SLA 2007 - Google

Now that I've had some rest (not enough, surely), and I have a little time before my conference day begins, I can do my post on Google at SLA.


Honestly, I'm a little disappointed. Google's presence here is remarkably minimal. They don't have much information at their booth, just some tips for using some of their latest products. I think that Google, a first-time exhibitor at SLA, is trying to get synchronized with the librarian community, feeling us out while we do the same to them. This results in lots of really basic material being presented. We got to hear about Custom Search Engine, which I will put into practice on the URI GSLIS site when I get home. The rest, the tips and tricks, Book Search, Patent Search and News Archive, were presented as an overview only. I was more curious about new programs, things that have yet to launch, but Google won't speak to any of these things (as an aside, yesterday afternoon they just launched a new Trends feature in Google Reader, which gives you stats on what you've read, from whom, and what you did with those posts).



When discussing Book Search, I asked if they kept the Subject Headings from records of the books they digitized. Rather than a yes or no, the young lady said they kept everything in the libraries original records. Presumably this includes Subject Headings.



As noted in an SLA Blog post, no, Google does not have a library. ::jeer:: But they do have fortune cookies, which are quiet delicious.

• Blue: Blueberry - "Tip: use the search box like a calculator What to type: 4+7, 30% of 55, 20^2 or 13cm in feet What you'll get: the answer"
• Red: Strawberry - "Tip: exclude results you don't want What to type: bass -fishing What you'll get: results for bass the musical instrument, not the fish"
• Yellow: Lemon - "Tip: get the weather forecast instantly on your cell phone Send 'weather 90210' to 446453 (Google) What you'll get: the weather forecast for 90210"
• Green: Mint - same tip as Blue

SLA 2007 - Day 2 (Monday)

Man, am I beat! I got a late start today, but still, I spent so much time running from event to event this afternoon, evening and night, I'm about ready to ZZZZ out right here in the hotel lobby. I will attempt to blog first.


INFO-EXPO (Round 2)
I took a second spin around the expo floor, gathered some more swag, talked to some more vendors (got a few ideas and resources for the thesis), got my passport stamped, ran into someone I met last year at the Newbies meeting, and picked up an invite to the Thompson party.


Google Presents Tales, Tips and Tricks for Librarians
As I write this section, I realize that its just too huge an information dump for me to handle writing tonight, in a single post. I will defer this until later. Until then, you can read Emma Wood's post on the SLA Blog.


Tour of Flying Dog brewery
As I discovered in my CE class on Sunday, Flying Dog brewery offers tours at 4PM on weekdays. This directly conflicted with the SLA presentation Science of Beer, but I think I made a good choice; still tons of beer information, as well as some on the whiskey company next door, and samples for all! I went with Jeannie Bail, the Library Director at Allen & Company LLC, who was in my wikis course. I got to try two Belgian whites, a Barley Wine, and some fine Colorado whiskey. Despite the long walk and being a little late, it was definitely a great time!

Oh, and Flying Dog does have its own Beer Library.

Its neighbour, Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, has this lovely, custom made copper still. Just had to take a photo.


Thompson Party, SLA Boston dinner and IT Division Science Fiction Writers night
All of these were done in whirlwind succession. The Thompson party was at the Natural History Museum, so I got to eat absolutely delicious food while surrounded by wildlife dioramas. I had to leave very, very quickly to get to the SLA Boston dinner, which left from the Hyatt and went to Tamayo on 14th and Lawrence. Good food, good company. After that, I walked over to the IT Divisions event event. I tried to put in as best a presence as I could, but I was so tired, I had to call it a night.


That essentially brings us to now. Overall, I seem to be losing a lot of things today: my pedometer (got it replaced, and I've almost made up the 6 miles on the old one), my hotel room key (must have dropped it taking out my wallet somewhere...), and my internet connection (I'm just not having tech luck this trip). Hopefully I won't be losing sleep tonight; another long day tomorrow, as well as doing that delayed Google post.