Hi, My Name is [Name] [Library]

I’ve written before about becoming involved in different library associations to connect with our peers.  This year, it seems, has been the year of conferences and webinars for me!  In this case, I’ll just focus on the conferences.

·         Spring: [state] Library Association Annual Conference

·         Autumn: [region] Library Association Annual Conference

·         Late Autumn: Academic Librarian special interest group meeting

In the spring, I started small.  First, I signed up for the carpool forum and volunteered to drive up to 3 people across the state.  It’s a good way to meet people, right?  And then I manned the table of my alma mater in the exhibit hall for brief moments while the alumnus who was in charge was doing other things.  It was a day-long conference and very interesting, though the programs focused on public libraries.  I exchanged emails with a few people, and car-pooled with one person, so I was willing to tally this event as a success.

By autumn, I was ready to take a more active role.  I signed up for one of the shorter presentations and sent in my proposal.  I also volunteered as an “ambassador” and spent an hour signing people in and directing them the right way, another hour (and a half) moderating a presentation, and some time photographing the event.  I met hundreds of librarians, and oh my!  If I thought we were going to be a quiet group, politely shushing each other, I was wrong wrong wrong.  It was delightfully loud.  Mostly I made professional connections, but I also met someone who, while from a different state, seemed to click with me on a friend level, so I now have a librarian pen-pal also.  Most recently we have discussed the skunk-ape and other crypto-zoological tidbits from states.

Librarians not being quiet.

In the late autumn, it was a much smaller group and I was there with my (new) coworkers.  The information was geared towards academic librarians, and it was a full day conference.  I feel like I took a lot away from it, and it was also a good chance to really connect with other academic librarians in the state.

Overall, I’m just saying…conferences may cost money but even aside from the professional development aspect, the connections alone are worth it.  I feel like every penny was well spent and I definitely came home with new thoughts and new experiences!