Together again! #alaac22 friends, books, food, books . . . and quilts

 

After two years of virtual meetings the ALA Annual Conference returned in-person.  The 13,900 registrants included 8.023 librarians (and trustees, friends, family) and 5,133 vendors (books, equipment, technology, supplies, and more).   (By contrast, 2019 in DC: 21,460 and 2018 in New Orleans: 17,599.)

 My trip to Washington was the first time I'd flown since February, 2020.   Though O'Hare was bustling (9:30 a.m. flight) the lines moved quickly.   I snapped photos of the Lake Michigan and Lake Erie shorelines.   

Friday afternoon: reception for ALA benefactors and leaders at the Library of Congress   The event was held in a private conference room.  (I've named ALA as a beneficiary of may estate.)

After the speeches, champagne, and canapes we got to see a selection of treasures from the LOC collection.  Rare books curators turned pages for us and told us how LOC acquired these beautiful books.  

Upper left: Apocalypse of St. John, 1465; print by Joan Miro; leather book binding by Paul Bonet, 1938 (great quilt idea!). Middle: alphabet horn books, 1800, England; Galileo, 1610 (the curator said it is one of 15 copies and cost "several million"); ribbon from a suffragist's scrapbook.  Bottom: William Blake's Tyger, hand-colored; Picasso  etching; Federalist papers.

The Bay Psalm Book was the first book printed in the American colonies. I asked the curator to turn to Psalm 121 (my Vermont MIL's favorite). 

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, her mother, and me.  I do not have a quilt in the LOC but the Librarian has one of my quilts in her home office!  (Made in 2005 to honor her term on the ALA Executive Board, prior to her LC appointment.) 

The Retired Members Round Table toured Planet Word , a highly interactive ("immersive") museum all about words and language.  It's housed in a former school built in 1869. 

I went to many book-and-author events.  Some were sponsored by publishers and others by ALA committees. 

 

Jane Yolen, Rosemary Wells, Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, Nancy Pearl.   

It turned out that the restaurant dinners were all with RMRT friends.  Middle: Ethiopian. Bottom: Gala Author Tea. 

The former Washington Public Library, a Carnegie built in 1901, is across the street from the Convention Center. It's been remodeled -- an Apple store on the first level and the DC Historical Society on the top and basement levels.  There's an exhibit of panoramic photos and I snapped a selfie with Amelia Earhart. 

Of course I had to take pictures of the mosaic floors. 

The ALA Biblioquilters have provided quilts for the Hoy Scholarship Auction for more than 20 years.  

On left: I made Star Crossed and Piked Peaks.  I coordinated Shadowboxes (you can see a corner of it above me) and another group quilt.  

The auction raised $4645

My records are incomplete but since 2013 the total raised is $27,643.  We are already planning our 2023 quilts.

The flight home on Tuesday was easy.  I got a good photo of downtown Chicago. 

I shipped three boxes of books and swag. This photo shows 1/4 of the line for the post office in the exhibit hall on Monday morning. 

The boxes arrived on Saturday.  

 These are ARCs -- advance reader copies -- of books coming out this summer through December. 

I do not need another t-shirt but I could not resist this one.