#alamw2019: Seattle

Two weeks ago 6,490 librarians and 2,721 vendors were getting down to business at #alamw2019.
I'd been to Seattle twice before (Midwinter 2013 and PLA 2004). It was nice to be back in the Pacific northwest.  The skies were blue all week and the temperatures were mild.

My roommate Pat and I flew out on Thursday, January 24.  We began the conference at dinner that evening with colleagues who served on the ALA Executive Board. (My EB term was 2004-07 and Pat's was 2014-17.) 

I am on several ALA committees which met during the conference.
  I am a representative on the Freedom to Read Foundation board which met all day Friday.  The Retired Members Round Table has a business meeting followed by a book discussion that I host. The prompts this time were "a book you recommend" and "a book you didn't like."  Several of us were in agreement on those we considered clunkers.

There were many book and author events.  Midwinter is when award-winners are announced -- not only the Newbery and Caldecott medalists but also Andrew Carnegie winners (adult fiction/nonfiction) and Notable Books. 

Publishers also promote their spring titles.





Note "Lost Roses" by Martha Hall Kelly. She is second from right on this panel. I reviewed the audio edition of her first novel, "Lilac Girls." The new book is a prequel.  She was in the next seat on the shuttle bus when we went back to our hotel so we got to chat.

Debbie Macomber signed the audio edition of her latest book.











It is always interesting to see how a hotel interprets "high tea." At this Gala Author Tea the food was the best yet -- real cucumber open-faced sandwiches, a variety of tea, and delicious sweets.











My Magpie friend Gina was my guest. It was great to meet her in person at last!   Author Juliet Grames based her first novel on her Italian grandmother's life story.  A nice connection to Gina's Italian heritage.

(I've since finished The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Foruna.  It is great!)

 I was in the second row for Rick Steves' presentation, "Travel as a Political Act."  It was like being in PBS special.

"When we travel history becomes real.  We humanize humanity. We need to carbonate outlook with different passions," he said.  His favorite country is India but his beat is Europe. "Europe is the wading pool for world exploration." He travels four months out of the year -- northern Europe in the hot months and southern Europe in the colder months. "Fear is for people who don't get outside very much. It has never been safer to travel than now."


"Travel with an open heart, open eyes, and a rolled-down window."



He asked us to circle around him -- "a mosh pit of librarians" -- for the book signing.











 Another special event was a screening of the forthcoming movie The Public . Emilo Estevez wrote, directed, and stars in the film which is about a librarian and dealing with the homeless people who come to the downtown library every day.  It has drama, humor, and suspense.

Pat and I had second-row seats for the screening. Estevez and co-star Jena Malone answered questions afterwards.  I asked a question . . . and the next evening when I got on the hotel elevator to go out to dinner, there was Estevez!  He said, "You asked a question last night, didn't you?  And I answered, 'It's only a movie.'"  He got off at the 7th floor and I went down to the lobby. My brush with celebrity!  (Though I was more htan happy just to see/hear Rick Steves.)







There was time time to be tourists, too!  I spent an afternoon at MOHAI, the Museum of History and Industry.  It was easy to get to by streetcar ($2.00 round trip).

The museum is all about Seattle from the Native Americans to the present day.










Pat and I went to the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass  (They are adjacent and there's a combo ticket package.)

This is as far as my toes would let me go on the glass floor.   MOHAI is at the center of the top left photo.













We had lunch at Collections Cafe which showcases Dale Chihuly's eclectic collections -- lead soldiers, toy irons, shaving brushes, cast iron vases.

The Chihuly museum is spectacular.  There are indoor and outdoor installations.  It turned out that I dressed to match one of them.

We were supposed to return to Chicago on Wednesday, January 30, but that was the day of the polar vortex -- the high temperature was -21. Our flight was cancelled!  We rebooked (no charge) for the same flight the next day. The hotel allowed us to stay at the conference rate.  We spent the bonus day at the Seattle Art Museum, lunch at the Public Market, and at the Seattle Aquarium.  We saw the sea otters and the giant Pacific octopuses being fed (separately, of course).

The flight back to Chicago was uneventful.  The limo was there to meet me and I was home at 9:30 p.m.





The boxes of books and swag that I shipped back arrived on Tuesday.  Here's the haul!  Lots of good reading ahead.













P.S. One last box arrived a week later. :)  

Last day in Seattle: Chihuly and a quilt shop

The ALA Midwinter Meeting went very well.  There were 5519 advance registrants, 1175 on-site, and 4,037 exhibitors for a total of 10,731. (By comparison, the total for MW12 in Dallas was 9929 and for MW11 in San Diego, 11,124.  Location makes a difference!)  Midwinter attendance is less than half than the Annual Conference in June.

My ALA responsibilities include service on Council, the 186-member governing body of the 60,000-member association. In addition I'm on  the Council Orientation Committee whose program for new Councilors was appreciatively-received.  I am the co-chair of the Association of American University Press Books for High School and Public Libraries Committee.  I'm also on the program committee for United for Libraries (advocates, Friends, trustees, foundations).  I'm convenor of the ALA BiblioQuilters and stopped in at the Exhibitors Round Table meeting, too.

"Libraries transform communities" is the ALA theme this year. Peter Block was the speaker at the President's Program. His ideas about building communities by enriching human capital are very much what many of us are trying to achieve in the Zion-Benton community, so I was very glad I heard Peter speak.

The trade show is a big component of ALA conferences. Publishers and other vendors to the library market show their products.  There are lots of new books-- both galleys ("advance reader copies") and the real thing.  I went to several book events, including two author panels. I always say I won't take too many books and I always do.  Here's a photo of my loot!


Tuesday afternoon after the final Council session my long-time friend (and fellow Councilor) Valerie and I went to Chihuly Garden and Glass :

Accordions on the ceiling 

Chihuly Garden and Glass provides a look at the inspiration and influences that inform the career of artist Dale Chihuly. Located at Seattle Center, Chihuly Garden and Glass includes an Exhibition Hall, the centerpiece Glasshouse and a lush Garden. The Exhibition Hall contains eight galleries and three Drawing Walls, offering visitors a comprehensive look at Chihuly’s significant series of work; the Glasshouse presents a suspended 1,400-piece, 100-foot-long sculpture; and the Garden is a backdrop for four monumental sculptures and other installations.


Lead soldiers 



Bakelite radios

Kathy, Nann, Valerie

Valerie and I met Kathy, another Councilor. We had lunch in the cafe, Collections. Chihuly has many collections -- accordions, bottle openers, radios, TVs, and Pendleton blankets.  Each table at the restaurant had items from collections in a well in the center. 



Interior of a bowl-shaped piece



After lunch we saw the glass.  Wow.  Such beauty -- indoors and out. (And of course the shapes and colors reminded me of fabric designs.  Imagine Chihuly and Kafe Fassett collaborating.)

Valerie and I returned to our hotels by way of Undercover Quilts.  After Chihuly it was almost anticlimactic! I bought some more Lida Enche fabric (see last Thursday's post).  I can't wait to make something out of these beautiful prints!