On May 27th-28th 2026, I attended the Southern Library Support Staff (SLSS) conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. I was looking forward to attending a conference focusing on support staff and library assistants, since so many conferences are focused solely on MLS degree holders.

Sessions were offered on a large variety of topics, and I was able to attend the following:

Opening Keynote – Lead from the Heart, but Don’t Forget Your Medication: A great talk on how leading with purpose and sincerity matters far more than our individual education levels. We can all recognize our own strengths and weaknesses and those of others, and this helps us set everyone up for success.

Celebrate small wins, because those often have a larger impact than you know. The most important thing is to leave wherever you work better than you found it.

Leveling Up Your Libraries’ Defenders : In today’s political climate, it’s important that all library employees know how to advocate for our libraries. This talk was about empowering all of us to be library activists- and how every patron interaction is a change to advocate. They also discussed the importance of a strong social media presence, a mobile-friendly website, and community awareness.

Lightning Talks- The Hiring and Motivation of Student Assistants, Reimagining Technology Lending: A Dual-Model Approach to Student Engagement and Access, Student Engagement Inside and Outside the Library : These quick talks mainly focused on students, student workers, and engagement. I found the technology lending system to be most interesting- Vanderbilt’s science and engineering library has a room dedicated only to lendable technology, which can be browsed like a regular collection. They combined this first-come first served technology with a reservation system, and it has greatly increased accessibility.

Safety and Security Procedures Explained at Western Kentucky University Libraries: This panel discussed the safety and security procedures followed by WKU’s libraries, including student patrols, headcounts and fire procedures.

Support your Intern, Develop your Future Colleague: This panel was about Duke University’s library intern programs, and how they have incorporated additional resume builders and job skills into library internships.

Forging Lasting Connections at a R1/Top 100 University Through Human Interaction and Embracing Technology: This was one of the most interesting panels to me. It focused on research and library instruction courses, and how we can invite and engage students enrolled in them. I especially appreciated the focus on providing students with the tools to begin self-directing research, as opposed to simply being sitting in a lecture for an hour. They were given broken citations to fix for hands-on experience, and they applied their learning with a ‘is this statement fact or fiction?’ game.

Lightning Talks- Community On Full Display: How Book Displays Strengthen Connections in the Library, Sowing Knowledge: Seed Libraries as Outreach, Surprise Date with a Book – Your library’s path to inclusivity and patron engagement: These talks were all on outreach programs. Obviously I appreciate all tips on book displays, and I was interested in expanding the Blind Date with a book we already do into a display- perhaps using circulating books. The former environmental science student in me also loved the Seed Library program at the University of Tennessee, where they give away plant seeds and educate on food insecurity in the community.

From Life to Desk: Transferable Skills from Unlikely Places: As someone who took an unconventional route to libraries (my resume includes construction labs and pet fish warehouses) I’m always interested in finding other people like me. It was interesting to talk about the skills we can transfer from seemingly unrelated jobs; who knew skills picked up working opera could apply to libraries?

We’re All In This Together: Modeling Leadership & Professionalism in Access Services: This was about leading student workers, and providing a open, self-reflective model of behavior. There’s not one right way to lead, but we can all support others in the ways they need, and correct problems without alienation.

Finale Keynote: The Emotional Economics of Libraries: Why Human Connection Is Our Greatest ROI: Elaina Norlin gave this great closing keynote about the invaluable human connections that libraries provide. Everything we do can’t be measured in data and numbers, but it’s those personal stories of connections that matter the most. She invited us to think- What things are we doing at work that create distance instead of connections, and how can we reverse that?

As you can see I had pretty full days, but I also had some time to explore Vanderbilt’s campus, and it’s beautiful! (I do think they have an even higher population of crazy squirrels on campus than we do at Wake though).

SLSS was a fantastic time, and I would love to go back in the future.