I was at ACRL in Baltimore in late March (yes, it’s now mid-April. So many books, so little time. You’ve heard it before — you’ve said it before yourself!). I was sent on a press pass by LJ to be a roving reporter there. I guess since I’d worked in a research library for many years, LJ figured it made sense for me to go to the annual meeting of Academic and Research Libraries  in Baltimore.

I dug out my Reporter’s Notebook, those narrow ones that look like something Jimmie Olson would use (Q: why is a Steno Pad twice as wide as a Reporter’s Notebook — and why is one a notebook and one a pad?  Does it matter?), put on my Calvin Klein pinstripes from the sample sale at CK’s “Better Sportwear” offices here in the Reed Elsevier building (on the fancy Elsevier side), and tried to remind myself to feel like Lois Lane, rather than Jimmie Olson.

I managed to banish Jimmie, which meant it was me and Lois there together in Calvin Klein — followed on Saturday by Carole Little — at ACRL. The LJ roving reporter submitted her report by email to the news folks here at LJ, but here is what Lois Lane has to say:

LJ had rooms booked in a truly charming inn. Granted I’m not a world traveler — except for a few special flights — but this was a lovely retrofitted brick wharf building in the Fell’s Point district. What it lacked in adjacentcy to the convention center it more than made up for in appeal. There was even a bottle of wine, gratis, with a personalized card. But Lois Lane doesn’t drink, alas.

Next, let me tell you that at the convention center at the same time was a Mary Kay Cosmetics confab. Mary Kay doesn’t say “So many books, so little time.” She says “So many gift-giving occasions. So many perfect gift ideas.” I doubt she suggested the free wine at our inn. And the inn’s lotions and shampoo were from — another vendor. Pleasing mixture of basil and lime.

Yes, it was rather easy to distinguish the Mary Kay conventioneers from the librarians, but maybe not as easy as you’d imagine. To complicate matters, there seemed also to be a conference of young cheerleaders in attendance. On the escalators, we librarians and publishers’ reps would encounter clumps of lithe girls with lots of bows in their hair and with cute warm-up clothes on. We wondered, amongst ourselves, whether they noticed the Mary Kay-ers, the librarians, and the academic publishers, and how or whether their observations might influence their career paths once cheerleading loses its lustre.

Lois Lane has blogged long enough. For the professional news about ACRL, you’ll need to read LJ’s Academic Newswire (it’s easy to subscribe to that and other LJ news outlets), or see LJ’s brief report, with a longer one to come in the May 1st issue!