Library Conference is a Good Deal All Around

Last weekend I attended the California Library Association's annual conference in Pasadena. Strangely, I did some of my best library educating while buying a pair of shoes.

The sales rep in the store saw my badge, and said "Oh, you're here for the conference. We're offering a 15% educator's discount." 

"That's great," I said, "but I'm not a teacher, I'm a librarian." She looked at me for a moment with great puzzlement, then asked, "What do librarians do at a library conference?"

A very good question, and I'm guessing you are wondering the same thing. Besides shopping for shoes (which, incidentally, I did in the evening after being at the conference all day Saturday), we attend workshops, visit the exhibits, and network with other librarians.

Networking can be incredibly valuable. In fact, networking is what landed me in Fairfax. At last year's CLA conference, I ran into Gail Haar, Marin County's Library Director, who told me that the Librarian would be retiring in the next year. A few weeks later, I was in the Bay Area and came to see this town and the library, and decided I wanted to apply. But I don't go to conferences just to find job prospects. If I did, I wouldn't have had my last job for over 15 years.

When I attend conferences, I leave feeling re-energized about what I do, and better informed about new technologies and services that libraries can offer. Visiting the exhibits this year was quite exciting, because Marin County Free Library has a number of resources that my previous library did not. MCFL subscribes to numerous databases, such as Gale magazine index. The rep at that booth showed me a free Gale app, available to any library user with a smart phone, that gives you access to all the library’s online resources. I saw great new designs for children’s furniture, and a wonderful method for storing magazines that keeps all the back issues visible. 

One of the keynote speakers was Stephen Abrams, a futurist and analyst of library trends, who spoke about the future of books. He contends that the book is not dying, it’s evolving, and more people are reading now than in previous years. And because libraries are not just about books, but about creating the reading and learning experiences that improve people’s lives, libraries are not in danger of becoming irrelevant. Libraries make information accessible and build community. Though libraries don’t generate income, they are an anchor tenant for businesses. Funding libraries is equivalent to protecting civilization, and as Abrams said, “cutting libraries in a recession is like cutting hospitals in a plague.”

I didn’t tell all of this to the saleswoman in the shoe store. I said, “Oh, you know, we get to see new books that are being published, we talk about advocating for libraries and intellectual freedom, and we hear about trends in technology that we can use to provide better service. Stuff like that.”

“Wow,” she said. “All that.”

She gave me the discount.