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#erl16 & #d4d16 – #libux awesomeness in Austin [pt 2]

Courtney McDonald

• 5 min read

And we’re back for the exciting conclusion of “#libux Awesomeness in Austin!” In our last episode, I focused on ER&L, which took place Sunday April 3 – Wednesday April 6. Overlapping a bit with ER&L is its sister event, Designing for Digital: Designing the Future of Libraries on the Web (or, D4D for short). I attended D4D last year, and you can find my writeup on the 2015 event on the DLF blog.

Since the Bloom’s Taxonomy of conference needs had been achieved and we were amply connected, caffeinated, and comfortably fed (more on this later), we were all able to attend to the work at hand – which was to choose from a number of workshop options and sessions, all focused on user experience. I’ve heard ALA Annual compared to “brigadoon for libraries” (pretty sure @shifted was at the bottom of that one! whoever it was: thumbs up!) – this was like “brigadoon for #libux.” A magical place appeared, and oh-so-briefly, my Twitter timeline manifested itself in the flesh in front of the breakfast buffet, in the conference seating, and (later) in line at the bar. It was magical. No, seriously! Fantastic to get a chance to chat, discuss and just hang out in person. The internet is great as a long distance connector, but something about facetime is really special and makes the time and investment in conference attendance worthwhile.

I opted to attend the session track rather than choosing any of the workshops – although the buzz on the workshops was very good, this year I felt like I wanted to try and see as many speakers as possible during the two-day intensive experience. You can see all the session information online at https://d4d2016.sched.org. Also, don’t miss this conference roundup complete with visual notes from Melanie Parlette-Stewart: beautiful!

As with last year, the conference keynotes were amazing: Jesse James Garrett (@jjg) and Michelle Ha Tucker (@michellecyha). Both of these talks are still available via the recording of the livestream. Watch them. Really, really watch them.

Highlights from @jjg talk:

Highlights from @michellecyha

So, what happened in between? Lots! So much, in fact that I’m just going to point you to the presentation materials for Wednesday and Thursday and encourage you to dig around. Here’s some quick hits:

Meanwhile in another session, this happened:

I want to be sure to say that, in addition to being great conferences for legitimate business and professional development reasons like programming and networking, it’s also a huge plus that ER&L/D4D are held in Austin, TX at the fantabulous AT&T Executive Education Center on the UT-Austin campus. You really feel tied into the energy of the Austin web/design community and of the UT campus, not to mention that the venue itself is really nice. During our visit, the weather was lovely and I had more chance to explore the campus and areas around than on our last visit, including Torchy’s Tacos [you need to know about the secret menu]. Oh, and did I mention the amenities – by which of course I mean wi-fi, coffee and conference meals/snacks?

I can sense that my commitment to brevity is being compromised by all my Library Feelings, so I’m going to wrap this up by saying:

  • Thanks to the conference organizers, Bonnie Tijerina, Judy Siegel, and Sandy Tijerina, for an event that’s a highlight of my library conference career
  • Thanks to all the attendees and presenters! So many good conversations – very insights! Much learning! So wow!
  • If you work in #libux, put this on your travel plan for next year. I’ll look forward to seeing you there!

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