Day 1 got off to a good start with a keynote speech by John Seely Brown, author of the book “the Social Life of Information”, and other works. Really smart guy. He has some interesting ideas about where technology is taking us, the pace of that change and how we can flow and adapt to it, and how libraries and librarians might fit into the future. Pretty solid reasoning, emphasizing the need for constant, lifelong skill acquisition and learning due to the very very short half-life of skill sets these days.

There were some other really good sessions today. I took some notes, but I have to say that I while I enjoyed Day 1 I wasn’t blown away by it. That being said, this conference is so good that even when it is only so-so, it’s still better than pretty much any other library conference, so I have no complaints. I guess I’m just waiting for that session that blows my mind. Looking forward to Day 2. Feeling re-energized professionally.

I ate some pasta at the reception and opening of the vendor exhibits, and then went skateboarding. At the risk of posting this video way too many times in too many places, I’m going to go ahead and post it here, since it is now my personal tradition to produce a sidewalk-terrorization-skateboarding video with punk rock soundtrack when I come here every year. I’m planning to attend a dine-around tomorrow evening, and forcing myself to be social. I don’t know why I am so loner-ish when I’m here. People are really nice and very cool at this conference.