I Am Inspired

And now a break from my vacation posts...

Even though I've called this blog Bicycling Librarian, I rarely blog about either librarianship or bicycling (though I occasionally mention my Brompton or my favorite books. But after last week's mountain-top experience, I can't help but share a bit of my excitement.

Last week, I attended the ALSC Institute in Oakland. Offered every other year, I first became aware of it two years ago, when it was held in Indianapolis. Sadly, I had a scheduling conflict, but vowed to be on the look-out for the next occurrence. And what do you know, when they announced the locations, I learned it was in one of my favorite cities, where I could visit both of my siblings.

My brother was expecting house guests from Latvia, so I reserved space at the Marriott, located conveniently across the street from where my sister works. What could be better?! I was fully anticipating an educational conference, combined with some family fun and busy-ness. What I wasn't prepared for was how awesome it actually would be.

I attended sessions with titles such as:

• Inspired Collaborations: Early Childhood Partnerships
• Making Advocacy Awesome: A Workshop for the Everyday Advocate -- You!
• Summer Lunch at the Library
• Removing Barriers to Early Literacy: Increasing Access to Books for Young Children
• Be a Winner: Inspired Youth Grant Writing

I furiously took notes and will pursue bringing some of the ideas back to my own library.

I laughed and got teary-eyed (but mostly laughed) with authors Steve Sheinkin, Rita Williams-Garcia, Pam Muñoz Ryan ("if you succeed at everything, you're setting the bar too low"), Tim Federle, Gene Luen Yang (who posited quite credibly that Superman was really Asian-American), Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), Jennifer Holms, Mac Barnett and Andrea Davis Pinkney.

I connected with former colleagues, from both my current and former library system, who have moved on to California and Maine.

I even won a key to Fairyland which opened in 1950 and inspired Walt Disney in his own amusement parks.

I return with a renewed commitment to excellence and innovation in children's services and will strongly advocate that others in my system be supported in attending the 2016 ALSC Institute in Charlotte.