woo!

So I had the bright idea that I would write in this blog about the VRD conference, but I was so busy running around getting ideas, talking to people and taking in the local culture that I haven't had time to write much.

Besides myself, Jennifer May from Multnomah County Library, Ed Loera from Portland State University, Flora Lippert from Portland Community College and Greg Padilla, Valery King and Jane Nichols from Oregon State University were also here. It was great to see so many folks from Oregon. Of course, Eva Miller from MCL gave the keynote address. It was an unqualified success.

I sit next to Eva, so I had some idea about what she was going to say, and I was absolutely thrilled and inspired to hear her speech and see so many people respond so positively. Drawing on song, Willie Wonka, the Muppets, a book called Orbiting the Giant Hairball and her experience on this project and Plinkit, Eva talked about our profession needing creative and innovative librarians to break free of the culture and collective memory of our institutions in order to provide innovative services to keep the library relevant in the 21st century. Of course she was more eloquent and succinct than that.

This message was echoed today at the closing session, where it was announced that next year's VRD conference will be in San Francisco, California, November 14th and 15th 2005. I hope that our project will be able to send even more representatives, and that some of us will come up with ideas for programs.