Meetings underway!!

Thursday in Milwaukee was primarily a walking day. I found my way through most of the downtown area near the hotel. Walked to the public library, walked along the River Walk, walked through the Cathedral, and more. I met up with some colleagues at the hotel around 11am and we all went to grab lunch before we headed to a tour of the Irish Music Archives.

Getting to the Archives was interesting. A lot of construction near the hotel has caused bus routes to be re-routed. After wandering aimlessly for a while, we finally found the right bus and were on our way. The Archives were very cool. They specialize in Irish-American music, or Irish musicians who have made splashes in the US, like U2, the Corrs, and the Cheiftains, as well as many others. They have a huge Bing Crosby Collection as well. They specialize more in popular music, rather than traditional Irish music. I had a meeting to get to back at the hotel, so one other person on the tour and myself had to leave early, and then had to run to catch the bus! It was probably quite comical to see us.

Last night we had a reception in the hotel and were entertained by the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra. The director also gave a lecture on the History of the Mandolin and Mandolin Orchestra's in the US. The ensemble was very good and has been a part of the Milwaukee music scene since 1900.

Today is the bulk of the meeting. This morning we heard from various people in the business about what the future holds for our profession and how they deal with new things and so forth in their particular jobs. We heard from an Associate Dean of a Library School, an administrator in a Library, a veteren librarian, and a "new" librarian. Following that presentation we then heard about development on libraries, which was also interesting.

The afternoon program begins with a session I put together. We'll be hearing from two people from a company we all have to work with (OCLC) about some of their new programs and products that our library patrons will be using and we'll be using. It'll be interesting to see what they have to say.

Have to run now, lunch is almost over and I have to find my notes to introduce the two speakers. Sorry for any typos, etc., I did this really fast.