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Better late than never is what I always say, so here are a few comments from my experiences at the recent NCLA conference…..

My primary assignment was to team up with Dean Tim Pyatt and our architect, Chris Garris, to give a presentation on creating a library master plan. Tim already covered this in his (more timely) post, so I won’t make you read through it a second time! We had a decent audience considering we were one of nine concurrent sessions in our time slot.

I tried to attend a few sessions that I normally might not find as a natural fit for my responsibilities. With all the political activism taking place these days, I decided to check out a panel discussion about “The Ins and Outs of Advocacy – Relationships, Data, and Stories.” I learned about the student library ambassador program, and some of the panelist were part of the most recent cohort. In addition to hearing stories about their experiences visiting legislators in Washington, DC, the audience received practical tips for effective meetings with legislators:

• Introduce yourself and your organization
• Explain why your issue is important for their district
• Be ready to tell them how they can help
• Ask explicitly for their support
• Follow up after the meeting

A second session of interest was one by the State Library to report on the Digital Summit Initiative that took place in 2017. Its goal was to find out the current and future priorities for NC institutions as they concern digital initiatives. Their presentation highlights what they found and in-depth information is available in their final report.

Finally, I’ll close with a photo of Kathy Shields as she gave a poster presentation on Friday morning. She was one of many ZSR faculty/staff who presented on their projects, classes and activities.  Take a look at her cool cloth poster – easy to carry when you travel and very sharp looking, don’t you think?