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June 23, 2004
American Library Association Orlando annual
Well I am getting ready for the ALA meeting in Orlando. I will be driving up from Clearwater a few days and I will be staying at the Peabody (it has ducks in the fountain and a daily duck parade- seeing that I like animals more than people it was an easy choice).
Michael Moore's film StolenFromRayBradbury 9/11 is being shown for $10 with the money going to the ALA for scholarships of some sort for library students. While I have no problem giving ten bucks to the ALA for scholarships I really can't bear to see this film. I wonder how many seats there are. I could buy the tickets and give them to members of the NRA and the GOP...
The ALA is not by any stretch of the imagination a conservative or right-wing organization. In fact librarians are by and large 'progressives' as they seem to wish to be called. Liberal is another term but some consider that pejorative. Not that I have not known some librarians that were liberals for whom I have great respect and admiration, but I generally don't agree with their political point of view. Librarians have the ability to shape public opinion and it is important that they stay neutral when dealing with patrons, and I trust that their professional practice is indeed politically un-influenced. Their personal lives are separate from their professional lives, at least for the librarians I know. (This is not entirely true, librarians as a whole tend to believe in freedom: freedom to read what we want, freedom to publish what we want, and freedom to think as we wish. I guess that is political since they are jailing private librarians in Cuba. The ALA has not lodged a formal protest to this, but I faxed Fidel.)
Anyway, I am off to the ALA meeting this weekend. I was going to use it primarily for networking- finding a full time permanent library position. I am working at my Library School's (Florida State University School of Information Studies)[Yes it is a Masters degree to be a librarian for those of you unfamiliar with the program.] booth. Stop by if you want I think it is 1135 at the Orlando convention center. This week people keep calling me for interviews. I have no idea why really, I have been sending résumés out for months and getting 'thanks but no thanks letters' and interviews at a ratio of 1 : 50. Within the last 2 weeks I have sent 7 résumés out and 5 people want to interview me. I'm not sure why, but why complain.
So, off to the ALA I go. I hope no one beats me up.
Posted by Matthew at June 23, 2004 01:32 AM