Reference Renaissance: Final Thoughts

CORRECTION:

In my previous post, I said:

Note: By August 20, 2008, all of the presentation slides and handouts for Reference Renaissance will posted to the conference site at http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance/index.html.

Justine Shaffner, one of the conference organizers, kindly sent this correction:

Hi Daniel! Re all the Reference Renaissance materials being posted by 8/20 - actually, we'll only have posted all of the materials that were sent to us...

Thanks Justine! Sorry about my misunderstanding and for the late correction.

Read on for my last impressions of the conference.

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Over the past several days, I've written about my experience in attending sessions at the BCR sponsored Reference Renaissance conference. But since any conference is more than sessions, I have some general comments about this excellent conference that I heartily recommend to anyone involved in providing reference services.

Local Arrangements Committee

Based on my experience, at the heart of any great conference is a hardworking group of people privately pulling their hair out but publicly doing everything they can to do make things go smoothly for speakers and attendees alike. I don't know about hair-pulling, but the RR local arrangements folks were just wonderful. They answered every question promptly with a smile and also posted all the restaurant and tourist information one could wish for. When tech went bad, a room monitor was on scene to fix the problem or get quick help. They even arranged a baseball game for some of the out-of-towners. I passed, but the folks who went had a good time. Thank you Kris Johnson and the rest of local arrangements. You made us feel very welcome!

Networking

It was both fun and productive to meet other reference librarians. Some for the first time, like an Alaskan colleague that I just happened to sit next to on the outbound Seattle-Denver flight, or meeting old documents colleagues. It was helpful and comforting to find that some of things we've started doing have been adopted elsewhere. I also finally got to meet up some of the fine and eccentric creative people who make up the Library Society of the World.

Venue

I know you shouldn't pick a conference by its venue, but BCR picked one of the best locations that I've ever been to. (Bear in mind I don't get out much.) A number of conferences I've been to have been at hotels in business parks or other areas where there is a dearth of restaurants, other amenities or public transportation.

The hotel we stayed at was within easy walking distance of nearly a dozen restaurants. It was also within a few blocks of a light rail station where one could easily get to downtown Denver with its extensive 16th shopping mall with restaurants of all cuisines. I did not play tourist, but Denver has a lot to offer. As a result of this trip, I'd actually consider Denver for a personal vacation destination.

Conclusion

Reference Renaissance was a productive, idea-generating conference that helped to build the confidence of all librarians who believe in a world made better by easy access to accurate information. Plus it had its fun moments. Speaking solely for myself, this is a conference you want to go to if you have funding.