This is the first time we flew anywhere since the Troubles, so we were happy to follow the advice of our limo company and leave for JFK at 6:30 for a 9 AM flight. We were through security by about 7:15, so we had ample time on our hands. The flight was more than 3 hours with a headwind, but it went fast because JetBlue is one of those airlines that provide individual tv sets, so we watched Headline News all the way across. Once in New Orleans, we did what we always do when we hit New Orleans - lunch at Pat O'Brien's.
On Friday, we got to the convention center to register, and I headed up to the Innovative Users' Group meeting. It seemed like the turnout was visibly smaller than past Midwinters. Too bad because they had a really good presentation. First of all, Betsy Graham talked about upcoming improvements in the system. The most anticipated is one that we will get automatically - an upgrade to Web Access Management that will eliminate the need to set browsers to call up the proxy screen. Instead, we will just direct the users to one URL that will allow them to log in and then use the databases. This will eliminate all of the problems with AOL and Internet Explorer. This is expected to be active by March or April with the new release of the Innovative software.
Next, Laurie Davidson presented material about Millennium Access Plus. Meta Bridge allows the OPAC to automatically display book covers, reviews, links to Google, or anything else that the library wants to add to supplement a MARC record. This is set up on the system end by putting in protocols for the type of record to add the extra data to , and where to go look for it. One nice feature is that an option will only appear if there is something that fulfills the search. Davidson said that a soon-to-be-released enhancement will allow the system administrator to see how many people take advantage of the links. Another module in MAP is MetaSearch, that allows the OPAC to simultaneously search a number of free and licensed databases with the same search command. The public librarian admitted that this is something for a fairly specialized subset of power users.
Finally, Fred Gertler tried mightily to inject humor and vitality into the subject of passwording. The most interesting idea about this was to set up a sub-layer of password administrator who could alter passwords for people in their own departments, but nobody else. The current 200 range of passwords will be expanded to 800 for Millennium.
I skipped the breakout sessions in favor of early Friday opening of the exhibits. Since this is something they had never done, it led to even more speechifying than ever before the ribbon-cutting. Once inside, they had set up a pretty impressive collection of New Orleans style food, and spaced the serving trays all around the room, so there were no lines to speak of. Several vendors were advertising access to the digitized New York Times, but Proquest seemed to be the furthest along in that regard.
That night, I was dragged kicking and screaming to Donna's on Ramparts Street, where the music didn't start until 11 - about a half hour past the time I wanted to be in bed. However, once it did start, I had to admit that it was worth the trouble: a veteran brass band with a reperoire of songs like Basin Street Blues and St. Louis Blues.
Saturday was the day for my committee meeting - the Communications Committee of the College Library Section of CLS. The big news there was that CLS as a whole is considering the elimination of meetings at Midwinter. Everyone else on my committee was heartily for it, but I quietly had my reservations. Next, they mentioned that the existing webmaster was stepping down. The chair would prefer to have someone from the committee take the thing on. Even though there were several others who could have done it, I gave up and volunteered.
Saturday night included a party thrown by the newly-formed Ovid/SilverPlatter corporation at Pat O'Briens. It was definitely more like a SilverPlatter party than an Ovid party. Later that night, the first Mardi Gras parade of the season came down Royal Street. It was so much fun that I hated to see it go.
Sunday evening we went to a presentatation provided by Jones E-global Library. It reported the results of a survey of librarians. It said that, by and large, librarians love their jobs, but they aren't sure what their duties would be in five years. They also predicted that the hot new careers in libraries would be in digitizing and writing pathfinders to web resources.
After that, it was several parties, culminating in the Innovative Interfaces party which was held in a modern art museum. We ended up in a "second line" parade from the top floor down a spiral ramp - just behind the ever-animated Fred Gertler. It was time to go back home.
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