Tag Archives | Chicago

It’s been barely 2 weeks since the Infotoday bloggers said goodbye at the end of SLA’s Annual Conference in DC. Yet it’s time to start up again, this time for ALA’s Annual in Chicago. And with a couple of personnel changes for this next show, we’re rarin’ to go.

We officially begin our coverage on Saturday, July 11, but you might see a couple more introductory posts like this one before then. I’m Kathy Dempsey, and I’ll be kicking off this show’s coverage.

Right now, it’s 2 days before I fly to Chicago for ALA, and I’m pretty much ready to hit the ground running. I’ve registered, I have a hotel room, and I’ve made my schedule. This year, I used a new tool with a funny name to help with my schedule. It’s called Boopsie. Have you heard about it yet?

ALA has partnered with Boopsie so you can access the conference info on your web-enabled mobile phone. I downloaded it quickly and easily onto my G-1 Android (there are dif versions for dif phones). It works like magic! To find the sessions I wanted to attend, I just typed in the first few letters of the title, and choices appeared. I clicked on the correct choice, and Boopsie showed me the full title, speaker names, event description, and best of all, the location.

Those of you with full registration have probably used ALA’s Event Planner for this. But others (like exhibitors and press) don’t have access to the full planner, so I always had to wait to get my printed Final Program on site in order to learn the locations of many of the sessions. Now that’s already done — fantastic! But really, Boopsie is meant to help you while you’re on-the-go.

You can see ALA’s description and download instructions here. I encourage you to download it and try it. (Yep, it’s free!)

Since I’m the editor of the Marketing Library Services newsletter, I’ll be attending sessions that revolve around promotion, marketing, media communication, and PR. So keep an eye out for me at the PRMS all-committee meeting, the PR Forum, and sessions on advocacy and partnership. And I’ll have a table at the Swap & Shop (Sunday, 11a-1:30p, Exh Hall, Special Events Area), where I’ll not only be giving out free sample copies of Marketing Library Services, but I’ll be selling and signing copies of my new book, The Accidental Library Marketer!!

So keep checking back here at the InfoToday Blog for my coverage of marketing- and promo-related events. And if you see me at one of them, please stop me & say Hello! Our other ace bloggers will jump in soon too, and as a team we’re going to be able to deliver some great coverage. Stay tuned!

 ~Kathy Dempsey, Editor, Marketing Library Services newsletter