Speaker Event recap

It’s been two weeks since our Fall Speaker Event, and the members of SGO are still buzzing with excitement over the talk that Marilyn Johnson gave.  From the speech itself to the wonderful crowd that turned out, this year’s event was a huge success!   

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s a brief recap: Marilyn’s remarks centered on the idea of service in the public library.  Time and again, she expressed her wonderment at librarians’ ceaseless attempts to help the “freaks” of the world deal with technological change.  “Freaks,” as Marilyn clarified, include those of us who walk into a library baffled by new web resources, printers that always seem to be offline, and the myriad other challenges that the public faces every day.  She lamented that the profession does not have a higher profile, and urged librarians and library lovers alike to become stronger advocates of the important services that libraries provide.  Her message was very affirming, particularly because Marilyn Johnson speaks as someone who is not a member of the profession — she is a writer and a user of libraries, not a librarian.   We are fortunate to have such a wonderful ally! 

                                                                                                                                   

Afterwards, Marilyn was gracious enough to take questions from the audience and sign copies of her book, This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All! 

On behalf of SGO, I’d like to thank Meeting and Event Services for their help in organizing the Jeanne d’Arc auditorium, the staff and faculty of the MLIS program for tirelessly helping us promote the event, Brigette Marty of Student Center and Activities/GSAB for being an incredible resource, and Common Good Books for providing copies of Marilyn’s book for sale.

Everyone in SGO is eagerly looking ahead to the planning of next year’s Fall Speaker Event.  We arrange other events throughout the year, too, so watch this blog for upcoming announcements on future SGO happenings!    

Were you at the event?  Do you have any feedback for us on this speaker or on future speakers you’d like to see?  Leave us a comment or send an email to lissgo@gmail.com.

-Michael Mitchell

 From left: Heidi Hammond, Marilyn Johnson, Deb Grealy, and Deb Torres.

 Marilyn Johnson and Michael Mitchell