Month: September 2011

Midwest Chapter Fall Executive Board Meeting

ALL Midwest Chapter members are welcome to attend the chapter’s fall Executive Board meeting. The board will be meeting at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown in Ballroom 7 on the second floor beginning at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, October 7, 2011.

If you are interested in attending the Executive Board meeting as a guest, please send an RSVP e-mail to me (cleibfar AT kent DOT edu) by Tuesday, October 4th. I’ll have handouts and a seat ready for you!

I will be posting the Executive Board reports and meeting agenda on the chapter website early next week. Watch this space: http://midwestmla.org/business/.

Hope to see YOU in Indianapolis!

Clare Leibfarth, President
Midwest Chapter/MLA

Need a little culture (besides the Cultural Trail)?

Yes, I already extolled the virtues of the Cultural Trail, but what if you are looking for culture–as in performing arts? Indianapolis has a year-round performing symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO), and the Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT).

Image courtesy of the ISO http://www.indianapolissymphony.org/

The ISO’s world premiere performance of the program “Do You Hear the People Sing” happens our conference weekend their Pops series. More information can be found here: http://www.indianapolissymphony.org/tickets/learnmore.aspx?id=4390

The ISO is located in the historic Hilbert Circle Theater located on Monument Circle, 0.5 miles from the Downtown Marriott (exit the hotel onto Washington Street).

 

Indiana Repertory Theatre
Image courtesy of Carl Van Rooy http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanrooy/

The IRT’s Going Solo Festival of three intimate one-actor plays returns for its third year of audience acclaim. During your time in Indianapolis, you could attend of three different one-actor plays (or more!):

I Love to Eat: Cooking with James Beard by James Still
Lost: A Memoir by Cathy Ostlere and Dennis Garnhum
Nobody Don’t Like Yogi by Tom Lysaght

The IRT is located in the beautiful 1927 Indiana Theatre located at 140 W. Washington St., 0.2 miles (~3 blocks) from the Downtown Marriott (exit the hotel onto Washington Street).

Two of my favorite things–the Indy Cultural Trail & the downtown Canal

When I moved to Indianapolis 5 years ago, I wasn’t super excited about it. Growing up in rural Indiana, moving to Indiana’s “big city” didn’t hold a lot of thrill for me.

However, despite my lack of initial excitement, I truly have been pleasantly surprised by Indy. One of the neatest things (in my opinion) in Indy is the Cultural Trail. The Cultural Trail “is a world-class urban bike and pedestrian path that connects neighborhoods, Cultural Districts and entertainment amenities, and serves as the downtown hub for the entire central Indiana greenway system.” (according to http://www.indyculturaltrail.org/about.html )
As a biker, I have appreciated the Trail and how it links up my way to work (the White River Greenway) with the Monon Trail (a rails-to-trails path) and weaves itself downtown, providing a much less stressful bike ride around downtown and is also very pretty. 🙂 The Cultural Trail is along existing roadways, so make sure to pay attention to traffic signals.

A detailed map can be found here: http://bit.ly/q2dvwW

The Cultural trail also ties in with another of my favorite things about Indy–the downtown Canal. The canal is great for running & walking (you can also bike on it, but it can get kind of narrow at points) and is below the street level, so it’s actually quite peaceful even though you’re in the midst of the city. Since it is below street level, you also don’t have to worry about crossing streets, having to constantly stop at lights, etc. You can get in a nice 3-mile loop pretty easily just along the canal (all the way to Buggs Temple on the north end), and it also hooks into the pedestrian bridge that connects the White River State Park with the Indianapolis Zoo, which has a promenade path on the north side of the zoo.

(image above from http://bit.ly/pwsfz1)

The main canal path is marked on the map in green. The conference hotel, Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, is one of the red icons towards the bottom; the canal is only a few blocks from the hotel, so it’s a nice place to go for a stroll!

Registration still open! Come to the Midwest Chapter/MLA conference October 8-11

You are invited to the 2011 Midwest Chapter / Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, to be held in Indianapolis, October 8th-11th.    The meeting will be held at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown.  The conference hotel is located near the Circle Center Mall, Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Colts, the Indiana State Museum, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis Zoo, NCAA Hall of Champions, an IMAX 3D Theater, outdoor art and canal.  Nearby dining includes the Oceanaire, Shula’s Steak House, St. Elmo’s Steakhouse, and much more.

Registration for 2011 Midwest Chapter MLA/Indiana Health Sciences Librarians Association Annual Meeting is available now. You can register online, by check or onsite during the conference.

Our featured speakers are John Green, a New York Times bestselling author and founder with his brother of the youtube channel –  vlogbrothers; and Margo Coletti, Director of Knowledge Services at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and current Chair of the Hospital Library Section of the MLA.

Six continuing education courses http://midwestmla.org/conference2011/CE.html are being offered.  Library Education Units (LEUs) are available for these courses as well as for the contributed paper sessions, keynote speaker, and Technology Forum. See details here: http://midwestmla.org/conference2011/Files/LEUCredits.pdf . Topics include grant writing, copyright, mobile technology, electronic collection development, instruction design and e-science & data sharing.

Twenty contributed paper sessions and a Technology Forum round out the program with topics including QR Codes – what they are and how to use them; journals management; collaborating with faculty; overcoming solo librarian blues; and health outreach.

Join us Sunday October 9th for the gala tailgate party at the interactive NCAA Hall of Champions.  *Please wear your favorite sports jersey for the gala event. Any sport, college or professional; your choice!*

We are looking forward to a really great meeting and hope to see many of you there!

Brew Bracket Fall Tournament

Do you like locally crafted microbrews? Do you like stouts? If so, the Brew Bracket Fall Tournament may be something to add to your Saturday calendar.

This event features a specific type of beer (on Saturday, October 8, it is stout) where you, blindly taste-testing each of them, get to determine the best brew out of all those entered. More info about what a Brew Bracket is can be found here: http://www.brewbracket.com/about/

More general info about the event can be found here: http://www.brewbracket.com/upcomingevents/

Event: Brew Bracket

Date: Saturday, October 8, 2011

Time: 12.30pm-5.00pm

Where: Indiana State Fairgrounds (you will need to have a car or taxi to get here)

The cost is $35/person, or $7/designated driver.

I plan on also posting about some of my favorite local breweries (or place to get a beer) in Indy. However, what do you want to hear about? 🙂