I invested a good day at the Ohio Library Council Convention and Expo here in Columbus yesterday.
I spent about an hour in the exhibits area. Since Ohio public libraries continue to enjoy above average funding, many vendors and architects come to this conference.
The program I mentioned earlier on It's All Good about the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route came off very well. My colleague Chuck Harmon (who planned the Ohio portion of the route) had put together three moving photo montages with musical accompaniment to showcase the route's first official rides. Mario Browne drove over from Pittsburgh to talk about his involvement with the project and his work with the Center for Minority Health at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. We had about 40 people in attendance, and a useful and inspiring time was had by all.
LibraryThing's founder, Tim Spalding, did a very good (and very well-attended) presentation called, "Is Your OPAC Fun?" Short answer: probably not, but he had some excellent ideas about what to do to change that. LibraryThing continues to grow and add new features; they have over 285,000 registered users already.
Finally, I went to a presentation called "Crisis Communication: Sound Like a Star on the 6:00 News," by Bob Zajac of Highland Public Relations. He gave some excellent tips on how to prepare for the public relations fall out of a crisis (anything from a fire to a funding disaster to a challenge to your internet policies to an invasion by the June Taylor Dancers). Bob has many years of experience in TV news and public relations, and his ideas were down to earth and told with a nice leavening of humor.
Kudos to OLC on another excellent conference!
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"Bob has many years of experience in TV news and public relations, and his ideas were down to earth and told with a nice leavening of humor."
We need humor when dealing with a crisis. Some people don't agree, but I say What would you rather have - someone looking at you saying doom and gloom or someone that can find the silver lining?
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