Matt Dilworth

Matt Dilworth

ALA Conference Recap

ALA Conference Recap

Matt Dilworth
The American Library Association’s annual conference was held in Washington, D.C. last weekend.  26,000 librarians from all over the country converged to discuss the pressing issues of libraries and information access.  This was the first time I had attended, and I was amazed at the scale and breadth of opportunities and challenges facing librarians today. There were numerous breakout sessions, panel discussions, and presentations there, including poster sessions.  In fact, out of 120 poster sessions offered at the conference, IU East was privileged to offer three of them.  I got to present the library’s action figure tour (on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IENKivi3pEg).  About a hundred people came by to look at the dolls and hear how and why we made it.  … Continued
Summer Reading

Summer Reading

, Matt Dilworth
Recently, I’ve been re-reading some of my favorite author, Ira Levin’s, novels.  I just completed “A Kiss Before Dying” and found it every bit as satisfying a thriller as the first read-through.  Which got me thinking about what to read this summer. Summer is often a time of book lists and beach reading that we don’t have time for the rest of the year.  A good time to catch up on the things friends have recommended, things that sound good, or things we think we ought to read.  And a library is an excellent source for these books. A lot of times these are flash-in-the-pan books of no substance, which we forget about immediately.  But they don’t have to be.  … Continued
A Collegial Meeting

A Collegial Meeting

, , Matt Dilworth
This week I had the opportunity to attend the Academic Libraries of Indiana (ALI) annual conference in Indianapolis to present at the poster session.  There were many interesting exhibits there, on a number of hot topics in the library world. Ball State showcased a presentation on their evolving web interface.  Purdue University featured the results of embedding liaison librarians in their departments for regular office hours each week.  Notre Dame charted usage statistics from their experiments with mobile reference using an iPhone.  I gave a presentation on IU East’s action figure tour, online at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IENKivi3pEg There were more besides.  It struck me, as I interacted with attendees, how important collegiality and sharing are for librarians.  We can read articles … Continued
Dam Rumors

Dam Rumors

Matt Dilworth, Research
So, I was on vacation last week, and one of the things I saw on my trip was the Hoover Dam.  I was awed by the scale of the thing, and how much went into planning and creating it – and how much of Nevada, Arizona, and California can exist at all because of the clean water and hydroelectric power generated there.  When you’re looking straight down over a sheer wall of more than 700 feet of concrete, humility comes more easily.  Now, I’m not an architect or engineer (several of the friends I was traveling with are), so I’m sure I didn’t appreciate it thoroughly, but it was amazing to think of this massive project being done with the … Continued
Post-Mortem on a Murder

Post-Mortem on a Murder

Friends of the Library, Matt Dilworth
For those who couldn’t join us, the Friends of the Library Murder Mystery unfolded on Saturday, entangling all in a web of deceit and murder.  Set in 1923, the library’s supporters had gathered to celebrate the acquisition of a priceless manuscript.  But on the eve of his greatest professional triumph, archivist Archie Vist fell prey to poison before a startled audience, and soon everyone was embroiled in the attempt to discover which of his coworkers was the killer.  And it seemed like everyone had a motive! Accusations flew.  Was it Noelle ‘Noe’ Itall, who desperately wanted the archivist job?  Ray Ferénce, a librarian who had lost a wager with Archie?  Louisa Books, a beautiful librarian Archie had humiliated?  Some guests … Continued