Some thoughts and observations from ALA Annual Conference (Virtual) 2021

 

 

This was my first ALA Annual Conference, and I was glad that it was virtual. I was glad not just due to the ongoing pandemic but also because it meant I did not have to travel anywhere. In addition, it also meant that neither me nor my library had to get a small mortgage or a "juice loan" for me to travel someplace, pay for accommodations and travel plus the cost of the conference itself.

Let me disclose upfront that the main reason I went was because the Appalachian College Association (ACA), one of our local consortia, had some spots for college members to send some of their staff to ALA Annual. Apparently there were some leftover professional development funds that had not been used due to the pandemic. At any rate, I applied, and I got them to pay for the conference. Thank you ACA. Otherwise I probably would not have bothered. I have not been an ALA member for years, and a big reason is ALA's prohibitive costs for things, plus I will just say I have other issues with ALA and how they run things, but that is another post for another time. 

ALA Annual is not know for its academic offerings. That is what ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) is for, which I attended once back in 2013 (link to my first post on the conference. If you search the blog you can find the other post notes I made). So I decided to focus more on collection development, specially graphic novels. Our library has an excellent graphic novels collection, and as of this post it is our most circulating collection. I also tried to focus on civics and civil rights issues, topics important to librarians, but that I rarely hear about here. A lot of not hearing about such things here is having to deal with the daily grind of everyday work. There is not much time left to think about things like big picture politics when I am more concerned with working with my students, local projects, so on. But I am digressing, so let me get back on track. 

I did the following sessions at the conference: 

• Wednesday, June 23: 
• Danny Trejo, speaker. Sponsored by Simon and Schuster. I did a few other sessions, but for me this first session set the tone for the rest of the conference, and it was my highlight. Like most speakers at ALA Annual, he was pitching his new book, his memoir Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood. As of this post, I am currently reading the book, and I hope to have a review of it on The Itinerant Librarian soon. Danny Trejo is very strong as a moving and authentically sincere speaker and individual with a raw honesty. 
• Declan Shalvey, author of Time Before Time, presented by Image Comics. I made a note that this title can be a possible addition to our library's graphic novel collection. 
• Darryl Cunningham, the cartoonist of Billionaires: the Lives of the Rich and Powerful, presented by Drawn and Quarterly. I noted this one sounds like a good addition to my personal TBR list as well as possible acquisition for our library. The book looks at the lives of Jeff Bezos, the Koch brothers, and Rupert Murdoch. I think it may be a timely selection in these Hard Times. On a side note, Mr. Cunningham also has a forthcoming graphic novel about Vladimir Putin that sounds interesting too: Putin's Russia: the Rise of a Dictator.
  
• Guy Delisle, cartoonist of Factory Summers, presented by Drawn and Quarterly. In the book, the author looks back at his high school job. During the presentation, author mentions all the years he can spend writing on a book we might read in two hours, but if we are reading it, he feels he has done his work. He adds comics are good for illustration and also for explaining things. As reader and librarian, I've often found a good nonfiction GN can be a great tool to explain and teach on a complex topic (or not so complex but visual works better). 
• Keiler Roberts, cartoonist of My Begging Chart and Joe Ollman, cartoonist of Fictional Father, both from Drawn and Quarterly.
• June 24: 
• I listened to Nicole Hannah-Jones discuss her 1619 Project. She spoke on how in school African American history was never taught. Now that you mention it, I did not get a whole lot of that either in school nor even as an undergrad. I think 1st formal African American history course I took was in grad school.For me, aside from grad school, a lot of what I have learned on this has been effort on my own to find books and resources to learn. 
• Listened to Belgian author Judith Vanistendael now. A new author to me, presented by Europe Comics. The author was a pleasure to listen to, very warm, and the company rep was good too overall. At one point during the presentation, audience member asked about her art process (she is author/illustrator). She has actually pulled out some of her sketches to show us the process of how the book developed, then compared to a book page. Very visual. 
• David Copperfield speaking of magic, his personal magic museum, and his new book David Copperfield's History of Magic.  Presented by Simon and Schuster. Copperfield speaks of magic as an art form. Magic brings out in us a sense of wonder and discovery.
• Via Gibbs Smith, I listened to Peter Hiller, author of The Life and Times of Jo Mora: Iconic Artist of the American West. I knew very little of Jo Mora, so finding this fascinating.
• Listened to the Red Hen Press author showcase featuring Dariel Suarez, Lily Hoang, Thea Prieto, and Kazim Ali. Ali's book, New Moons, sounded interesting and possible acquisition for our library. It is a compilation of Muslim voices in America.At the time of this post, Edelweiss Plus had a review copy of this, which I downloaded. I hope to write a review of it for The Itinerant Librarian after I read it.
• Dr. Leana Wen spoke on public health, COVID-19, the pandemic, and her memoir Lifelines.  Her three takeaways: 
• Public health saved your life today. You just don't know it. 
• All of us and all of you (in libraries) are public health warriors too. 
• We all need to make our own tables, not wait for anyone else to go first.
• June 25: 
• Via Drawn and Quarterly, listened to Sophie Yanow, cartoonist of The Contradictions.
• Stanley Tucci talking about cooking, and of course his new cookbook, Taste: My Life Through Food, was interesting and a bit of fun. 
• June 28:
• I caught the encore of the session on the First Amendment and libraries. What I noted at the time: To be honest, as much as they are trying to be somewhat optimistic, this is seriously depressing given the clusterfuck in the U.S. and how rights are being suppressed in states while the federal administration seems asleep at the wheel.
• And I ended it listening to former President Barack Obama on June 29. What I jotted down at the time: There may be things I do not agree with him (I think like many Dems he can be seriously milquetoast), but some good points, and he seems to mostly act in good faith.

A challenge for me is that the conference offered sessions with many authors and publishers that sounded interesting, so selecting which ones to listen to at the time was not easy. Still, I do appreciate some of the recordings of sessions were available later for me to go back and listen to things I may have missed the first time. 

Since I am not a member, I pretty much ignored the administrivia and member organization meetings. To be honest, if I was a member, I'd probably ignore them too. This makes me glad that as a librarian, I am not on a tenure line or such. One of my colleagues was on a tenure line at a previous place, and she says only reason she had to go to ALA or ACRL was because tenure work required it (the "service" part). 

I took very minimal notes, and at the time I mostly did small live tweets on Twitter mentioning sessions and brief impressions or comments. You can look up my handle (@bloodravenlib) and add the hashtag #ALAAC21 to the search, and you can find my notes if interested. I also used that thread to make a list of titles I was interested in both to read personally as well as for possible library acquisition. 

 

Overall, I did like the virtual experience. Getting some professional development done from my desk without expensive travel was worth it. Would I do ALA Annual again? If they offer a virtual option for folks like me, I'd consider asking if my library would fund it. I am not saying for them not to do in person. Go right ahead, and if travel is your thing and you got the money for it, you do you. I am saying the virtual option should also be available as an alternative for folks who may need a more affordable option, refuse to or cannot travel, so on.