Event-Mania Photo Essay

by Juliet Hardesty and the rest of the Program and Social Committee

At InULA’s Annual Business Meeting in May 2008, a cry rose up from the dubiously hatted attendees for More Social Events (members were invited to wear hats to the meeting for a more interesting and festive atmosphere). The InULA Program & Social Committee heard the plea and answered with Monthly Events, beginning in June 2008 with a Happy Hour at Oliver Winery:

We drank, ate cheese and crackers, laughed a great deal, and discovered that librarians are, in fact, pretty fun. (We all know this already, of course, but it felt good to prove it in a public setting anyway.) We also managed to gather some retired librarians and a SLIS student or 2 new to the “scene.” Lesson learned - these events have the potential to gather folks together and create positive experiences for those new to or considering the profession. BONUS!

Next, we went bowling for Julie Hardesty’s birthday July’s event. Suburban Lanes in Bloomington offered entertainment with music and pizza:

This event was pure socialness to the extreme. InULA members mixed with non-members and more SLIS students, and on average bowled about an 85.

For August, the Program & Social Committee thought it was high time to explore places outside of Bloomington, so we headed to the Indianapolis Museum of Art for the Garden Walk tour:

As you can imagine this was rather gorgeous but also extremely hot, so the walk was followed by cold drinks in the IMA Café:

We were a small (and slightly sweaty) group, but the gardens were a joy to experience. And thus began the outdoor adventures of InULA. September became too hectic to plan any events (the start of the semester is a headache for planning and for most people to be able to attend anything) so 2 events happened in October – both hikes. We hiked Pioneer Mothers Trail in the Hoosier National Forest, down by Paoli:

Yes, that is Lou Malcomb finding her inner Tree-Hugger. We had a fabulous time wandering through a forest of really big trees and finding snails, nuts, an old Indian mound, and a retired high school teacher walking his little dog who gave us a personal tour of said Indian mound.

Our next hike was in Brown County State Park at the superbly under-named Trail 6:

This trail actually looks something more like this:

Clearly more breathtaking than advertised. Caterpillars were discovered on this adventure. Did we forget to mention that both hikes included a highly inquisitive 6-year-old? They are a must-have for all outdoor excursions. We ventured off-trail a bit and ended up at the Nature Center (see map in previous picture – we didn’t take the trail outlined on that map, we took a not-so-clear path straight uphill with a touch of mud) but it ended up being a big hit with a great view:

And some interesting exhibits (ideas for library lobby display cases?):

Aside from the stuffed animals in Brown County, the hikes were great activities that all attending thought should be repeated in the spring. The Program & Social Committee is currently working on plans for winter and spring events, so stay tuned!

We closed out the semester with more bowling in November at Suburban Lanes and the December Luncheon at the Tudor Room featuring a presentation from the Arts Program Director at T.C. Steele, Christine Atkinson. Despite a bad cold, Christine gave a wonderful presentation. There are trails and tours available at the T.C. Steele State Historic Site in Brown County so we might try a visit sometime this year!

This year’s events are currently under development (January is beginning to look about as complicated to schedule as September) but we have ideas for the annual Spring Event in addition to a professional development workshop, something special just for our InULA librarians! Watch for emails from InULA to learn about the events as they are scheduled. The Program & Social Committee is looking forward to a programmatically and socially wonderful year and we hope you are too!

The members of the committee, past and present, responsible for these events are as follows: Gary Charbonneau, Board Liaison (2007-08); Julie Hardesty, Chair (2007-09); JB Hill (2007-08); Lou Malcomb (2007-09); Kathy Marlett (2008-09); Kiyoshi Otsu (2008-09); Tony White, Board Liaison (2008-09)