Day 2 at SLA2007
I feel like I'm slowly easing my way back into the library world. It's going pretty well. But for the first time since I've started attending SLA annual, I missed 1) the Exec. Board meeting and 2) the raffle and ribbon cutting for the exhibit hall (Info-Expo in these parts).
The Info-Expo is pretty interesting, as always. Not nearly as big as ALA's exhibit hall, but then that means it's more managable. And various big vendors have various ways of enticing users -- Dow Jones/Factiva hired two handwriting analysts to read our scribbles and discern our personalities. A bit like astrology, and I'm not sure how much the guy was actually reading from my handwriting versus my appearance and mannerisms, but he was very sweet and gave me an ego boost.
This year, I did a 4-hour Continuing Ed on copyright, led by the Copyright Clearance Center. Shamefully, I ducked out in the middle of it and missed the interesting panel discussion on DRM, but I did come back at the end to hear about international copyright. Per my wont, I ended up throwing in a molotov cocktail of a question at the very end, but it was apparently appreciated. And I have a nice little meta-outline frame for when I take Copyright Law (hopefully this fall)
And then there was the highlight(s) of the day, and why I ditched a session I paid around $250 (or was it $300) out of pocket -- Al Gore was in the house.
First, there was a 45-minute signing, which was very rapid. Me and 549 of my close personal friends got to say hi ...
No personalization, one book only, no posing with the former VP. I did manage to give him a hello from someone who travels in his circle, so he did pick up his ears a bit.
Later, Gore was the keynote speaker for tonight's General Session (the other keynoter will be Scott Adams, creator of "Dilbert"). I took some semi-basic notes ... as has been mentioned in many other forums, he has considerably loosened up in public since 2000. He doesn't have Clinton's famed charisma but he is definitely no robot.
Gore speechWarm thanks to Janice LaChance and Rebecca Vargha.
He introduced himself as the "former next president of the United States." People laughed. He said, "It's not funny." Someone yelled "2008!" He wagged his finger. People laughed harder.He told a story about the culture shock of going from VP to just an average Joe - taking off his shoes at the airport, not being part of a motorcade, going to chain restaurants
General impression -
Quite funny -- very much into self-deprecation
More political than I thought (and if you think corporate librarians are significantly more conservative than the ALA crowd ... well, you wouldn't be able to tell from some of the reactions and applause lines for this crowd)Libraries and librarians are important
New book, Assault on Reason - about the role info should play in the "decisions we make together"
Grateful for our willingness to speak out on info policy issues
We face a challenge not only in keeping up with the info explosion, but also in describing who we are and what we do to others - AG believes we're making headway
We're being asked to take on more complex tasks, but there is also 'a great deal of misunderstanding on the part of some who think that the role of info pros is diminished, even though it's increasing dramatically'
Illustration of that - the closing of EPA libraries
AG told EPA librarians - God Bless you for hanging in there ...
Digitization alone is not a solution
Good news: most orgs who are in a competitive environment understand that the ability to hire the best info pros and have the best strategy for [dealing] with information is ... one of the most important strategies ...
The info society is a reality - info is a key strategic resource now, just as oil was the key strategic resource in the last century
Analogy - the oil industry is lacking the highly developed, experienced workers to extract oil from more difficult reserves; the info industry needs highly developed, experienced info pros to "characterize" information and help find what's relevant quickly and effectively
Info pros are now more important - the sheer amount of info can be/is a detriment to the goal of speedily finding relevant info
Changing technology is a big challenge, but a lot of the basic skills remain the same.
One thing that is different - the challenge of the climate crisis - unlike anything we've faced thus far
Our democracy is faced with the challenge of deriving the essential meaning from all of the technical/scientific information out thereWhat does the decision to go to war against Iraq have in common with the climate crisis? In both situations, there is voluminous info out there indicating that the best direction was the opposite of the strategies we chose to pursue
Printing technology led to the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment - the world changed when the libraries weren't the province of the wealthiest feudal families ... or exclusively under the control of the church
The dominant info medium of today is TV -- TV is not in and of itself bad, but TV has a different architecture than print - print is more multidirectional than TV
New challenger to TV - the Internet - but it's not yet strong enough to overturn the dominance of TVPlease continue to help our country pursue strong info policy - such as ensuring net neutrality
In response to questions:
Apparently he's involved with something called "The Climate Project" which teaches others how to make persuasive presentations on climate change/crisis, in the model of his slide show from "An Inconvenient Truth". We all need to help bring about change.
He agrees that a lot of "green" activities have middle-class (or higher) price tags, and that improving mass transit is also key
Someone asked THE QUESTION he's getting at every forum now - will he run in 2008? From my recollection, it's a qualified no. He may get back into politics. At one point, he said, "I WANT TO BE PRESIDENT!" He seemed to let his guard down and there were hints of anger and frustration in his voice -- basically, he seems to be doing more good on the outside, rallying the public and framing the message, than he believes that he would do if he were to campaign for the next 500 days
Now, I'm off to the News Division suite. Fun times.