The first day of a conference is always incredibly exciting…and incredibly tiring. However, there is something very different about PLA – I’m not sure what it is; if it’s seeing different librarians from different states who have the same ideas as you or if it’s learning new things or if it’s just exciting because it’s exciting. Either way, day one didn’t disappoint.
Despite being a technology librarian (why that matters will come up later), I’m part of the DEI committee at my library and I’m very interested in the different ways I can be helpful to different groups of patrons. So, I chose my first session about inclusive collections for patrons with disabilities and learned how to make adaptive books. These books sound like they would be extremely beneficial and like they would be a blast to make (I absolutely made a note to talk to my volunteer coordinator, my outreach coordinator, and a youth librarian).
My library isn’t very far from a state correctional facility, so I decided to attend the “Creating a SPARK: Developing Library Programs for Justice-Impacted People” session. It was eye-opening to hear the stats about the prison population and incredibly disheartening to learn that the prison system has essentially become the go-to place for those with mental health issues. While I don’t think I can do a program series at a prison, purely because of logistics, I will take the information I learned and apply it to those who might walk into my library and need my help.
(My next event, for lunch, was a Springshare talk and this is where being a technology librarian comes into play. My boss asked me to go.)
The last session of the day was the public policy and advocacy panel by ALA. I had actually seen a similar panel during my state library association’s annual conference in October, (by the same people) but it was still pretty informative. Learning that people are willing to talk, despite appearances and what’s seen in the news, about libraries was actually nice to hear – we hear so much about how people aren’t wanting to invest in libraries so knowing that is actually the option? Nice to hear.
Day one is in the books and I’m so tired but thrilled – let’s get day two!
Samantha Ingerson (she/her/hers) is the Technology Librarian at Orion Township Public Library (Lake Orion, MI). She is looking forward to networking with other librarians from around the country (and also free books!) Samantha was born and raised a military brat – my birth certificate even names an Air Force Base as my place of birth! She was DEFINITELY that kid that got grounded from books. I would stay up past my bedtime, reading by the streetlight, and come home from school the next day with the middle of my bookshelf cleared out. This was a regular occurrence throughout my childhood – I was okay with it because it meant I could read that last chapter!
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