Top Ten Memories from PNC/MLA '09

In the style of Mr. Jonathan Potter (oh, and that Letterman fellow), here are ten of my favorite memories from PNC/MLA 2009.

10. Planning for PNC/MLA 2009. Planning a conference is a lot of work! The dynamic duo of Susan Barnes and Gail Kouame ran a tight ship and kept us all moving in the right direction. It was great to see everything come together after so many months.

9. Twitter. We tweeted the heck out of this meeting. In so tweeting, we captured key points from the conference sessions, shared references and links mentioned by the presenters, asked questions, snapped photos, and shared the events of PNC/MLA with our colleagues around the world. If you haven't yet, take a look at the tweets tagged with #pncmla09. Thanks to all of the tweeters out there.

8. Powerful keynote addresses about healthcare reform from Drs.Will Welton and Lori Heim. Is this the year that meaningful reform legislation is finally possible? Everyone's talking about reducing healthcare costs and improving quality of care. Let's make sure they're also talking about medical librarians and how we help make those things happen every day.

7. The library school / iSchool students who joined us. Thanks for everything you are already contributing to our profession. I wish I'd been brave enough to attend a professional conference when I was in graduate school. May your efforts be rewarded with fantastic internship opportunities and job offers.We hope you'll be back year after year.

6. The Unshelved Guys. Up until now, I've only been an occasional reader of this library-themed comic strip, but the presentation Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum gave last night kept everyone in stitches. I finally understand what is up with that beaver mascot, and I am loving my "Frequently Asked Questions" t-shirt. It was great to see conference attendees lining up after the banquet to tell Bill and Gene their hilarious cataloging stories.

5. The panel discussion about mentors and mentorship was extremely well done. I refrained from tweeting so I could take real notes during this session. It made me think about my own formal and informal career mentors and how thanking them would be an excellent way to celebrate National Medical Librarians' Month.

4. Dianne McCutcheon's talk about disruptive technologies and the future of library collections. One word: post-papyrocentric. Preserving access to digital materials presents huge challenges for our library of record, the National Library of Medicine. Dianne's talk renewed my great respect for those in our profession who are working out the solutions.

3. The food. The food was incredible, and so was the service from Washington Athletic Club staff. The contents of my refrigerator are completely inadequate by comparison.

2. The Web 2.0 a.k.a. "Let's just call it the internet" session. You're making LibGuides. You're podcasting and screencasting. You're using wikis to keep projects organized. You're introducing soon-to-be graduates to the beauty of RSS feeds... and as the editor of Technology Tuesday posts in the RML's Dragonfly blog, I'm taking notes and taking names! I'm always seeking guest posts from PNR network members and would love to help you show off your excellent web work.

1. Recognizing so many people. I'm lucky to have a job that involves traveling around the Pacific Northwest and meeting all sorts of health information professionals. When I started almost two years ago, I thought I would never be able to keep track of all the names, faces, and personalities. I'm getting there thanks to conferences, site visits, and social media. Thanks for making an introverted green-ish librarian from Ohio feel so welcome.