Public Library Association Conference
Philadelphia, PA – March 2018
Thanks to CLRC’s Professional Development Grant I was able to attend the Public Library Association (PLA) Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This conference is only offered every other year, and I am so grateful that CLRC created an opportunity for me to go to this conference. The conference schedule offered sessions on a wide array of topics from augmented reality to collections management tools all with the focus on being used in public libraries.
My conference experience began with a pre-conference workshop entitled “When Design Meets Service: What Global Library Trends Show Us About Future Library Spaces.” This workshop provided an overview of what some innovative libraries are doing around the world to make their public spaces more useful, inviting and efficient for library patrons. Skaneateles Library is currently in the midst of investigating remodeling/building new so this workshop provided insight into the best practices of designing a customer-focused library.
The regular conference opened with keynote speaker Sally Yates, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General. Yates spoke about the importance of being confident in your abilities and having the courage to lead. She spoke about her brief time as Attorney General and how she coped during that experience. Yates also commended all the librarians that helped her during her educational career.
The PLA conference had other big speakers each day including author Elizabeth Gilbert best known for her memoir “Eat, Pray, Love.” The conference also offered many sessions, mostly hosted by librarians, on a range of topics. Some of the sessions that I attended included: Change and Evolution in 21st Century Public Library Collections and Technical Services, The Accidental Trainer: Teaching Technology in a Modern Public Library, Guerrilla Branding: 10 Ways to Make a Big Splash with a Tiny Budget, Innovative Approaches to Circulating Wi-Fi Hotspots and Culinary Literacy 101: A How to for Your Library. The culinary literacy session was hosted by several librarians from Philadelphia who work to provide programming based in the kitchen classroom recently added to their main branch library. They are working to use food as a means to teach math, reading, and life skills, all while having fun in the kitchen. I really enjoyed the diversity of program topics offered at this conference.
While in Philadelphia I also had time to visit the Parkway Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia system. I love to visit other libraries when I travel to see what other libraries are doing for inspiration. The Parkway Central Library is in a big, historic building with beautiful architecture.
I would like to thank CLRC again for this great learning experience. Attending the PLA conference was a wonderful opportunity to talk with and learn from other librarians from around the country and the world. One take-away from my conference experience is that there are always new and interesting things to learn, and that as a profession librarians are really proud of their work and are very often happy to share.
Deanna King
Skaneateles Library