Infocamp impressions

Attending Infocamp Seattle today was an interesting experience, professionally and personally.

My first impression, as my fbook friends may have noticed, was that the University of Washington campus is BEAUTIFUL. I do not use those caps lightly. There were old brick buildings with stained glass windows, a water fountain, greenery wherever it could go, cobblestone walkways. I loved it.

The keynote speaker was amusing and appropriately quirky. He's a designer, but I saw many ways his approach could be applicable to libraries. Especially: "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." How much theory are we, as library professionals, seeing right now? And how much practice?



My first breakout session was disappointing, to be honest. MILS: Now What? turned out to be a bitchfest of "This is what I'm doing, I can't find a job," and pretty much cemented my notion of never, ever pursuing an MILS. I scored a card off a lady who had a wide range of experience working in different types of libraries, and had a conversation while in line for lunch. The uptake from this is that I know I'm on the right path.

Second session: Collaboration, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The talk here was, what made collaboration work? Despite the focus of user experience in a web and product developing sense, this generated a lot of questions about the direction libraries are going. One woman said, "There's a lot of ego here," and that touched off a mad scribble. Does my library have an ego? What do we do that feeds that ego, and what do we do that services the end user?

The consensus from this session was that if there's isn't a clear goal, it doesn't matter what amazing resources, abundant funding, and superhero team you have, your end product isn't going to work. And in big block letters, down at the bottom of my notes, is the million dollar question. What is my library's end goal?

As summed up by a government librarian at the next break, "I don't think libraries know."

Hmm.

Beside these questions about my job security, I was faced with a flood of new people. Some networking gods, those extroverted can-do sorts, would be drooling in anticipation at this. Not me. I need to meet new people in small doses and controlled environments, because I face down that vise-gripped monster called social anxiety. What was I doing there, then? Don't I have an ounce of foresight? I know, I know. But we battled, took a break at lunch so I could call Hava to hear a reassuring voice, then went straight back at it. I chit-chatted. I stated my opinion at a session, once and briefly. I helped Erich at his session without cowering.

When five o'clock hit, I bolted. So fast I didn't say a proper goodbye to my cohort. Then I put in headphones and wandered around that beautiful campus for ten minutes, wondering if I should brave the after-party. More free food, after all. But, the need for a familiar space won out.

In retrospect, from the safety of my living room couch, I can see how I've grown. In that most social of situations, I wasn't networking. I wasn't one of the attendees standing around having (what appeared to me, anyway) excited, enlightening conversations that would lead to job and contract offers. But I did know where my threshold was, and then I pushed it. When I needed to find a quiet space and seek out a tiny comfort, I did that. So, that's something.

That's a hell of an introductory post. Here's a picture of the keynote speaker's Weimaraner to make up for it.

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