FROM THE IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT, OR,
ONE PERSON'S ALA TRIP REPORT
Kay G. Johnson
You may have heard by now that I did not make it to the recent ALA Conference and OLAC meetings in Toronto. I did not have any proof of citizenship when I tried to fly from Rochester, New York to Toronto and was not allowed on the Air Canada flight.
The series of events leading up to this now seems comical. Anything non-life threatening that could go wrong did go wrong. I went through two roommates and three hotels. I picked up the Nancy B. Olson Award plaque and had to take it back to correct serious mistakes. My computer picked up a virus the week I left. The list goes on and on. Yes, I had a birth certificate safely ensconced in my filing cabinet back in Knoxville.
I learned several valuable lessons, including that one cannot ship packages overnight from the United States to Canada over the weekend. I am still not sure whom to believe when one forgets their proof of citizenship. A person I spoke to at the Rochester airport assured me it would not be a problem as long as I had other identification.
My husband, Neil, had driven up with me to New York to visit his mother. We both ended up staying with her for the weekend, then drove back to Knoxville. Meanwhile, my PDA stopped working. We bought a lottery ticket on Saturday. I told Neil that with the way our luck was running, we would probably owe New York money on our lottery ticket.
I regret I could not fulfill my OLAC commitments and that others had to step in to chair the meetings. I am particularly sorry that I was unable to get the Nancy B. Olson plaque to the membership meeting. A huge thanks goes to Verna Urbanski, who was the only one I could reach in Toronto. Other huge thanks go to Cathy Gerhart, for stepping in to chair the Executive Board and Membership meetings, Rebecca Lubas for facilitating the CAPC meeting and Kevin Furniss for presenting the Nancy B. Olson Award. It has been a pleasure working with the Board and with the other dedicated, fantastic members of Online Audiovisual Catalogers.
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Last updated: September 3, 2003
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