A brief word about the guide:
I've vetted anything posted below. These are places I frequent, or at least have been in.
The area around the convention center isn't exactly exciting, nor is it known for good food. Expect a lot of touristy spots and chains, and sometimes touristy spots that are chains. Some of those chains are pretty good (Cava, Nando's), and some are not (Phillip's).
Your best spots for good, cheap food are Lexington Market, a few blocks north of the convention center, or a short ride east on either light rail or the Charm City Circulator, which is free, toward Fells Point (Maiwand, Miss Shirley's).
For beer, I recommend pretty much anything from The Brewer's Art or Union Craft Brewing. Oliver Ales does an excellent job with the British styles, and both they and Heavy Seas are the rare American breweries that understand proper cask ale.
For coffee, The Bun Shop is your best bet if you want the good stuff near the convention center. Otherwise, it's Starbucks and Dunks and such.
If you are missing Portland, the Hampden neighborhood is your best bet.
The Arts Section of ACRL has a map of art in the city that's worth a look, and the conference website itself has a useful page on the city. Better yet, two locals wrote an article in February's College and Research Libraries News with a good overview.
Shameless plugs:
On Wednesday I'll be at the Critlib Unconference.
On Thursday at 9:40am in room 308 Angela Galvan, Eamon Tewell, and I are presenting on the concepts of grit and resilience in libraries. You should be there. Here's the summary:
Librarians representing diverse backgrounds in North American higher education will introduce resilience, its origins, and its implications as a strategy and concept within academic libraries. We will problematize resilience, demonstrating the intentional and unintentional relationships between it and structural issues in academic libraries, including librarian burnout, disaster capitalism, adjunctification, and feminized labor space. Attendees will learn how resilience took root in librarianship and discuss what can be done to resist this concept.Anyway, say hi.
* I tend to do these for Computers in Libraries, but since that conference has moved back to the hinterland that is Crystal City from just north of Dupont Circle, here you go.
