My Disappointment with OLA's Superconference

Now I want to precede the following entry by saying that I'm not trying to get people angry, but I am trying to start a debate and I hope that my entry will get some juices flowing. I wasn't too pleased with this year's Superconference and hope that future changes can be made. Enjoy my rant! :) I waited all week in anticipation...even going on my one day off…for what is the most talked about conference in the library industry in Ontario and perhaps all of Canada: the OLA Superconference and I walked away completely disappointed. Perhaps my expectations were too high. I envisioned the hustle and bustle of what might be compared to The Bridal Show, free swag comparable to a red carpet event and lectures of the highest quality. I had high hopes for our library industry…I thought, hey this is the place where there are going to be people that want to make a difference, people that will rekindle my motivation in librarianship and content that will challenge my mind. The most unique thing I saw was the rumble chair to play Wii on…and last time I checked, my library doesn’t even have a Wii. I am a proud member of the OLA and fully support many of their initiatives. I’ve been awarded a free membership and a monetary award from them for my interest in Public Library Management and I’d like to put my management skills to use right now. I think the OLA Superconference could be so much more. Let’s pump in some excitement, some music, some buzz. More interaction…more things to touch…large screens projecting whoever is speaking at the back of the room…less book displays (I do look at book displays everyday) or maybe more creative book displays and where were the performers/entertainers?? Programming is probably the largest part of my job and I was hoping to gain some great ideas for events to run for this year’s Summer Reading Club. Give me something to think about, something to get my creative juices flowing. And where was the emphasis on young librarians?? We are the future of the industry, after all. I sat in on what should have been an extremely interesting workshop, yet the speaker continued to make jokes about a time when I wasn’t even born, making the lecture less appealing. I thought the Superconference was about looking into the future and why then weren’t lectures catered to those who will be around in the next 15-20 years to make a difference?? My suggestion would be to go as far as having one day dedicated to the 35 and under crowd. Many other industries have the “Top…Under 35”, so why not the library? I have the utmost respect for those who have preceded me and grace the libraries with their wealth of knowledge and vast experience on a daily basis. But when will and who will change the stereotypical face of ‘librarianship?’ I would like to feel more support and encouragement, as a young person, by one of the most prestigious library associations. Maybe I went to the wrong workshops or on the wrong day. Unfortunate for me, it left a negative first impression and I can’t guarantee that I will be as excited to attend next year. In a dream world I would change the face of librarianship one stereotypical glasses, crazy clothes, chubby cheeked kid’s book picture of a librarian at a time and I already am doing what I can within my local branch. I will be rewriting class visit scripts to include the latest websites and trends (yes, Wikipedia included) and am visually having things rearranged and repainted to modernize things a bit. I am the local TPL Foundation fundraising champion and the district Union Rep. and I do this all with the help and support from my coworkers and management with the hope that not only will I truly learn the insides and outs of the library system, but that hopefully I can bring a fresh perspective to things that have been around way longer than I have. I would love to see that same support coming through the OLA. This conference should be anything but stereotypical. When a speaker got up during a presentation to go ‘shush’ the loud librarians in the hallway, I knew this was going to be a very stereotypical day.