Bibliocycle

GOOD

The National Educational Computing Conference was excellent in many ways.  It was great to be in the nation’s capitol.  The program was packed with interesting, stimulating sessions.  The venue was spacious and comfortable.  The logistics, including the hotel shuttles, were well planned and executed.  And the vendors by themselves were worth the price of admission.

The entire lower level of the conference center was packed with exhibits.

The booths were attractive, imaginative, and, most importantly, informative.  Many vendors provided scheduled presentations on their products, and all of the exhibits were manned with helpful representatives of the sponsor.  Elvis was there.

As was this friendly Bee.

And the President and First Lady.

BAD

It was a great conference, but I had one significant disappointment.  I had agreed, ahead of time, to be registered as an official conference blogger.  (I also contributed four hours of volunteer time during the conference.)  There was an excellent wireless network at the venue.  Unfortunately, when I unpacked my suitcase late Sunday night, I realized that I had failed to include my power cord.  Having used my computer all day, I was nearly out of charge.  The hotel business center couldn’t help me, but I figured that I could come up with something at the conference.  On the second day, a very nice lady at the NECC volunteer booth let me charge my computer for a couple of hours.  Since the computers at the volunteer booth were not used after 6pm, I hoped to be able to borrow a cord over night.  Alas, my most persuasive arguments did not sway the conference coordinator to whom I made my request.  I think that the situation was analogous to that of academic reserves in the library–even though they may only be borrowed for 2 hours, we allow them to go out overnight, on the theory that no one is being deprived of their use while the library is closed.

I was disappointed that the ISTE rep. was so inflexible.  The down side risk was very low.  I was a registered attendee.  They know where I live.  I think that member organizations (like libraries) should have policies that recognize that they exist to serve the members.  Service organizations need to find ways to say “yes.”   I did manage to maintain a charge by sharing a cord with a couple of different people at my hotel, but it was complicated, and unnecessary.

While I am on the subject, I continue to be amazed that you can count on getting a free wireless connection from every Hampton Inn and Best Western across the country, but the much-more-expensive hotels rarely offer free service.  An Internet connection has become nearly as essential in a hotel room as the lights.  It should not be metered.

UGLY

This is not really the fault of NECC, but air travel has become increasingly difficult and unpredictable as the airlines have cut flights to stem their losses.   On Wednesday, a combination of bad weather and mechanical difficulties resulted in my spending more than ten hours at Washington National airport, two of which were on the tarmac. By the time the plane landed, my husband had already gone to the hospital for his overnight shift, so I was at the mercy of public transportation–very spotty at that time of the night.

It was an excellent conference.  I learned lots of things that I will share with the library staff and with the larger academy community.  But I am glad to be home, and back to work.