In my 16 year career as a public children’s librarian, I have had the immense privilege to attend a handful of ALA and ALSC institute conferences. I consider myself an outgoing and confident person, but I still find traveling solo for a conference overwhelming. While these events are always informative, exciting, and rejuvenating, there always comes a time while socializing with my fellow librarians where a voice of doubt enters my mind. Do they really want to keep talking to me? Am I being annoying? A few years ago I stumbled upon a solution that allowed me to hang out with close friends and diminish my social anxiety during professional conferences.
How It Started
In January of 2023 I was chatting with my friends Nikki and Monica about how they both felt they needed a break from their routines as working moms. I mentioned that I had permission from my library to attend the 2023 ALA Annual Convention in Chicago and asked if they’d be free to join me for a few days towards the end of June. I described the vastness of the exhibition hall that they could buy a pass for and how there were three stages of author talks going on at any given moment. There was also the chance to meet authors, browse books that were recently published, and to pick up a few ARCs of books coming out later that year. The more I spoke the bigger their eyes got, since they are both avid readers. I also mentioned, they didn’t need to do any conference stuff with me, they could just share my hotel room and bounce around Chicago sight seeing and we would meet up for meals when it worked out.
They both quickly agreed to join me. When it was time to register they both surprised me by not only buying the exhibits only pass, but also purchasing a year long membership to ALA. They made plans to do a few touristy things in Chicago as well. As soon as we got our badges at the registration table and received our program of events, my friends were pouring over the brochure and checking out all the vendor coupons that enticed attendees to visit their booth.
The Experience
On Saturday, I attended several sessions related to my committee and children’s librarian work. I expected my friends to have only spent a few hours there, but each time I texted to see where they were, they stated that they were still at the exhibits hall. It was comforting to know that I could spend time with my friends and hear about their day in between my sessions. By the end of the first full day, my friends had walked well over 10,000 steps going to one museum and spending the rest of the day in the exhibits hall.
I bought tickets for myself and my friends to attend the Newbery-Caldecott-Legacy Awards Banquet. I was excited to hear the speeches and see my ALSC colleagues and wanted my friends to experience it too. I hoped they would have a good time, but their reactions far exceeded my expectations. They jumped into the spirit and enthusiasm of the room. Our seats were towards the back since we had general admission tickets. I explained that if we bought a full table’s worth of seats we would be closer to the front. This led to them declaring that sometime in the future we would buy a whole table and hand out tickets to friends we make on the conference floor.
At breakfast on Monday, my friends wondered aloud whether any other professional conference could hold a candle to what ALA offers in terms of entertainment and interest. I admitted I probably would not have gotten as much out of attending an accounting or microbiology conference (their areas of expertise) as they did out of ALA. Our meal ended with Monica declaring that we would go again in 2026 when ALA would be back in Chicago! Every time my friends and I get together we inevitably bring up a book or memory we brought back from ALA. At the time of this writing we each have our tickets and accommodations reserved for 2026. At the time of this blog’s publication we will have already ended our 2nd ALA trip together.
Reflections from Friends
I have enjoyed every professional library conference I have ever attended, but the one with my friends stands out as the most relaxed and memorable of the bunch. Even though I gained so much from them joining me, I never would have guessed how much my non-librarian friends would have gotten out of it for themselves. I texted them both asking for their thoughts on ALA 2023 and they both sent back walls of texts. Some of the highlights were:
- I was impressed by the sheer scale and diversity of topics, sessions, and vendors. Hearing about how elements of a book and story are discussed made me think of books in a new way beyond personal preference.
- Meeting and hearing from authors was really special and I haven’t had many opportunities to do that.
- I gained an appreciation for graphic novels by talking to authors in a booth. Reading with pictures to guide the stories is another way to challenge the brain and is just as good for kids as novels.
- A session with two mystery authors was probably my favorite. Their processes were so different. One of them was very structured and the other wrote in a more fly by the seat of your pants manner.
If social anxiety has ever been a reason you have hesitated from registering for a conference, then I highly recommend that you reach out to a friend or family member to come with you. Their response might surprise you!
Melissa Sokol is a children’s services librarian for Dayton Metro Library. She is writing this post on behalf of the ALSC Membership Committee.
This post addresses the following ALSC Core Competency: VII. Professionalism and Professional Development