Attending MLA 2009 Vicariously

I'm not at MLA this year, but somehow if feels like I am. Through a variety of sources, I've got a pretty decent idea of the goings on.

Marje, one of our reference librarians, is attending and has written not one, but two posts about the conference so far.

Paulette, our cataloging genius, drove up to attend the award ceremony for another reference librarian, Vaun, who was named Librarian of the year. Way to go Vaun! Paulette brought back photographic evidence as proof.

To Vaun's left is Don, a retired MPL reference librarian. This was the dynamic duo that answered all the questions Missoula could throw at them for years.

And if that isn't enough, I've been keeping up with the conference live via Twitter. From these posts I know the opening speaker was great, there was a pretty lively discussion of Intellectual Freedom, and there was a lot of what happens at every conference - waiting for the next workshop or speaker to begin.

With the wide array of social web tools, and a little bit of inside info, I'm able to keep up with a professional conference that I didn't attend. It's a grand new age of information. Has anyone else been following MLA from afar like I have?

Lib"Scare"ians

This year the library is filled with Halloween spirit. I'm pretty sure that in the close to 4 years I've worked here this is the most dressed up we've been. I took the easy road by just bringing in my Ronald Reagan mask. But that still counts, right?

Then I ran into Heather, who dressed up like Eddy from Eddy's coffee shop in our lower lobby!

And our staff room is filled with treats, my favorites? These awesome witch fingers that Kathy from tech services brought in. They're almost too creepy looking to eat, but they taste delicious.