This is not the first time I’ve found myself #alaleftbehind, but the more I think about, it this is probably the best time to be in this situation. Think about it. Before the prevalence of blogs, smartphones, twitter and the like, librarians who weren’t at conference might have had to wait for official publications to be mailed to their homes. There would be no way to react to or participate in what was going on. But now, we can follow hashtags (#alaannual, #alaleftbehind, #alsc to name a few), we can read Cognotes, follow divisional blogs and the blogs of our librarian colleagues.
Admittedly, I may feel a pang or two as I see the photo feeds of far flung friends of mine enjoying each other’s company. However, I do know that they will be live tweeting sessions I would have attended and are likely to be microblogging as well. I know that I can send questions about presentations out into the world, and will likely get answers quickly.
Technology certainly has made being #alaleftbehind a little bit easier!