What
are the distinguishing characteristics of a librarian? I’ve often ruminated on this topic and have
come up with a preliminary list. First,
they like to read. Although they
themselves are not always well organized they are good organizers, viz., of
meetings, conferences, or of data.
And speaking of conferences, they, like their scientist colleagues, are
avid attendees at professional meetings and conferences, which accounts, by the
way, for the canvas reg bags they are always seen carrying. They are likely to be more introverted than
otherwise, although there are notable exceptions. They incline naturally towards sharing and
cooperation. And, of course, they love
to eat. These characteristics are most
often seen in combination rather than isolation. This accounts, for example, for their desire
not just to consume but to also read about food, not just to organize a meeting
but to organize one in which food plays a prominent role.
The
above helps explain the enthusiasm for Project DINE (Dinner In New
England). At the MLA in Minneapolis last
May, it came to light that another chapter holds its business meeting at a
restaurant. This news, this revelation,
spread quickly through the ICS. Soon we
were all asking ourselves the same question – why don’t we do something like
that? I talked the situation over with our
Chair-Elect, Alicia Livinski, and we decided to stage a sort of rehearsal of
this dinner at the MLA in Seattle in 2012.
This would lead up to the real thing - a full-fledged dinner business
meeting at a restaurant with actual waiters, menus, and adult beverages – at
our 2013 meeting in Boston, thus Dinner In New England.
We
need some volunteers to serve on the Project DINE Task Force. These members will be entrusted with a
mission that is unprecedented in the history of the section – I know this is
true because I just finished reading this history (see my blurb, elsewhere in
this newsletter, entitled “Volunteer Sought to Update Section History”). This
mission is to find an appropriate restaurant in Seattle in which to hold our
rehearsal dinner and then, based on this experience, explore what will be involved
in holding the real thing in Boston in 2013.
In
an informal poll I conducted in late August a slight majority of the
respondents favored having our 2012 business meeting at its usual time
(indecently early in the morning) and usual place (the conference hotel). Our
rehearsal dinner will be an occasion for us to socialize and otherwise whoop it
up but no section business will take place.
Our 2013 business meeting, it is hoped, will be held in the evening at a
private room in a restaurant, perhaps with corporate
sponsors subsidizing the wingding.
Contact
me if you are interested in serving on the Project DINE Task Force (bbunnett@salud.unm.edu).
Brian P. Bunnett
University of New Mexico
Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center
Email: bbunnett@salud.unm.edu
University of New Mexico
Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center
Email: bbunnett@salud.unm.edu
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