Professional Development

Conference reports and more from ZSR Librarians

Morgan at Charleston 2021

This was my first year attending Charleston Conference, a conference I’ve heard a lot about and was eager to experience. Part of me wishes I had had the opportunity to attend this hybrid conference pre-pandemic when it was a fully in-person experience. I overheard numerous attendees longing for the “old days” but, without anything to... more

SEDLS, DLF, and DigiPres 2021

Southeast Data Librarian Symposium and DLF/DigiPres Conferences I had the opportunity to serve on two conference committees this year, which made for a busy fall! The Southeast Data Librarian Symposium (SEDLS) took place Wednesday, October 13-Friday, October 15; the Digital Library Federation and NDSA Digital Preservation combined sessions took place November 1-4. SEDLS is a... more

Creativity within Revolt: ASA 2021

After a year of hiatus in 2020, the American Studies Association virtually resumed its annual meeting this year under the theme, “Creativity within Revolt.” The theme acknowledged that “Revolt is a condition of being in ‘America’ for those who refuse to (or simply cannot) tolerate its normalized domestic and global productions of state and extra-state... more

Carolyn at ALA Annual 2021

I had some concerns about attending this year’s ALA virtual Annual Conference. Not falling asleep during sessions was a big one. I’ve attended many webinars in the past, and it is not an uncommon occurrence for me to doze off midway through one. With ALA being virtual, I would essentially be attending lots of webinars.... more

Mary Beth’s (Virtual) ALA

I, like others have mentioned, think I more “experienced” than “attended” ALA Annual’s virtual conference. It was exhausting to try to be both “in community” with others remotely, while ignoring pressing needs of my work-a-day life when there were things equally accessible through my in box, and tempting to resolve through my keyboard.  Online conferences,... more

ALA 2021

This is the first conference blog post I’ve written in a long time. I guess we’re getting back to normal, gradually. As we all know, ALA Annual 2021 was, for the first time, an online conference, after the coronavirus pandemic cancelled the 2020 conference entirely. Was this year’s version the same as past ALA conferences?... more

Thomas “at” “ALA”

I would not, could not from my room / I would not, could not via Zoom / I do not like to meet this way / I do not like it, ALA Oh, for the humidity of Orlando and the thunderstorms of New Orleans! Oh, for the miles of walking in San Francisco, the tedious... more

Lauren at ALA Annual 2021, Virtually

Instead of “just the facts,” I’ve put in some of my thinking about us for the sessions I selected to cover in my post. On Demand Pre-recorded Sessions “Beyond Picture Perfect Diversity: How to Create a Sense of Inclusion” by executive coach Dima Ghawi, who is based in Louisiana. The coach covered recognizing that organizations... more

The Concerning State of ALA – Special Report from ALA Annual Conference 2021

There will be action in Council on 6/28/2021, on changing ALA governance, which is raising concerns for some people (zoom to the bottom of this post for details). Of great concern to me right now, ALA is operating in the red and needs members and other revenue. Membership declined 9-10% each of the last two... more

2021 NASIG Conference

With apologies for being late in posting about this, I attended the all online NASIG Conference from Wednesday, May 19th through Friday, May 21st. Although I greatly missed the in-person conference experience, I attended a number of interesting sessions. As Chris noted in his post about this conference, the keynote addresses were excellent but were... more