Hands down, my favorite part of an ALA conference is the ALSC Collection Management Discussion Group.
Whether you select children’s books for your branch, a small military library, a school library, or an entire library system, you are welcome to join this open discussion group to talk about the issues unique to this part of librarianship. Popular topics include comparing vendors, the challenges of collecting self-published books, how floating collections work at public libraries across the country, or how to deal with Common Core. E-books? DVDs? Cataloging issues? The topics run the gamut and are really vital to compare and discuss with people who are dealing with exactly the same issues.
Like so many things in our division, finding colleagues to share the load is great for moral and for saving yourself the time & effort of re-inventing the wheel. Join us!