up at the meeting.

Some people said they would send me pictures so, hopefully, I will get them soon and be able to post them next week, either Tuesday or Friday.

(Photo courtesy of Star Hoffman at UNT)

I have to give a shout out to all the amazing volunteers who helped at the conference. It takes a small army of you guys to put on a show this big. Thank you for the wonderful job you did and your willingness to pitch in where needed.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!

(Photo courtesy of Star Hoffman at UNT)

The Pulpwood Queen gives the Texas Library Association Convention FIVE Diamonds in her Pulpwood Queen Tiara! Thank you so much for the privilege and the honor of being asked to speak! TLA was the highlight of my first ever book tour!

(Image courtesy of shyle zacharias at SRX)

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs and Author of "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life", Grand Central Publishing Beauty and the Book, the ONLY Hair Salon/ Book Store in the country!

608 North Polk Street
Jefferson, Texas 75657
903-665-7520

www.pulpwoodqueen.com, for daily blogs and recap of TLA with photos!
www.beautyandthebook.com, official website!
www.southernauthors.blogspot.com, contributing author columnist!
www.ReadingGroupGuides.com, contributing author columnist!
www.hachettebookgroupusa.com, my publishers website!

Well, here are the results of four days of running around TLA with a Nikon D40x around my neck. The first day's worth are edited, nice and pretty... the rest of them are just uploaded willy-nilly without editing. (I'm moving this week, so I opted for access over beauty. Sigh.)

I do have them tagged enough that you can break them out by day, if you so wish: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4. Also, you can find the Welcome Party shots here.

If you like, you should be able to download any images by clicking on the "all sizes" icon at the top of the photo.

Check out Dale's photos on flikr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14384940@N05/sets/72157604608690382/

I've really enjoyed working on this blog with Star, Ruth, Dreanna, and Jackie. Y'all have been a great team to work with!

We started on this blog at the same time my system started work on our PlanoReads blog. Both have been a huge learning experience for me. Thank-you to the Local Arrangements Committee and TLA for letting me experiment and learn about blogging!