ALA Midwinter Report: books, art, and fabric

The American Library Association bylaws stipulate that the association will have two business meetings a year. One is the Annual Conference and the other is the Midwinter Meeting.  Not only do ALA Council and Executive Board meet but also the boards of all the ALA units -- divisions, round tables, interest groups.  The trade show helps pay the bills -- publishers and vendors of library supplies, furniture, etc., etc. demonstrate their latest wares.

This was the sixth MW I've attended in Philadelphia. (The others were in 1995, 1999, 2002, 2008, and  2014.)   Based on the experience I had with AirBnB last September (P.E.O. convention in Des Moines) I tried AirBnB rather than a conference hotel.  The location was billed as "adjacent to the convention center" which it was, though ALA was at the other end.   It was at the entrance to Chinatown and above this bar/lounge/nightclub -- the doorway is at the center of the photo.  My roommate was my longtime friend, Denise. We liked the bargain price (half the cost of a hotel) but weren't so wild about the disco music that played from midnight to 2 a.m. one night and loud comings-and-goings in the hallway. It was an adventure!

I attended several board/committee meetings, the most important of which were the Retired Members Round Table (which I chair) and the Freedom to Read Foundation (to which I am a liaison from RMRT and United for Libraries).



Book and author events abound, with free ARCs (advance reader copies) of forthcoming books.

HarperCollins' Library Love Fest is always on Saturday morning.

 Mystery editor Otto Penzler has a new line of reprints of classic detective fiction.

Simon & Schuster's spring preview breakfast featured Janet Skeslien Charles novel The Paris Library.  "Librarians vs. Nazis," she said. "The librarians win." (Based on the true experiences of the staff at the  American Library in Paris which celebrates its centennial this year.)

I met Scott Simon, host of NPR's Weekend Edition.  He not only knew where Winthrop Harbor is, but he told me about a famous person from here. (And now I've forgotten the name.) He also sang a song about Kenosha.

The Gala Author Tea featured these six authors.  I'm most eager to read The Light of Days by Judy Batalion. It is the true story of Jewish women who fought in the resistance during WWII.

The Reference and User Services Assn. announces the Book and Media Awards at an early-evening session. Awards are in a variety of categories -- Notable Books, Best Reference Book, Audiobooks.   This is the adult version of the Monday-morning Youth Media Awards  when the Newbery and Caldecott winners are revealed.

Chanel Miller was the closing speaker. She is the Stanford rape victim called Emily Doe whose attacker got six months due to his family's influence on the judge. Chanel is creative, courageous, and charming.










Visiting with friends and seeing the sights in the host city make the conference all the more enjoyable.

 The pipe organ in the former Wanamaker's (now Macy's) department store is the largest still-functioning pipe organ in the world with 28,750 pipes in 464 ranks (read more here).  I watched the 5:30 p.m. Thursday concert.











Denise and I and our friend Peggy got tickets for a docent-led tour of the Barnes.  The Barnes Foundation (and the official site) is renowned for its collection of Impressionists and other important turn-of-the-20th-century artists.  (Back in 1995 when the museum was relocating from suburban Merion, PA, to Philadelphia, I was fortunate to see selections on exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  There is a documentary about it -- The Art of the Steal -- that I haven't watched yet.)

Barnes grouped his collection according to themes he determined (e.g. similar shapes, or colors) with antique furniture.
There are 125 Renoirs (which we didn't count) and eight Van Goghs (we saw three).














Denise left Tuesday morning. I set out for Fabric Row.  There aren't many stores left on the Row and they specialize in home dec/upholstery and fancy fashion fabric (bridal, sequins, etc.) -- but I found a big selection of my new favorite genre, African wax resist prints, at three stores. Just $6/yd!  You can see my selections in the upper left. Mr. Baldwin, proprietor of a tailor shop and school, showed me his latest vintage acquisition, a white Featherweight in a pristine case.

Tuesday afternoon I met Carol at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. (We became acquainted on our 2018 Road Scholar trip at Acadia National Park.)  We wandered through the galleries until the museum closed and then enjoyed dinner at a Burmese restaurant.

The flight back on Wednesday was uneventful. I got home at 4 p.m. -- good trip, good memories, and lots of great reading ahead!

The final box arrived on Monday