AWAKE IN SEATTLE

I've just gotten back from a few days in Seattle, attending the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association, where I spent most of my time either in meetings (International Relations Committee/Eurasia-Central Asia Subcommittee; Armenian Librarians and Libraries Information Committee); cruising through vendor exhibits; surfing the net (fortunately, WIFI was available and my laptop came in handy). My Hye colleagues and I were working on program and activities plans for the summer conference in Washington, DC, in late June; and sending e-mails galore to those members who couldn't be with us in person.

In between, we enjoyed some good food, mainly punctuated by yummy cheesecake and washed down with Starbucks coffee at the Cheesecake Factory, conveniently located across the street from our hotel and close to the Washington State Convention Center.

It was a very productive conference, topped off by a very pleasant evening with Fr. Yeghia Isayan and his family. Fr. Yeghia is the pastor of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Seattle. The parish began its organizational efforts 25 years ago and are now looking forward to the construction of a new church. I have no doubt that Fr. Y's energy, enthusiasm, and encouragement will make this daunting undertaking come to fruition.

We were talking about the importance of libraries as treasure houses of knowledge and information, and I showed a couple of the PowerPoint presentations I've put together on Armenian libraries and their resources. I look forward to returning to Seattle and sharing these with the Armenian community, as part of broadening the Western Diocese's Library Network.