A Conference at my Desk

Friday I sat at the reference desk with our library assistant, and I checked my Twitter account. Buffy Hamilton, The Unquiet Librarian, had sent out news that the keynote speaker for the SLJ Leadership Summit was getting ready to begin, and she forwarded the link to the CoverItLive session. Jealous of all the school librarians at the event, I decided to attend the summit virtually (luckily my school doesn't block many sites).

CoverItLive is a live blogging program where you can read and post comments and photos, collaborating and engaging with people from all over the world - live. There is a streaming video function too, but that wasn't offered for this session. It is so easy to use, that even as a novice, I was instantly ready to interact with the conference attendees.

Luckily I had relatively few questions at the reference desk, but I was able to go in and out of the discussion when I needed to assist students. As Buffy Hamilton, Cathy Nelson and other librarians publicized the essential questions and ideas of the speaker, Bernie Trilling, other people participated either through Twitter using the hashtag #sljsummit09 or by responding directly into CoverItLive. The conversation was expanded, as well as the attendance at the keynote.
Sadly, I only participated in the one session. My day took me away from the reference desk. But I am excited to go back and read/watch the sessions. Thank you, Buffy and Cathy, for taking me to the Summit!

The conference focused on librarians taking the lead in 21st century learning, and the sessions covered aspects from databases to advocacy. This new leadership direction for librarians excites me,and I am looking forward to reading the blogs of the librarians who attended and learn some of what they learned! I am inspired to get to the SLJ Summit next year. Want to join me?