last week (as evidenced by the last few posts) I went to Quebec for 6 days to attend the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). It was their annual conference and I was luckily chosen to present a poster session there. Poster sessions, for those of you not in the know, involve having some concrete printed out visual proof of your research and findings which you can post on a board and people can gawk at. At IFLA we were required to stand by our posters for 2 hours (12-2) on Tuesday and Wednesday. This was the typical lunch time during the conference so even though there was some traffic, it wasn’t a lot.
My poster was on the research I did as part of a group project last fall in a class about International Librarianship. We wrote our paper on suggesting various special collections a library at the United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya could develop. Some people I talked to about my poster included individuals from Africa (primarily S. Africa), a representative of the World Health Organization, the collection manager of Aluka (an online database of digitized works having to do with Africa), a bizarre group of Kazakhstani women, and a smattering of US and Canadian librarians.
Though I did spend most of my time in Quebec at the convention center, I also managed to shop, eat-out, and sight-see around the Vieux-Quebec (“Old Quebec”: the portion of the city that still has walled fortifications). Quebec is a gorgeous city which is sort of like being in Europe without having to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Everyone’s first language is French and they lead with it every time you walk into a shop/restaurant. They all immediately switch to English if you make faces of distress at them though.
Overall, traveling alone wasn’t as bad or scary as I thought it would be. And the conference was worth attending, I think. I did get/hand out some business cards, I made friends with another library science student (at Rutgers in New Jersey), I learned about some amazing programs and libraries around the world, and I bought a ridiculously cute platter from Ketto. (Seriously, why can’t I buy more stuff from them online? Or why didn’t I take a bigger suitcase?)
I posted some pictures. I find them boring because most don’t have people in them. But if you want to see how pretty the architecture is over there in Canada, here’s your chance. 🙂
you have business cards??
P.S. That ketto stuff is wicked cute.
they just have my degrees and email address on them, but yeah. people kept asking for them the first time i did a poster session so i got some for the second one and this one. they’re super cheap. and pretty fancy.
i just read a thing though that said i should have my grad date and library professional interest on them. heh. can’t have everything.