When Duty Calls, Can You Hang Up?

Oh, heck. I'm on the Local Assistance Committee for MLA'13, and I just recently got forwarded mail (yes!--the postal system works!) asking if I want to chair the Carla Funk Award Jury for 2012-13.

I've done MLA committees in the past, I totally want to be involved, but do I want to do two of them in the same year? I kind of didn't specifically volunteer for a committee this year, partly because of this LAC commitment, and also because I'm not going to be at MLA'12 to take part in the committee meetings so I miss out on the transfer of information.

But they tracked me down anyway! Can I refuse my professional association in its hour of need?

I suppose not.

Ah, well. I mean, what else am I doing these days?

MLA is A-Comin'

I see exciting updates about the annual Medical Library Association meeting on the MLA Connections blog and the MLA 2010 blog (via the Krafty Librarian).

You can apply to be an MLA 2010 Official Blogger if you have a blog! I did that in 2008 and it was lots of fun.

I totally want to go, although we still have to wait and see how the travel budget and the scheduling works out. Fingers crossed!

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Nifty Poster Goodness

I'm pleased to have the MLA2009 Official Blog to keep me posted on events at the conference. As anticipated, it fills me me sorrow and bitterness that I'm not there, but it's nevertheless good to be informed.

Among other things, the blog has alerted me to the fact that the posters from the poster session are available online in an interactive display. It's pretty cool.

You can see thumbnails of all the posters, hover to see titles, click to enlarge an individual poster (in effect--technically, you're going to that poster's separate page), zoom in on various segments, and even leave comments. It does require a download of Adobe Flash Player 10 and a restart, but that didn't take long.

It's been set up using a program called Trapeze Media Solutions that seems to be designed for photo slideshows, but works very well for this. You can even embed it into your page, where you can navigate with the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Nicely done, whoever set this up! And if I can stop oohing over the technology, the posters are pretty good too. :)

I encourage everyone to take a look.

MLA 2009...Far Away From Me

Prompted by the Official MLA 2009 Blog, I am now following MLA 2009's Twitter feed. I will not likely be using the official #mla09 tag for any of my own tweets, on account of I won't be there, but I want to keep an eye on the action.

Join me at the cyberconvention, my legions!

Even though there's a strong risk it will just make us sad and bitter about all the cool things we're missing. The loss of free pens alone nearly breaks my heart.

I'll be channeling my bitterness into vicious weeding of print journals and old textbooks. No pity! No remorse! You're out!

How will you be compensating for the tragic fact that you're not in Hawaii?

Music!--the Heart Soars

Ah, the Bearded Pigs are going to be at MLA again this year.

I am not (alas), so this information does me little good, other than that sort of abstract good that it does any of us, anywhere, to know that music, art, flowers, sunshine, adorable kittens and the joyous laughter of little medical librarians exist somewhere in the world. 

Perhaps not all in the same room. 

I was fortunate to observe the world's only international library rock band last year in Chicago, and they give a good show.  This year, I guess I'll sit home and play the soundtrack to Babe at top volume.

It's...not at all the same thing, no. 

Comment! Comment!

The final set of MLA goals is posted for review. Comments are requested by December 15th.

I do my best. I'm pretty sure I'm singlehandedly reshaping the future of the association. 

Mainly for good.

MLA Comments Step 2

The next section of the Strategic Plan is on the blog for comments. 

I'm so there! You know, eventually. When I've read some of these other blog posts that are piling up in my feed reader, and written another few thousand words.

We have until November 28th this time. So get out there and commentate! What do you think about recruitment, membership and leadership in the profession, and about life-long learning?

Personally, I don't hold with any of it.

Planning to Strategically Plan

Ah, MLA Connections has a new post about the Strategic Plan.

I swear I am going to read it and try to think of an insightful comment. Honest. I put a reminder on the 'sticky note' widget on my computer desktop.*

We now have more time, too, through November 14, so potentially others will seize the chance to join me in agitating for redheaded librarian subsidies. I haven't given up that dream.

*This is true. 

Well, NOW I Feel Like a Slacker

T. Scott calls our attention to the MLA Strategic Plan, now being reviewed for updating. Member comments on the project were solicited on the new MLA blog, Connections, back on October 9, but none have been forthcoming.

Yeah, before I felt moderately lazy, but now I feel like a complete slacker: I confess, I am one of the people who has not submitted any comments. In fact, I may have been the first person to not comment, thus encouraging others to follow my bad example.

My first excuse is, I missed the initial launch of Connections (on my reader now, I promise!), as well as the post with this announcement. I didn't know! I'm innocent!

My second excuse is, I've only been an MLA member for about six months, so where do I get off having opinions about the Strategic Plan? Don't I need to, I don't know, marinate for a while in the lucid broth of membership before I can venture to hold forth on the priorities and business plan?

But now that I realize no one else has any opinions either, I'm totally going to sway the entire association to my nefarious purpose by submitting hundreds of comments calling for increased subsidies for the wine and chocolate needs of redheaded librarians.

Join me! We should get in on this now while we still can! 

And by "we should get in on this" I mean "you should help me gain greater access to wine and chocolate." If there's a sweeter reward than knowing you've helped fill my pantry and wine cellar...well, I'm not offering it today.

Comments will be accepted through the end of the month. We need to get cracking if we're going to make the depth of our feelings on this issue known.

Speaking of Social Networking

I just heard the exciting news that MLA is now on LinkedIn (thanks to the no-doubt awesome Brandi Tuttle). 

And OMG, I'm on LinkedIn too! 

MLA and I should totally get together and chat about stuff we like. Although my profile is ugly because I don't check it that often and can't be bothered to brighten it up in whatever way one can brighten profiles on that site.

Possibly I will not be cool enough to hang with MLA.