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I recently attended the Association of Librarians and Archivists at Baptist Institutions (ALABI) in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a great experience, and I had the opportunity to meet new people, learn about projects at other repositories, and even see a bit of Nashville.

For me, the professional highlights were sharing the plans for our Baptist collections in a presentation; hearing about other digitizing and outreach projects at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Mercer College, Samford University; and touring the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, which hosted the ALABI conference. There were also interesting presentations on transferring and digitizing audio recordings, glass plate negative care and storage, current pressures on libraries to dispose of print materials, and evaluating duplication policies and fees. The speakers for this last topic also handed out a booklet of policies submitted by ALABI institutions, so we could compare how each one of us is handling requests.

For the Nashville part of my trip, I visited the Johnny Cash Museum, went to a Nashville Sounds baseball game, and attended a Grand Ole Opry performance at the Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman has been on my bucket list for years. What a great conference!