Hi all --
Sorry I have not kept this up very well the past two days. I have been doing the work portion of my trip which involved me hobnobbing with librarians from across the country and learning more about why we do what we do. Last night, we had Sherman Alexie (prolific poet, novelist, and screenplay writer - he wrote a wonderful film called Smoke Signals) give a keynote address. He was very entertaining! I bought his classic YA book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian for Miles and got it signed by Alexie (like the book geek that I am).
Besides hobnobbing, every session I attended was really good (and I mean that - I didn't fall asleep once :-). I learned about ways to ask our students and patrons what they want our library to be, how to do focus groups, new technologies that will make my stats keeping MUCH easier (at least I hope :-), and how to improv at the library (that was a really fun session). It's nice to have the opportunity to attend these conferences and learn new things. There is something to be said about removing yourself from your day to day surroundings and looking at what you do with fresh eyes.
Besides attending the conference, we managed to do a few touristy things. We did go up the Space Needle on a sunny day. Miles really liked that. We also spent time down at the Public Market. Saturday (today) has been the only rainy day we have had this trip. My overall impression of Seattle and Tacoma are that they are lovely cities with clean air (even though they don't think so), green everything (from all the rain), and of course, how can you not love a place surrounded by mountains AND large bodies of water?
So, tomorrow morning we are heading back to Atlanta. I hear it is rainy there, too. I also hear that jetlag is worse coming back...
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