Subject: Electronic Postcard #1 Hello everyone! Greetings from the city of San Francisco, site of the 116th Annual Conference of the American Library Association. For the first time since 1992, the conference has returned to the city by the bay, one of a handful of cities with convention facilities big enough to support this event, which typically draws about 20,000 attendees and exhibitors from around the world. In addition to the massive Moscone Convention Center, which itself has about 60 meeting rooms as well as two very large exhibit halls, the meeting rooms and banquet halls of eleven downtown hotels are pressed into service to host meetings, programs, and demonstrations. Group discount rates were arranged at about forty hotels and lodging facilities by the association. This is my second ALA conference in San Francisco, and fifth one overall (including one of the smaller Midwinter Meetings, which are held in February). In years past, I've requested the least expensive hotel rooms, and have ended up anywhere from one to eight miles away from the convention center. This time, I decided to pay for convenience and got a room at the Monticello Inn, a refurbished older hotel on Ellis Street, about a block north of Market -- a mere three blocks or so from the Moscone Center, ten minutes by foot. And yet, substantially less expensive than places like the Marriott, the ANA, or the Sheraton, which are closer still. It's a small room with kind of an "old building" smell, but otherwise nicely appointed with colonial-style furnishings. It's no Holiday Inn, but the extra services (complimentary continental breakfast, complimentary wine served for an hour in the evening, an Italian restaurant providing room service) make up for it's shortcomings (narrow and winding hallways and stairways, a window from which you only see other rooms, no self-serve ice machines). It's actually rather nice, and I've enjoyed staying here. As I've alluded to earlier, there is a lot happening at the conference. If you're not trudging through the exhibit halls, you're running around to different hotels to attend programs. On Saturday, to save time, I ate lunch at the convention center, which is another convenience you pay for -- $5.50 for a turkey sandwich, $2.79 for a 20-ounce bottle of soda. On Saturday evening, the opening general session was held, featuring a moving and inspiring keynote address by Parade Magazine editor Walter Anderson, who spoke of the life-changing potential of early positive intervention and encouragement in the lives of young people. That ceremony was followed by a reception at the new San Francisco Public Library -- an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous facility. Visit it if you can -- it will amaze you when you see what can be done with a public building. Ralph Toyama / We now pause Automation Librarian /__ for station University of Hawaii -- Leeward Community College / identification: rtoyama@hawaii.edu http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rtoyama / This is NH6PY/6