Archive for the ‘Conferencething’ Category

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

LibraryThing party in Boston

If you’ll be in Boston this Saturday, January 16th , come to our LibraryThing Meetup!

We’re taking advantage of the American Library Assocation conference in Boston to pull together all our favorite bibliophiles, eat food, drink drinks, and talk about the state of books, the future of the book, and what you just finished reading.
We’re having it at The Green Dragon Tavern—a nice fit, as “The Green Dragon” is one of the most active groups on LibraryThing.
In true LibraryThing tradition we’ll be providing ALL THE BAKED BRIE YOU CAN HANDLE, along with other light fare, perhaps including some that don’t revolve around cheese. Since we’re not doing ConferenceThing,* we’ve got some money to burn, and can offer a snack-y dinner instead. You buy the beer.
Date: January 16th, 2010
Time: 5:30-8:00 pm
Location: The Green Dragon (see Local event) – 11 Marshall St Boston, MA 02108
Updates: Follow @conferencething or @librarythingtim on Twitter

Directly after our event there’s a tweetup for ALA conference-goers at the same location. We like to keep our 2.0 events convenient!

*Our original plan was to have ConferenceThing, a mini-conference giving librarians and bibliophiles a chance to talk about books in all their forms, and the book world. That didn’t work out, as we couldn’t find speakers and in a choice between hearing Tim speak in front of a projector and watching Tim and Abby shovel brie…

Thanks to merelymel for the photo.

Labels: ALA, conference, Conferencething, event, LibraryThing event, Midwinter

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

ConferenceThing at ALA Midwinter

Announcing “ConferenceThing,” a free, mini-conference we’re organizing to coincide with ALA Midwinter in Boston.*

When: Friday, January 15, 2010
Where: South Boston, very close to ALA Midwinter
Structure: Mixed conference/unconference
Admission: Free

We’ve wanted to do something like this for ages. Now that ALA is in Boston, home for Abby and Sonya, and a short drive from the main office in Portland, ME, we have the chance to do it—and do it up. We’ve chosen Friday, before the exhibitions open at 5pm.**

What we’re planning:

  • “Higher-level” conversations about the topics we care about—Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and books. Many librarians are ready to move past the basics. A lot of us now spend most of our time thinking about this stuff!
  • Learning, but no instruction. If you want to set up a Facebook page, get a book. If you want to talk about what works and what really doesn’t in library social media, show up.
  • Non-library people. The event will be open to everyone—LibraryThing members, librarians, etc. We’re going to bring some interesting bookstore and publishing people. We think we’re all in the same boat. And we’re drifting. Let’s talk about whom to eat first.
  • Some sort of LibraryThing meetup and ALA party. We’re looking around for something different. It might just be drinks at Bukowski’s, but we’re looking for something cooler. (We’re shooting for the Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose books LibraryThing members cataloged.)

What to do


*ConferenceThing is not affiliated with ALA Midwinter in any way, although we have the same tailor.
**Friday is also when most of the special sessions are planned. We’re bumping up against a couple of events, including some by our friends in LITA. We’re sorry about that, but there weren’t any better options.

Labels: ALA midwinter, Conferencething