Hot sessions @ CLA

Today is two weeks exactly before the conference starts, at the Ottawa Convention Centre. Aside from running around like a crazy person with a 2-way radio doing Local Arrangements, here are the events/sessions I am hoping to make it to (ambitious, I know, considering.....):

• Wednesday night opening reception (duh)
• Thursday 9 am: Opening Ceremonies & Keynote Speaker Daniel J. Caron, Deputy Head and Librarian and Archivist of Canada and Chair, Heads of Federal Agencies. Oh yes. That should be interesting..... Caron is also doing a "Hot Topic" at 1 pm, but I think I'd rather be at the below instead. I would imagine both sessions will be colourful if there is some audience involvement. These are some crazy times.
• Thursday 1 pm: Community Impact: Transforming Lives through Libraries ("how public libraries create programs, advocate to stakeholders, and determine measurable outcomes") with some peeps from Gale.
• Thursday 4 pm: The Great Debate (always entertaining). This year, it's Michael Ridley and Stephen Abram debating "Be it resolved that the core values of modern librarianship are antiquated and obsolete."
• Thursday evening, I am triple-booked (thanks for that!): NELI alumni reception, Book Awards, and the pub crawl. We'll see if I last until the crawl....
• Friday 10:30 am: Tag... We’re It! The World of Interlibrary Loan. I feel like I should be there so I can learn more for my students next year ....
• Friday 1:30 pm: Getting your Library From Good to Great with my old friend Lita Barrie, now the Chief Librarian of the Grimsby Public Library ("Explore how to help your library thrive in these times of change and uncertainty. Gain practical strategies on making the most of the resources you have to take your library from good to great.")
• Friday 3 pm: No More Excuses! with Nancy Dowd from NoveList. I have no excuses for not being there because I am convening. I love Nancy's blog, so I am really psyched about this session ("This presentation will show you how ingenuity, a bit of technology and the belief that libraries matter to communities can conquer all the barriers stopping you from getting the word out about what your library is doing.")
• Friday evening: either chillin' with Lora and my peeps or grazing at the all-delegates social. Or both. Or neither.
• Saturday 8:30 am: CLA BATTLE DECKS! I want to cheer on Megan Fitzgibbons, OPL's own Beth Goslett, Robyn Stockand, Melanie Sellar, and OPL Board member Christine Langlois, all friends of mine! I know the best peeps.
• Saturday 1 pm: The Big Society and UK Libraries: Lessons for Canadian Libraries with CILIP president Phil Bradley. Again, convening, so gotta be there. Very excited about this one, too, since it's the ancestral homeland and all.
  
• Saturday 3 pm: Closing ceremonies with secret crush Evan Solomon.

And here are some other sessions I think are also totally note-worthy, although I might not make it to them. I've excluded hot topics and big issues like copyright, as those ones are pretty easy to find on the CLA website and get a lot of attention:

• Friday 1:30 pm: Canadian Challenges Survey 2011: Update on Library Resources and Policies Challenged in Publicly-Funded Libraries - always disturbing...
• Friday 3 pm: Rebuilding the Slave Lake Library: Surviving Tragedy and Lessons Learned.
• Saturday 1 pm: Evolution and Transformations. "In Autumn 2011, 19 library directors, senior staff, architects and other library leaders embarked on a four-country 22 library tour in Northern Europe and Scandinavia."