Wish I was there ...

At ALA's annual conference that is. Especially with its location this year being just a two hour drive from where I currently live.

I haven't been shy in saying that I have issues with ALA, namely my belief that the organization simply doesn't address the topics and issues particular to those of us working in special libraries and information centers.

But I have to admit that I wish I was there for some of the speakers. A fantastic lineup is being offered, with an opening general session featuring Illinois Senator Barack Obama and the closing session featuring Henry Winkler. Henry is mostly remembered for playing the "Fonz" on the television show "Happy Days," but he's also a director, children's author and a literacy advocate. (He discovered when he was 31 that he is dyslexic.)

Bright and early tomorrow morning, author Erik Larson will speak. He wrote a fantastic book, "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America," which tells the story of the men behind Chicago's World's Fair, intertwining it with the story of H.H. Holmes, who murdered scores of people who came to Chicago in anticipation of the fair's opening. A while back, I read that goofy Tom Cruise had purchased the rights to the book and was planning to play Holmes. (No pun intended.)

So, while I doubt I would have gotten much out of the majority of program presentations, I'm sorry I'm missing these three notable ones. Hopefully someone lucky enough to be there will fill me on what I missed.