WiLSWorld

I just got back from the WiLSWorld conference in Madison. It was my first conference as a "real" librarian and the experience was very informative. It was weird to go all alone; as a new employee, I haven't networked with anyone in the area and so there was no one I knew going. The few people who I knew at the conference were actually people that were (kind of) my supervisors at my student job! That said, I did meet a few people. I did get to meet a lady who works at a technical college close to my town and a woman who works at another library in our system. That was really neat and I hope to get to work with them in the future.

WiLSWorld is a technology conference. WiLS mostly serves academic institutions, although it does serve public libraries as well. Many of the programs were given by academic librarians, but there was some good base information that could apply to any library or library-like institution. There were some really interesting ideas for web design. After attending, so many ideas have popped into my head about our library's website and the design and technical possibilities. I have to synthesize those fast, as I have a meeting tomorrow at 8 am to pitch my ideas to the website committee!

One thing that almost every presenter stressed was that just because technology is available, that doesn't mean you should use it. Sometimes a certain software or whatnot just isn't right for your community. That is something that my team will keep in mind as we work to make a new, more effective website for our library. I also appreciated the comment made by one presenter that "the website doesn't have to be what the librarians like to use. We're good at learning how to use weird, difficult systems. Most people aren't and shouldn't have to. Make it easy for them to use, and let staff get over it." I know that we will never please everyone with our site redesign, but hopefully it will serve the patrons well. That is the most important thing and will be a guiding light in our process.