The Road to Annual: Friday, June 7
I started the day talking libraries with Aaron Stone at WVOW radio in Logan, West Virginia. It was a great conversation touching on the fantastic work being done at Buffalo Creek Memorial Library and in libraries across West Virginia. So many things happen online these days—it was great to walk up a couple flights of stairs, get in studio, put on a headset, and watch Stone run his audio board. It really felt like doing radio.
Emily Drabinski, left, with Aaron Stone at the WVOW station.
From there we drove to Louisville, Kentucky on our way to Missouri. We were detoured due to construction on Interstate 64 which meant lots of winding roads, not something I’m used to as a dedicated New York City subway rider. I was driving so I didn’t get carsick—the upside of being the person behind the wheel! We stopped for lunch at Mi Hacienda in Salyersville where I got a combo plate like I always do, cheese enchilada and a chicken taco this time.
I met my first work friend who became a real friend nearly twenty years ago at Sarah Lawrence College. Maria Accardi and I were both new librarians at Sarah Lawrence College and our connection persisted even when she moved to a position at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany. We’ve done so much thinking and writing together over the years but haven’t seen each other since ACRL 2013 in Indianapolis. We met for dinner with her wife Constance, catching up about our lives and their work with the nonprofit they started, Bringing Justice Home. It was good to get a little sense of home out here on the road. Pictured at left (clockwise from bottom left): Maria Accardi, Constance Merritt, and ALA President Emily Drabinski.
Tomorrow we continue heading west toward ALA Annual in San Diego. Come join us there!
