Scan, Toss, Repeat

Once again I am attending a library conference that has little or nothing to do with books. This has been the case with annoying regularity in recent years; speakers that wax eloquent about "user experience" and "resource sharing" all while holding on to their precious smart phones. In fact, that is exactly what their audience is doing. I have attended two sessions this morning and inside the darkened lecture hall one can see the majority of the audience faces illuminated by the glow of their little toys while the speaker attempts to gain their limited attention.

This is particularly sad in the case of Lucy Bloom's presentation. Bloom is a former advertising agency owner who started a worldwide women's health charity, and her talk was filled with amusing anecdotes and insightful commentary. Pity most of the people around me felt the need to "tweet" her former sentences to somebody somewhere else instead of listening to what she had to say at that particular moment. No wonder our students can no longer read or compose coherent English essays; the example set by these "information professionals" is appalling. How can young people cherish the experience of deep reading when "librarians" embrace the idea that digital information makes print expendable?

The conference is here in Broadbeach, a collection of high rise hotels and apartment buildings on the Queensland coast south of Brisbane. Our apartment is absolutely luxurious because the company I had contracted with gave us a complimentary upgrade. The result is we are on the fifth floor of an apartment building enjoying a place which is larger than our house in Bozeman! A full kitchen, a laundry room, and a great dining area gives us more elbow room than we have experienced in a week.

Our next stop after the conference is Byron Bay, where I am sure the cabin I have rented would probably fit in the living room of this place. All the same, the town is charming and I look forward to it. In the meantime it is back to the library conference that has no books.