Kansas is too far from my family, and from the ocean. That said, I love my travels to Kansas and while I try not to pick favorites I think they are doing some great things with libraries and technology statewide. I just got back from a flyby visit to Lawrence where I gave the keynote presentation at a NEKLS’ Reaching for Excellence Training Program. Much love to the NEKLS people, they let me give a keynote in the afternoon. I also got to eat a ton of BBQ with Josh Neff and family which was another trip high point.
The notes for my talk are here. They are available in Keynote slides, PowerPoint slides, and printable pdf format. I made a custom theme for Keynote so the slides might look weird, the pdf might be easier to read. As with the last talk, I have also included hyperlinks to most of the websites that I discussed, and credit links to all the photos that I used. My talk was beamed to two other sites using an HDTV setup and while it was a little tough getting all the bugs worked out, we persevered and I think it went really well. Big thanks to Shannon from the state library for inviting/hosting me and Heather for doing all the awesome tech work.
You may have noticed that I’ve been travelling at a breakneck pace this year. Since my drop-in time and teaching were curtailed thanks to budget cuts, I’ve been spending more of my free time on the road. I enjoy travelling a great deal and think that getting the word out about sensible new technologies is really a good use of my time and efforts. It’s always a balance between staying put and working within your community and travelling to tell other communities about what works in your own community. I’ll be back in Kansas in a few weeks.
I said this before, but I’ll say it again: it was great to finally meet you in person, and we loved having you over for dinner.
Good to hear that you paid Kansas a visit. Sounds like you are getting a taste of why I don’t miss the East Coast. Kansas is pretty cool.
If you ever come through again and have some free time, it would be fun to show you the infoshops in Lawrence and KC.
Chuck
I lived in Kansas for a year and a half and worked for SWKLS. I, too, like and miss a lot about it…Although living in Boulder makes up for it now. :) I can understand the afternoon thing - night owls are underrepresented. That’s why I’m reading your blog at 1 a.m. :)
I grew up in Kansas and moved away. I moved back last fall and moved away again in the spring. I do not like the library culture in Kansas, though the folks at the NEKLS office are nice. Working in the state I often felt that my MLS degree was devalued (and I got this impression from both library workers and non-library workers) and most of the populace are very narrow minded. I love to visit Kansas, but I don’t ever want to live there again.