IFLA 2008 (part 10): "You Can't Take Me Home"

[From Part 9]

I got tired of blogging about the "serious stuff".

So...

Here's a very cool T-shirt (but worned by an uncool-looking dude, I'm afraid!)


My Norwegian colleague, Linn, gave out T-shirts her library produced as part of a project. In the centre of the T-shirt, it says "Lkke til hjemlan".

It means "You Can't Take Me Home".

I guess you have to be a librarian to appreciate the joke. LOL

Back to the serious stuff.

[Next: Part 11 - Visit to Bibliothèque de Charlesbourg]

IFLA 2008 (part 9): Revised guidelines for library services for young adults

[From Part 8]

8.30am, 12 Aug 2008, Quebec City. Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section.

This morning, our Section presented the revised guidelines for library services for young adults (which will be available at the Section webpage soon).

Specifically, it was Patricia Muller from USA (Left in the picture) who did the presentation.


Not surprising to see 140 to 150 people attending. As with previous years, there are lots of people interested in Children and Young Adults libraries.


In her presentation, Pat emphasised that the librarian should have some form of training before assigning them to Young Adult (YA) services. At least, not simply because so-and-so staff is available.

"You cannot provide effective services to Young Adults without their inputs," says Pat. And the work you assign to them has to be meaningful (i.e. not ask them to paste stuff or as additional labour).

The revised guidelines features "Ten Service Goals":

1. The library has established clear policy statements concerning the right to free access by young adults to library resources and information sources; and respect for the rights of young adults to select materials appropriate to their needs without censorship.
2. The library program for young adults is effectively managed according to best practices.
3. There is equitable distribution of resources to support programs and services for young adults.
4. Library staff is (should this be are rather than is?) knowledgeable about adolescent development and age appropriate resources for young adults, inclusive of those with special needs.
5. The library provides a wide spectrum of current materials of interest to young adults to encourage life-long learning, literacy, and reading motivation.
6. The library provides resources to support the educational needs of young adults.
7. The library assists young adults in acquiring the skills to effectively access all library resources and become information and computer literate.
8. The library fosters youth development by providing opportunities for young adults to participate in planning and implementing library programs and services for themselves.
9. The library creates an area just for young adults that is attractive and interesting to them.
10. The library works in partnership with other community agencies and organizations to support all aspects of healthy, successful youth development.

The ten goals are not meant to be prescriptive. Some countries may want to modify those goals.

Pat advised that it's not possible to accomplish all ten goals. Just start with one and move on to others. Sound advice.

Pat also said the website is a important marketing tool.

"Flashy - that's what they want!"

She acknowledged that having a website would require resources. The key thing was to try (I say, try a blog!)

I took some shots of participants snapping up the printed copies after the presentation.



Q&A session
The questions (and the inevitable commentary) came fast and furious.

"How do you treat young adults? As teens or as adults?"

"Should we use the term 'Young Adults' or 'Teens'?".
One suggestion was to use the word teens. One participant shared that teens preferred to be considered as adults.

One participant asked if anyone has integrated music as part of library itself (rather than a library programme).

I scribbled a note to Ingrid, who was chairing the session. I asked that she tell the participants about our mailing list. Those excellent questions and comments ought to be posted there!

I suspect many in the room were practitioners. Who were interested in "How To" questions.

Seems we all face the same issues when it comes to delivering services to teens.

[Next: Part 10]

IFLA 2008 (part 8): Reading in hospitals & new technologies

A presentation, also from France, after this one (part 7).

This one was about a book lending service in Paris public hospitals.


The presenter, Ms. Claude Guerin, spoke in French. I copied what I could from her powerpoint which had accompanying English translations. Any factual mistakes are mine.

Some facts that I found interesting

• There are 26 "hospital district agencies" and 3,000 health establishments (in Paris alone?)
• One out of five (I'm not sure if it's in France or just Paris) are hospitalised each year
• The reading initiative in hospitals arose from an inter-ministerial agreement; a "culture in hospitals agreement" (I found this PDF of a supplementary handout that was distributed at the session).
• Reading was a "a significant social practice in hospitals"
• System-wide, there was an average of 2,700 publications per hospital (a 5% increase; I'm not sure compared to when).
• 95% of the collections books, 7% AV items, marginal number of electronic resources (note: these are just averages and scale varies from library to library)
• Most collections are leisure-related (e.g. Fiction). Practically no health subjects
• About 33% of hospitals have weekly carriages to rooms; 33% have a library within the hospital; 33% have a "book on request" service for patients via phone call to the hospital staff
• 73% have volunteers to help in providing the service
• 24% employ non-professional employees in hospitals
• 2% employ trained librarians
• 1% are assisted by librarians seconded from from public libraries
• 32% of the hospitals are planning for multimedia workshops

From their experience, the public (i.e. patients) expects AV materials, digital resources, materials adapted for the elderly and disabled, documents on the consequences of diseases or on how to live a handicap.

Some libraries have started offering computers (for patients to use for work purposes and to email their family, search about pathologies, or search for convalescent homes)

One pediatric hospital provided laptops loaded with educational software. They let the child patient surf the net, email their parents or with other patients. Social networking among the kids!

---

My thoughts
Libraries in hospitals. Why not?!

The patients are a captive audience. I'm sure doing something constructive, like reading, while recuperating is a positive activity. Of course we'd want to avoid violent or depressing themes.

Learn a skill when recuperating in hospital. Booktalks. Book discussions...

Library services in hospitals can enhance the health care service in Singapore. It might come with a fee, depending on the scope of service. Or hospitals can work with public libraries who can offer outreach services which are currently free.

Perhaps co-funding between the MOH and MICA? Or even with MCYS if we're talking about the Class C wards. I can imagine HPB coming into the picture too.

The more I think about it, the more a browsing/ lending service in the hospital makes sense.

If I'm a non-reader, it might be a way to get back to reading. During the recuperation stage, recovering patients might want to know more about living with their health condition. Or maybe psychology-related books, like those on Positive Thinking.

Even if I'm a reader, the last thing I'd plan for a stay in the hospital are reading materials. Visiting relatives may not bring reading materials in for me.

Oh, the social networking aspect just sounds great. Imagine, patients logging in to the hospital library online portal, seeking fellow patients out, discussing their condition and experience in privacy and perhaps anonymity, with occasional moderation by qualified hospital staff.

Definitely an area to explore.

We'll see.

[Next: Part 9]

IFLA 2008 (part 7): E-reading for disabled persons

[From Part 6]

Monday, 11 Aug 2008, Quebec City. Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons Section.


"E-reading for disabled persons: The French digital library for the Disabled" by Monique Pujol.

Monique spoke in French but her slides had English explanations so I was able to follow (good thinking, 'cos translation receiver headsets might fail.)

She shared about their digital library serving people with disabilities, based in the city of Boulogne-Billancourt. The project was a multi-party collaboration. It involved the Paris Public Hospital Network, commercial companies (who provided digital content, computer hardware) and disabled persons associations.

The service is offered via this website - bnh.numilog.com


Collections

• They acquire recent (i.e. popular) & classical works
• 55% Fiction and 45% Non-fiction items
• So far they have1,120 written works, 210 audio items, and 7,000 documents.
• The use the PDF format, as it works with Text-to-Voice softwares like JAWS
• Something about adopting "PRC for palm PDA smartphones", as it allows text enlargement (I think it's this)
• Audio formats would be WMA and MP3

Costs
About 50,000 Euros per year to maintain the website and for acquiring the digital books

Users & Fees

• The service is for individuals or institutions
• It's only for users with disabilities of any form. Proof being the disability association they belong
• There's an annual joining fee between eight Euros (for city inhabitants) to 20 Euros for non-residents
• There are 400 registered users, out of which 40% have some form of motor-disabilities and 47% have some form of visual-disability

Results of evaluation
They conducted a study with the help of university students. It was a national sample, using an online questionnaire. Some person-to-person interviews were also done to collect testimonials.

On the minus-side, Users reported an insufficient number of "copyrighted resources" ( I think this means current and popular materials that aren't free or in public domain). The formats and technology was also a challenge to users.

On the plus-side, users liked the remote access service and some felt they had a greater degree of independence in obtaining information materials.


Future plans
Overall the project was deemed as feasible. They now plan to create a telephone hotline for users who need assistance on how to use the service. They intend to expand to youth collections, start a selection committee, and plan to hold discussions with hospitals and agencies.


My thoughts
I wondered how many persons with disabilities in Singapore currently use the digital books and audio collections that are already available via the NLB library website (National and Public libraries). I suspect not many. It's something my colleagues and I can try to ascertain.

Compared to five years ago, the NLB digital collections have improved a lot in terms of quality. There's ebooks and audio. Access and use of digital resources has steadily increased. I suspect a lot is via word-of-mouth.

I don't forsee the quality of collections to be the major issue (although there will always be the issue of bestsellers not in the digital collections, but this is really the publisher's perogative).

Part of the issue may be the lack of awareness of our current digital services, by people with disabilities. This can be addressed through regular promotions and publicity activities, via the organisations serving people with disablilities.

I've a feeling the biggest issue would be web accessibility, where the site is accessible to people using screen-to-voice softwares etc.

It's not easy to create a 100% disabled-accessible site AND still make the site "interesting" to majority of users. I think most developers (and the organisations who commission them) don't really make sure there is web accessibility for people with disabilities. Either because of cost and time constraints, or lack of awareness of such a need, or they feel the priority is for the general population. Frankly, my employer is no exception.

But in truth, it's easy to hide behind the excuse of "organisation inertia".

I think things will happen when someone wants to make it happen. That someone don't have to be a person at very senior levels. Of course the lower down in the organisation hierarchy, the longer time it will take.

I'll have to start with myself then.

Seems there are two options here:

1. Re-design the existing site (or sections in the website) to ensure the digital resources are disability-friendly
2. Don't try to aim for a disability-friendly site that is exactly the same. Build a sister-website. A no-frills one. Aim to just provide access to the digital resources.

Option 1 would take a long, long time to achieve. And probably not go anywhere. It could cost a lot more and likely to result in compromises in design and features.

I'm inclined towards option 2. The sister-site could be a blog (costs nothing to set up if we use free online services). Include "hardcoded" links on the site to selected e-resources.

Idea needs more work. Maybe the users feel this won't be useful at all. I'll need to discuss with colleagues, and also people in agencies like DPA, SPD, SADEAF.

We need to talk to some of their clients. First we ascertain how many of them are aware of the current digital services and content. If they are already using it or have tried to use it, what are the problems.I'd like to think of this sister-site as a side door to some (not all) of the content and services.

A no-frills "side door"
It's unlikely the site will be a full one-stop portal to the digital content. The different digital content sources have varying degrees of disability-access (in the digital content business model, the service providers own the content and merely gives us a right to access for a subscription fee).

For those cases, users who want more could email the librarian for assistance. Will the librarians be overwhelmed? Who knows until we try?

My point is that the site could be a poor cousin to the full web service. And users won't be fully independent in using the service.

But at least it's there.

[Next: Part 8]

IFLA 2008 (part 6): Senior Spaces - the library place for baby boomers, older adults & their families

[From Part 5]

Sunday, 10 Aug 2008 (Quebec City).

Mr. Alan Kleinmann, from Old Bridge Public Library in the US, spoke about his library's Senior Spaces project (see also, seniorspaces.blogspot.com!)

The room was almost filled for this presentation organised by the Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons Section.


Alan said it was a clear indication that there's an interest in this area for years to come. And that the librarians are planning for their own service!

[Probably true. And from what I observe, mention 'Seniors' and you'd tend to attract more participants than if you mention 'Disability' in the programme title].

Alan mentioned that the shift in aging population happening all over the world (true, as cited in this presentation for my Davies Forum talk -- see slides 12 to 17).

At his library, they recognised that baby boomers working for past 20 to 30 years have not used libraries. Also, since there's a specific space for children, why not for seniors? (in fact, Children's spaces was not common in the early days of public libraries).

Hence their 'Senior Spaces' project, serving "all three generations of older adults—the baby boomers not yet retired, older adults who have retired in the last few years, and the elderly many who can no longer get to the library".


What is in this Senior Spaces
The Senior Spaces includes the physical aspect, programmes, meetings (among seniors), learning, a bookstore, "and more" (apparently they have gaming!)

Books remain at the focus of what they created. They have events like "Senior Fridays", a club called "Savvy Seniors" who plan outings for themselves.

There's an extensive large print collection with a Face Out shelving (Alan says the large print collection goes out like hot cakes).


They have free computer classes for seniors. They want to use their libraries to help seniors bridge the digital divide (I totally agree with this approach).

They formed an advisory board comprising of two library board members and library customers. He says the advisory board suggested things which they wouldn't have thought about, like a Foreign Film club.

They teach users how to use the assistive software.

Another cool feature -- the librarian's desk is right smack in the Senior Spaces. Just a table and chair rather than an imposing service counter desk. This arrangement came out of necessity (lack of space) but it worked beautifully, according to Alan (and I would think so).

They have an active seniors club (I think this is the picture showing the Savvy Seniors, who organise their out outings).


Gaming in library - for seniors
Alan showed this slide with a senior next to a young lady (talk about inter-generation!) The punch line was the lady's visually impaired. And with the Wii game set in the library, she played bowling for first time in 10 years.


Here's another one that just says "inter-generation" as well.

Promoting the service
They conduct outreach programmes (like this one to their Senior Center).

They use flyers.

There's a prominent wall to promote books that might attract baby boomers.

Here's a really nice idea -- a "Memory Case". Seniors contribute stuff from their past and showcase it in the library.

According to Alan, some seniors were so proud that they could do this so they got all their friends to come and told people about the library service.

They've gone into "Web 2.0 space", as in this blog with contributions from their users (like this post).


How they sought approval for the space
Alan explained that they incorporated the Senior Spaces proposal in their strategic plan, which was approved by their library board. They sought external funding in addition to what the board granted. They raised USD$30,000 but Alan emphasised that they were prepared to do the same with less money. They saved money by doing the space planning on their own.

Future plans
This includes more blogging activities, vodcasts, podcasts.

They plan to develop a presence in SecondLife. He sees their library's roles as teaching seniors technology (about YouTube, Web, Blogs).

Alan suggests that it's easy to create a Senior Spaces project in libraries. You just need a sign board to tell people the space exists, have the appropriate book display, and furniture.


In ending, he says, "I hope you begin to think about democratic changes that are coming".


Q&A
Someone asked, "Will users mind being labeled as 'Seniors'?"
Alan says this issue is not clear cut. There are some who embrace the term and some who just refuse to use the service because of the name (to their loss). Old Bridge PL do have criticisms about the term Senior Spaces but it was their advisory board who adopted the name. They kept it because the seniors themselves couldn't come up with any better alternatives.

"How do you define a Senior?"
The US official definition is 65 but there's no clear cut benchmark even in the US. Alan jokes that their library considers the 50 to 70 year olds as "young seniors" and the Above-90 as "elderly".

---

My thoughts
In Singapore, the Toa Payoh library has a Seniors Corner. It's the only one with a clear demarcated physical space.

In comparing that one with Old Bridge PL's, it obvious to me now that the success of the space is more than just having a physical presence.

In fact, the physical aspect of the space did not come up very strongly in Alan's presentation, and yet he shared a very compelling story of his project.

So it's really about having a whole suite of activities -- programmes, customer involvement and empowerment, online and offline publicity and activities.

The key success criteria seems to be a strong group of regular seniors who use the space. And who readily identify themselves with the space.

It might be a challenge for Singapore libraries to try this. My feeling is that most of our seniors don't want to be in the limelight. They are from a generation whose thinking is that they'd rather remain in the background of things. For instance, something like the Memory Case may be difficult to try.

But having said that, I feel if we don't make the attempt to try, we won't know. For all I know, it could be a wrong perception on my part.

Definitely something I'd explore with my colleagues when I get back.

Alan's paper can be downloaded, here (PDF, 88KB).

[Next: Part 7]

IFLA 2008 (part 5): Conference opening ceremony

[From Part 4]

Sunday 10 Aug, 9.30am. Quebec City Convention Center.

Huge venue.

I counted 4,096 seats.


The ceremony started with an ethnic dance by Canada's aboriginal people (or First Nation people). That was interesting. Though I felt it seemed repetitive (it was performed several times during the opening ceremony, and also during that evening's cultural performance).


This was an interesting performance!

I overheard someone say that it was a traditional song/ lullaby (unfortunately, no English explanation so I'm guessing here). What's interesting was their "singing", if it can be called that, was a mix of something guttural, melodic and rhythmic. Nice.
(Update: someone took a video and posted to YouTube. Web 2.0 comes to IFLA whether they like it or not, heh)

The Governor-General of Canada (equivalent to the President, I think) spoke. She was a very distinguished looking lady and sounded elegant as she delivered her speech (in French).


More speeches (this was Dr. Claudia Lux, President of IFLA). Nice of her to deliver her speech in in French, German, and English.




This is my fourth IFLA conference.

Overall impression of this one -- the performance was average.

Maybe it's because I don't speak or understand French. The performance included a narration in French. Then there was a poetry reading also in French.

I'm fine with that.

When in a different country, one should try to immerse in their culture.

But wished there were English subtitles or translations for the performances. I'm not sure how many other delegates spoke French.

In fairness, translation booths (manned by translators) and the receiver headsets were available.

French is one of the official language of IFLA. As per IFLA's practice, translators for the official languages were available for the opening ceremony.

But I didn't borrow a headset (queue was too long).


We all have an international audience
I thought for international audiences, the performance should involved more music and dances -- things that don't require language skills as a prerequisite to appreciate.

Which brings to mind: this is something libraries must consider as we upload content to YouTube. It's something I've mentioned before.

On the Internet, your audience is International.


You might as well market your library globally
Of course libraries should consider their primary audience first. If a French library puts up a video for its users, obviously they'd use French.

But it would be an excellent marketing tool if you provide English subtitles, or in the title or blurb, for a video in YouTube.


At least an English translation please
OK, I'm biased towards English. It's a first language in Singapore.

Also from my brief search on the Internet, English comes up tops.

While there's no definitive answer which is the most widely spoken language (see this, this, this and this), English is definitely in the top four or five.

Unless you want to try learning Mandarin.

I found English much easier since it's a phonetic-based language rather than a ideogram-based language like Mandarin.

But I digress...


Would I view the performance more favourably if I had English translation?
Can't tell.

Unless IFLA makes a video of its conference opening ceremonies, provide English subtitles or captions. Then I can give a comparison.

Come to think of it, IFLA ought to upload the opening ceremonies on YouTube.

It'll be excellent marketing material for IFLA.

With English subtitles and captions. Heh.

[Next: Part 6]

IFLA 2008 (part 4): Taking the public bus in Quebec City

I took the public bus from the conference venue back to my hotel.

Not wanting to repeat the "Vienna experience" mentioned here, I did my homework before coming to Quebec City.

I found out you had to buy a ticket before hand, or prepare exact change (I specially looked for a convenience store and bought them a day earlier).

On the bus, I observed how people pulled the rope or pressed the bell to signal for a stop (I did just that when I wanted to alight).

BUT what I didn't notice was how you had to PUSH the bus door from the inside to open!

(Darn it! I didn't know that.)

There I was standing at the steps. The driver and other passengers must have wondered why I'm not getting down. The bus moved on. I missed my intended stop.

Luckily at the next stop two passengers wanted to get down. That's how I learned about the need to push the door from the inside.

Sigh.

What's with me and buses?

(To think that I was feeling smug about knowing what to when taking the Quebec public bus).

Heh.

[see: Part 3; Part 5]

IFLA 2008 (part 3): Standing Committee meeting no. 1

[From Part 2]

9 Aug, 2008. 11.30am:

Attended the first Standing Committee (SC) meeting this morning.

There was the usual greetings of colleagues, who only get to meet once a year. Some would give out tokens, collaterals of their library's reading initiatives, printed copies of their country reports.

Or a box of chocolates or sweets. Out of love :)

Very informal. But the agenda is serious stuff, at least this is what our SC is well-known for in IFLA circles.

My usual part was to provide updates as the Section's Information Officer (i.e. updates to the Section's website in the past work year, highlights of the newsletters, mailing list).

I managed to explain more about the proposal for a "Youth Expression" project.

The other proposal was from Viviana, for a "Sister Library" project (i.e. a scheme to pair up libraries, to facilitate professional knowledge exchange and mentorship).


The "Youth Expression" proposal
I've blogged about the proposal at this post.

It was first mooted last year at the Durban conference. After a year, we're one step closer towards implementing it (that's the pace of how things work, when most SC members get to meet once a year and all are doing this on top of our regular work).

I was given some air-time to elaborate what the project was about. I explained that it was essentially about three things:

• A project where libraries, libraries and youth volunteers can play a central role
• About Youth Expressions
• Global Connectedness (i.e. library to library, youths to youths -- on an international scale)

After my explanation, Ingrid asked the billion-dollar question (with a smile): "So what's next?"

"Well, it's for us to discuss if we will do this, or maybe no."

We certainly had a solid discussion, in my opinion.

There were comments that the inclusion of ages 13 to 25 was too broad and had to be narrower. But others felt it was fine and that's how it would for their libraries. Final consensus: To provide two separate age groups.

One SC member questioned the philosophy of the proposal. The question was whether a professional body like our IFLA Section should play a role in proposing a "direct service project" Vs. guidelines and policies.

In response, a few other SC members felt that the proposal was a tangible showcase of the sort of work done by the Section. The role of the Section would be to convince other libraries to take up this initiative (if the proposal is approved).

[I know I'm biased in saying this -- but I totally agree! The Scope Statement in the Section's mission statement is to "promote international cooperation in the fields of library services to children and young adults". I see this proposal as a way to extend IFLA's mandate, where our Section would play a facilitator's role in creating an opportunity for libraries all over the world to take part].

Other comments were that the scope (of "Youth Expression") may need to be refined and made more specific. One SC member asked if there were any specific example of how this proposal could be implemented.

In response, there was consensus that the proposal was a framework. Once agreed, we would work on details. Perhaps a project to produce a "How To" manual or some practical guide. For instance, how much time for a library to carry this out, the equipment needed, the typical costs, how to deal with time zone differences, the issue of language translation of works contributed by youths whose first language might not be English.

Sister-Library
Viviana Quinones (she's from Paris) proposed a "Sister-library" programme. Where libraries on a lower development scale would be matched with one that can provide expertise, mentorship, perhaps funding to the "sister-library". It was a model that has been successful between African and French libraries.

This proposal was also viewed favourably by the SC members.

I voiced that the Sister-Library proposal could answer the question of "WHO can I partner with", and the youth expression proposal would be "WHAT do I do with my sister-library".

We ran out of time and would be continuing the discussion at the second SC meeting this coming Friday.


Looking Ahead
I'm happy that both projects were viewed favourably.

I like the Sister-Library proposal. But I'm more keen to try out the Global Youth Expression idea. Not simply because it's a proposal from me.

On the contrary, I see that it's no longer my proposal, but the Section's.

I'm more keen because I feel the activities and practices for the Teens segment has been a relatively neglected area. My sense is that there are more papers and sharing of best practices on Children's Services, and much fewer on those for young adults. Partly because services to teens/ young adults are much more challenging compared to implementing those for Children.

It doesn't surprise me the Youth Expression proposal had a lot more questions and concerns (it seems to be true for the proposals I come up with even in NLB, heh). Maybe it's because it's never been done before, on that scale.

Let me tell you -- it's SCARY putting up a proposal to an international audience!

It's hard enough getting buy-in with my own colleagues in NLB. I had clueless how my international colleagues would react.

I was mentally prepared for the proposal to be thrown out. I wasn't surprised by the concerns raised. I was glad they were raised. If those concerns can be adequately addressed, the project would be stronger for those differing views.

Oh, now that I've experienced it, I can share that having your idea supported by another professional and practioner from another country -- it's just priceless.

But as I said, it's no longer my proposal, but the Section's.

The idea's been put on the table. Nothing's confirmed. We'll have to see how the committee feels should be the way to go.

[Aside: All the IFLA technical committees (e.g. sections and divisions) would have their business meetings one to two days before and after the actual conference.

Most meetings, other than the IFLA governing board, are open to observers. Observers are conference delegates who aren't necessarily part of the section or in any committee. Some observers end up joining the respective section, 'cos they like what's being discussed and feel they can contribute as well.

Typical meeting agenda: report of the Section's activities for the year, update on projects, review of conference activities, financial reports. The minutes of meeting are published on the respective section webpage, like this one from my section.]

Next: Part 4

IFLA 2008 (part 2): Arrived in Quebec City

It's a gray rainy morning in Quebec City.

Woke at seven. Had a quick breakfast. Back to the room to clear emails and stuff.

Took a break to write this quick post.

I had a chance to use my extremely limited French vocabulary last night, when I took the taxi from the airport to the hotel.

The cab driver spoke in French and must have been asked me where I wanted to go. I said the hotel name. And gave him the address I'd written (good to be prepared, non?)

"Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?" I asked.

"Ah, a lee-tle bit," he replied.

We attempted some small talk during the 15 minutes to the hotel. Where did I come from. First time here?

He looked like he was in his mid-50s. He was munching on a sandwich as he drove. I asked what was his work hours was like.

Until eleven, he said.

Reached the hotel. Smooth and uneventful ride. Paid and tipped him.

"Merci."

We both smiled.

I'd like to believe the first person I meet (including the customs and immigration officers) would set the tone for the rest of my stay in a foreign land.

I'm looking out my hotel room now. The sky is still gray. It's still raining.

But I believe I would enjoy my stay in Quebec City.

[From Part 1; See Part 3]

IFLA 2008 (part 1): Off to Quebec City, Canada

By the time this is published, my plane should have taken off.

Looking forward to the conference.

And dreading it at the same time.

Plus-side: I'll be meeting my Section's Standing Committee colleagues again.

Down-side: I'll feel so... helpless. When traveling in a foreign city, I sometimes have to learn the basics from scratch.

Like taking the bus.

I remember in Vienna, passengers have to press a button on the outside of the bus to open the bus door. The driver won't open the door for you unless they see you really need assistance.

So there I was, standing outside the door looking at the driver, expecting the door to to be opened for me.

The driver looking at me, probably thinking, "What's wrong with this fella?"

I'm thinking, "What's wrong with the driver? Why won't he open the door for me?"

In the end, he opened the door. And gave me a funny look.

Sheesh.

I've been checking out these websites (after I did my preliminary research using a travel guide borrowed from the library). I tend to seek these information:

• Safety
• Getting around
• Local customs & etiquette (e.g. tipping, greetings)

Found these quite useful:

• RTCquebec.ca - bus routes | new customers |
• Telegraphe.com - Transportation in Quebec
• WorldTravelGuide.com - getting around in Quebec City
• TripAdvisor.com - Before you go
• LanguageHelpers.com - French basics | MP3 (thanks to Vanessa for this one)

[Next: Part 2]