One of my first sessions was The Unconference. I remember walking into a really large room filled with many librarians and thinking to myself: "Do I belong here?" Eventually, though the session was standing room only, I found a seat. I listened as moderators assigned topics. Each table discussed the topic for about 10 minutes. Somehow, I found ways to contribute. I asked questions, and I took notes. I was the ONLY school librarian at my table so I found myself offering this perspective. I definitely put my library school knowledge to work!
While I was listening to everyone's discussions, I tweeted out some things and received replies from my Twitter PLN. Some asked questions, some retweeted, but all helped me structure my learning with their feedback. Though I didn't know anyone at my table, I had my PLN with me to help me figure things out.
The Unconference went pretty quickly, and after some good side conversations with some academic librarians at my table, I was able to appreciate something really important: Librarians around the country do some very amazing things. Also, it made me reaffirm my own goals to be the best librarian I could because these librarians were already doing such incredibly impressive work. Just as I cannot let my students, staff, administration, district, or community down, I can't let THEM down either.
No matter what type of library we work at, we all want to do our best for our patrons (in my case, my students). I haven't met all of them yet, but I will soon, and they are already very important to me. They're so important to me that I traveled all the way to Chicago to learn from some very smart fellow librarians.
On a shoe note:
For this session, I wore the black sandals pictured here:
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