Talking with Friends

Wednesday was a good day for conversations at the PLA Conference. I enjoyed the day of meeting new friends and reconnecting with old. I am not going to quote from any of them, for I did not advise anyone that I might blog their words, but I would like to show how far the conversations ranged. Many questions were asked, of which these are just a few:

• How did you become a librarian?
• How many of your staff work on your website?
• How long does it take to write a book?
• Can you get the free wifi to work?
• Will the corporations that own electronic content continue to license any of it for libraries to distribute?
• Who came from your library?
• What do you want to eat?
• What do we do if the state fails to fund library systems in Illinois?
• Which publishers are giving away advanced reading copies of upcoming books?
• What are the prospects for subscription services when so much of the web is free?
• How many nights in a row can you go to Powell's Book Store?
• Is there software for indexing?
• Are we paying too much for our ILS?
• Will you be my Facebook friend?
• What programs will you attend tomorrow?

The first question may be my favorite. The last is what I need to deal with now.