…the WebJunction Rural Sustainability Forum!
People attended from 30-some states, filling the room with excitement. All of the attendees put their name on a dot, and placed it on the map of the country. The delegation from Arizona brought their own blow-up saguaro cactus, making their table particularly easy to find.
Jim Malzewski introduced the day, commiserating with the group on their various travel woes, welcoming an amazing number of librarians to their first ALA conference, and encouraging the collaboration of rural libraries. Jennifer Peterson went through the contents of the folder and announced the new Rural Sustainability ONLINE workshop.
Brenda Hough served as M.C. for the day. I helped with the state introductions, moving from table to table having states introduce themselves to the rest of thr group. Since the introduction of 34 states can take a bit of time, we gave the spokespeople a two-minute time limit for their introduction. I was ably assisted by a delightful librarian from Wisconsin, who had a chicken and played the “Chicken Dance” along with him that clucked when time was up. Think being played off the stage at the Academy Awards.
The introductions tended to run a bit longer than hoped, but all were fun and informative.
Stay tuned for more!
