LITA’s Happy Hour at 6 Arms on 300 E. Pike Friday night was great! About 35 members showed up to network and discuss LITA activities and meetings here in Seattle. The brew pub is a cozy place with a wide selection of frothy, bubbly and hot stuff. And the place was hopping!
In conversation with Clara Ruttenberg, Systems Librarian in D.C., she said that Happy Hour was where she could quickly see her colleagues before the conference was underway. Though not on a LITA committee yet, she planned to volunteer for one soon. Mike Sainsbury from Greater Victoria Public Library and an enthusiastic participant on the LITA Membership Committee has lots of ideas for increasing LITA membership including looking into drafting IT support staff in libraries to join LITA.
Speaking of membership, Diane Bison, who is running for LITA VP told me that she feels that “there are many librarians in IT who are just not yet members of LITA” and we need to bring them into the fold. Her competitor for the VP position, Andrew Pace said he wants to explore making LITA more of a “technology consultant to ALA,” drawing on the expertise of LITA members.
You couldn’t miss Board Members past and present, many sporting those blue-glowing neon LITA pins which stood out in the dimly lit, noisy pub. Bonnie Postlethwaite, President, told me that members should keep an eye out for the Assessment and Research Task Force report. The report will soon be posted on the LITA website and comments from LITA members are requested. Mary Taylor, Executive Director, encouraged other members to come to future Happy Hours as they are excellent networking venue.
I couldn’t possibly recount all the conversations I had with fellow LITA members – you had to have been there…kudos go to Richard Kim who organized the event. But, he didn’t want to take all the praise. Richard credited Tito Sierra with the selection of the venue. Tito said 6 Arms was where he used to hang out when he worked for Amazon.com Thanks guys…and have a good conference!