School Library Journal Leadership Summit -- Best of the Best

The School Library Journal Leadership Summit is probably my favorite conference, because of the baseline presumption that everyone is sort of with-it when it comes to technology, and all the exciting backchanneling and just generally top-notch attendees. That was doubly true this year, as everything dealt with the shift from print to digital.

I spoke on a ebook panel, a first for me at this event and a tad intimatidating given the fact I knew and stood in awe of so many in the room. I was a little leery about the whole thing, frankly, because I don't want people to copy my sometimes half-baked strategies wholesale, because I think every library is very different. And I had to follow Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, so no pressure there. But it was fun to share a model that wasn't about the big ebook players (sorry, vendors), but about leveraging student devices and using the simplest hardware to access public domain works. And to hear Chris Harris say, "Do what Wendy is doing. Buy hardware," was a bit surprising, but very validating.

Other highlights included the amazing Brian Selznick sharing the process for Wonderstuck, his latest, and screening the trailer for Hugo, the upcoming Scorsese movie version of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which looks so much like the book it's eerie. Evidentally, it's being called Hugo Cabret in France. It was a sort of strange flashback to this same weekend last year, when I'd seen Brian at the Center for Puppetry Arts as part of the ALSC Institute in Atlanta. And I finally met Laurel Snyder, who I'd been looking for that night last year but never found. And I actually got the first signed copy of her new book, Bigger than a Breadbox.

I'm staying over for the National Book Festival, but the forecast is for a rainy Saturday, which makes me happy it's also Museum Day.