We landed in Minneapolis, Minnesota to find the place covered in snow.
We survived a 21 hour flight
The passengers next to us survived the flight by drinking red wine. (they made it through 7 bottles before falling asleep and snoring for the majority of the flight, they were nomads). Hence I did not sleep much and watched 3 movies! We meet the Wild Cats Basketball team on our flight from Dallas to Minnesota.
The passengers next to us survived the flight by drinking red wine. (they made it through 7 bottles before falling asleep and snoring for the majority of the flight, they were nomads). Hence I did not sleep much and watched 3 movies! We meet the Wild Cats Basketball team on our flight from Dallas to Minnesota.
The PLA conference
The conference had a total of 8,500 registered and was massive!
We managed to meet up with Helen Blowers and Melanie (who used to work at ImagineOn and now the Director of Saint Paul Public Library . Have also meet up with a couple of staff from Charlotte.
At the conference we attended talks on the Ideas Store, Pathways to becoming a director, marketing and innovation.
It is surprising and reassuring to know that we are actually leading the way in what they have done and are thinking.
At the conference we attended talks on the Ideas Store, Pathways to becoming a director, marketing and innovation.
It is surprising and reassuring to know that we are actually leading the way in what they have done and are thinking.
Librares in the USA are also are facing very similar changes with restructure, change, RFID and ensuring that they are viable to the community and the direction of today.
The conference opening presenter John Woods was very inspiration in his talk and has published a book on his adventures "Leaving microsoft to change the world." He is the founder of the "Room to Read" initiative anbeginning in Nepal. Huis aim is to deliver books to children in the local community and build local library schools.
I wish we at YPRL could look at supporting this inncentive.
We were able to network with many staff from across America and even one person from Hawaii. The Saint Paul's director had a fabulous idea and invited various members of library services to a post drinks and refreshments meet and greet; which we were invited to. They served cooked Brie!!! with strawberries and crackers, very nice.
We snuck out over lunch and went for a walk in the sky walk (hmmm reminds me of Star Wars). We have noticed no one walks on the foot paths and main streets and walking in the open air and thought that not many people populated the main city mall but this is
not necessarily true.
We were able to network with many staff from across America and even one person from Hawaii. The Saint Paul's director had a fabulous idea and invited various members of library services to a post drinks and refreshments meet and greet; which we were invited to. They served cooked Brie!!! with strawberries and crackers, very nice.
We snuck out over lunch and went for a walk in the sky walk (hmmm reminds me of Star Wars). We have noticed no one walks on the foot paths and main streets and walking in the open air and thought that not many people populated the main city mall but this is
not necessarily true. They all walk in the sky walk and all the shops are there, there are no shop fronts on the main streets.
We also have been on two conference tours, one to the twin cities and the other to the local public libraries at MN and Saint Paul's.
Here is a photo of the Minneaplois Public Library...beautiful building , built on four levels. It boasts a conference centre and theatre as well as the library itself.
However they still use a card catalogue to search for music scores in their library!!
However they still use a card catalogue to search for music scores in their library!!
Today was our first day of rest..... we went to Nicollet Mall Hell'sKitchen for breakfast, we made a purchase of a tshirt and were given a bag promoting the resturant and everyone who we passed for the rest of the day said something about how we hadbeen to this place and how jealous they were of us going there. 
We also spent the day sightseeing the Guthrie Building and the Mill Muesum with a quick lunch and some unusal drinks we then proceeded to walk 6 blocks (which is by American standards is far and considered a car ride) back to our hotel to crash!
Food has been interesting and Lynette and I have resorted to ordering only entrees or sharing meals because of the size of the proporting.
Tomorrow we are leaving MN for North Carolina (two plane flight). We are looking forward to going to Charlotte and settling for 4 weeks.
We also spent the day sightseeing the Guthrie Building and the Mill Muesum with a quick lunch and some unusal drinks we then proceeded to walk 6 blocks (which is by American standards is far and considered a car ride) back to our hotel to crash!Food has been interesting and Lynette and I have resorted to ordering only entrees or sharing meals because of the size of the proporting.
Tomorrow we are leaving MN for North Carolina (two plane flight). We are looking forward to going to Charlotte and settling for 4 weeks.
