ALA Takes Chicago
The American Library Association just concluded its annual conference, this time in Chicago, with a flourish.
More than 28,000 enthusiastic library supporters attended seminars, workshops, and presentations throughout the six day conference. A notable series of speakers included National Public Radio’s Cokie Roberts, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, and authors Michael Connelly and James Ellroy. On the lighter side, librarians showcased their talents in the fifth annual Library Book Cart Drill Team Championship.
For many of the participants, the exhibit hall was a destination point for four of those days and two of the busiest booths were run by Demco. In addition to their larger primary booth at the front of the exhibit hall, they’d also created a dedicated gaming booth. Located in the conference hall’s “Gaming Pavilion” that was created in part to showcase the link between gaming and literacy, the hugely popular booth was constantly filled with district level, public, and school librarians who all appeared to be seeking information relating to gaming products (including headsets, wired and wireless headphones which could be used with them) and podcasting equipment (MP3 player and active noise canceling headphones).
