CS-SIS Grant winner Carmen Melendez writes about her experiences at AALL

Carmen Melendez, Acting Head of the Reference Department at the University of Puerto Rico Law School Library, received a grant from CS-SIS that enabled her to attend this year's AALL Conference.  Here's what she has to say about it:

“Nunca es tarde cuando la dicha es buena” 1

The above is a proverb that can be attributed different meanings. I am using it in the context  that no matter how much you have to wait for something, when you get the reward the wait will have been worth it. I adopted this proverb as my motto after I fulfilled my dream of traveling to Europe almost a year and a half ago. The wait was worth it. I say the same about the AALL Annual Meeting this year. After 15 years of absence, I was able to attend this year and it was worth the wait.

I am grateful to CS-SIS for giving me a grant as an experienced librarian which allowed me to participate in the AALL pre-conference, Cool Tools: The Workshop. During this past year, I have been learning and using various emerging technologies. This workshop gave me the opportunity to learn about technologies that I didn't know existed, such as Exhibit and Yahoo Pipes. I also learned about technologies that I knew about, but never used, such as the creation of widgets.

The participants of the workshop came from different kinds of libraries and backgrounds and different levels of experience with technology, something that was very helpful during the workshop.  I am grateful to Roberta Woods, my desk partner, because her knowledge and experience with technology was invaluable for me while doing the exercises.  Also, the use of a wiki as a tool (before, during and after the workshop), was something new for me and enriched the experience. Months after the workshop, I still kept using the information of the wiki and can review what I learned.

At the AALL meeting, I attended many conferences, most of them related to reference services, legal research instruction and technology. I have to confess, I did not follow AALL's advice about attending different kinds of activities during the meeting. There were many excellent conferences that I did not want to miss and to learn from them. Even at the exhibit hall, I attended many presentations.

After many years of absence from AALL I was very impressed with the many changes that the organization has implemented. The on-site registration, the wireless access and the printing of the handouts were very fast and efficient. To return to an AALL meeting has been a very refreshing and revitalizing experience which I hope to repeat next year.

1. WordReference.com Language Forum – http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=173271