What I Learned from My First MLA Meeting

Marita Malone

by Marita Malone

As a new librarian who entered the profession in midlife, I was very impressed with my first MLA’10 Reflect & Connect Annual Meeting and Exhibition. I had the good fortune to attend the conference with two of my co-workers, both veterans of MLA who expertly guided me through the five days I attended. There are many who can write about the great programming that was available but I thought I would contribute from the first-timer prospective.  In no particular order here is what I gathered:

1) Bring warm clothing – I was freezing at most events and would go outside to warm up. Maybe the cold temperature is a technique to keep you alert but one day I wore two pair of pantyhose, pants, two light sweaters and a jacket and still my hands were numb with cold and I’m in menopause! More than once I considered wearing the afghan at the foot of my bed as a pashima.

2) Most participants had any number of handheld electronic devices and they were used constantly – most impressive were people using two at the same time. I brought my brand new iPhone, which I am determined to learn how to use. The first speaker invited us to text responses to his questions. I am sorry to report that the lecture was over before I remembered how to find my texting feature.

3) Everyone was startled at one point by the life-size wax figures of Presidents Johnson and Reagan at the top of the escalator steps. Good display – bad placement.

4) We always hear of the “graying” of the profession but I was happy to see so many young people attending. By young I am describing anyone younger than me or that I could have given birth to and would now be out of graduate school.  How old am I?  Not saying, but I do remember when President Kennedy was shot.

5) It was difficult to circumvent the hallways without meeting up to five people you knew or needed to chat with.  I learned to allow extra time to move between sessions.

6) The next time I sign-up for a conference, I will go back and make sure my electronic form is complete.  I signed up to attend the new members welcome breakfast but somehow, my box became unchecked.  Sadly, I was turned away at the door and I didn’t feel very welcomed.

7) Luckily, my roommates are “foodies” and they came prepared with restaurant reviews. We ate a variety of ethnic cuisines; in fact, I don’t think I ate “American” at all.

8) I learned to find out in advance where my colleagues would be sitting during large speaking events if we didn’t go in together. I was a little late for the first speaker, and couldn’t locate my group. It seemed everyone in the audience was wearing some form of black and I never did find my co-workers.

9) After missing one elevator three times while I was standing in front of it, I learned to move quickly and be in an elevator before it had fully opened and people emptied out.

10) My colleagues advised me to look at the poster abstracts and decide what I wanted to look at before I got there. This was good advice, as I quickly discovered that 90 minutes is not enough time to see 40 posters.

11) As a good librarian. I was taking notes as fast as I could.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t putting good notes on the materials and business cards that I collected.  Now back at the library, I have quite a sorting job ahead of me.

12) By day two of the conference I was energized and excited at the many new ideas my librarian associates had shared and couldn’t wait to get back to the library and implement them.

13) By day three I thought my head would explode from an overload of information.

14) By day four I had moved to overwhelmed and wondered how everyone else seemed to be doing so much in their libraries, while I spend a fair amount of time unclogging the copy machine.

15) By day five, I had sorted out in my head that while I couldn’t go back to the library and change and do everything at once, I had many ideas for makingsmall positivechanges whileenvisioning larger projects.

16) By the time I came home, I admit I was exhausted but filled with a sense of pride and accomplishment because I belong to MLA – an association that provides me with great support and programming and recharged my spirit for another year.

Thank you to everyone to helped organize this great event. It is a tremendous boost of encouragement particularly for those new to the field.

Marita Barton Malone
Medical Librarian
UMDNJ Camden Campus Library
Cooper University Hospital
Camden, NJ
malone-marita@cooperhealth.edu