Travelling in unseasonably warm weather, I arrived in Boston on 7 January. The next morning, I spent at Harvard University meeting with various colleagues of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (see separate report on those meetings). That evening I met up with colleagues from LITA to catch up on their work and activities.On Saturday, I attended the ARL Committee on Diversity Luncheon (on behalf of Nancy Gwinn). At the luncheon were various ARL directors or their representatives, ARL staff, and the many of the ARL Diversity Scholars (including the Smithsonian Libraries' Monique Libby who was selected for the 2015-17 cohort).
That day was also my opportunity to visit the vendor exhibits and meet with representatives of a number of firms that Smithsonian Libraries has done business with (including the Internet Archive). That evening, ProQuest hosted a reception at the New England Aquarium where I met up with a number of other colleagues.Sunday, Carolyn Sheffield and I met with Christine Giannoni (The Field Museum, Chicago) to discuss planning for the upcoming BHL Annual meeting. Monday was the OCLC Research Update which is always a highlight of any ALA. The program was:
- OCLC Research Overview – Eric Childress
- The Library in the Life of the User – Lynn Silipigni Connaway
- Looking Inside the Library Knowledge Vault – Jeff Mixter
- Working with OCLC Research Library Partners on Organizational Identifiers – Karen Smith-Yoshimura
I also attended closing speaker Chelsea Clinton's talk which promoted her new book, It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!. Tuesday morning, before catching my flight back, I stopped by the Old Granary Burying Ground to pay a visit to the grave of Mother Goose.
