Running head: AN ITRL2 STUDENT’S CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
An ITRL2 Student’s Conference Experience:
The 2015 American Library Association Annual Conference in San Francisco
Becca Tedesco
July 22, 2015
ITRL2
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AN ITRL2 STUDENT’S CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
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Abstract
Thanks to the funding opportunities provided by the Information Technology Rural
Librarianship Master’s Scholarship Program, Phase 2 (ITRL2)
(http://www.sis.utk.edu/itrl2/about), I was to attend the 2015 American Library Association’s
(ALA) Annual Conference, which took place this year in San Francisco, California from June
26, 2015 to June 30, 2015. According to ALA’s website, this conference typically has 25,000
attendees and “…includes that largest library-oriented tradeshow of exhibition in the world, with
typically 1,500 booths” (American Library Association, n.d.). While in attendance, I was able to
participate in the Auditorium Speaker Series, Conversation Starters, Ignite Sessions, General
Programs, Poster Sessions, and explore the exhibit hall. The following report describes my
experiences at the event, including the sessions that I participated in, networking opportunities,
main takeaways, and future conference endeavors.
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Introduction
Although I have attended other library-oriented conferences in the past, including the
Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference (2015), the Tennessee
Library Association (TLA) Conference (2013, 2015), and the P-16 Summer Summit (2013,
2014), I have never participated in an ALA event or experienced a conference of such
magnitude. Prior to this, the largest conference event I had joined was the 2015 ACRL in
Portland, which had approximately 3,000 participants. Since ALA is such a large-scale event, I
felt that, in order to get the most out of my experience, it was necessary to create a plan of
approach that included:
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Researching the host city (San Francisco) and the surrounding area of the conference
center (Moscone Center)
Determining areas of focus/objectives for what I wanted to learn at the conference
Researching the sessions offered at the conference and creating an initial schedule
Indicating which sessions had the highest priority
Scheduling break time in order to regroup
Sessions Attended
As previously indicated, in order to select sessions for ALA, I first determined subject areas for
which to focus my learning objectives. I currently serve as the Public Services Coordinator for
the Cleveland State Community College (CSCC) Library in Cleveland, TN, and therefore have a
strong professional interest in library outreach and event planning. My goals for the 2015-2016
fiscal year includes increasing library outreach amongst distance education and satellite location
students, offering new student programs that focus on academic support, and restructuring the
student library assistant program that I oversee. In addition to my direct work responsibilities, I
also have an interest in library instruction and am beginning to take on a support role on my
library’s instructional team. When considering these objectives, I determined that my areas of
focus for programs would be:
AN ITRL2 STUDENT’S CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
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Library instruction and information literacy, particularly for nontraditional environments
Programs focused on engagement and learning support
Distance outreach for library services
Student assistant management
One of the most challenging aspects of the ALA Conference is narrowing down the sessions you
are interested in. There are numerous sessions offered each hour, many of which have
overlapping interests. In order to facilitate the selection process, I noted which organization was
offering each session (such as ACRL or LIRT, the Library Instruction Round Table) and the type
of institution each presenter was affiliated with. Overall, the sessions I attended included:
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Auditorium Speaker Series featuring Gloria Steinem
Intentional Teaching Online: Using Instructional Design to Enhance Distance Library
Instruction
Meeting Needs and Making a Difference: Engaging Adults through Programming
Auditorium Speakers Series featuring Nick Offerman
Poster Sessions:
o But I Found it on Google: Teaching College Students Critical Digital Literacy
o College Student Engagement in Information Literacy Activities Across the
Disciplines
o Dogs, Donuts, and Other Distractions: Assessing Finals Week Activities at
Academic Libraries
o Flipping the One Shot: Reviewing Two Years of Flipped-Classroom Library
Instruction
o Health Happens in Libraries through Community Engagement
o Sustainable Assessment: Using Google Forms for Library Instruction
o Embeddedness-Plus: Combining Embedded Librarianship with Direct Marketing
to Underserved Groups
Help Yourself! Library Instruction that Supports Self-Directed Learning
“But We’re Neutral!” And Other Librarians Fictions Confronted by #critlib
Get Some Game in Your Training
Conversation Starter: Schmoozing for Beginners
Monday Ignite Session: Crowdfunding, Dogs, and Social Media: A Successful Formula
for Engaging Students, the Community, and the Library
Libraries of the Future – Learning with Google’s Daniel Russell
Student Assistants 2.0: More than Shelving and Stapling
AN ITRL2 STUDENT’S CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
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Main Takeaways
I found each and every one of the programs I attended to be valuable and took pages of notes that
I am currently still digesting. However, of these, the ones that I found to be the most immediately
applicable to my current goals were: Student Assistants 2.0, Intentional Teaching Online, and
Meeting Needs and Making a Difference.
Although the Student Assistants 2.0 session was hosted by librarians at a small private high
school, I found the structure of their student assistant programs and the knowledge level of their
students to be extremely comparable to that of my small, rural community college library. At this
session, the librarians discussed their management styles as well as the types of projects that their
students usually assisted with. The point that I learned the most from was the self-directed
approach that the supervisor’s used with their students: they felt that the best way to foster
excitement and dedication to the job was to allow students to come up with their own projects to
support library outreach. These projects included: promotions such as Blind Date with a Book,
video book talks, and “One Page” fliers that feature the first page of various books. A student
panel was also present to talk about what they enjoyed most about working in a library
environment, which was a very insightful portion of the session.
In the Intentional Teaching Online: Using Instructional Design to Enhance Distance Library
Instruction, I learned about strategies for engaging an often underserved student population –
distance learners. The session first outlined the unique needs of distance learners, including some
areas that I hadn’t previously considered, such as a lack of a student support group and the
challenges of communicating electronically, and then focused on strategies such as embedded
librarianship, online tutorials, and multimedia tools. I found the embedded librarianship
techniques to be particularly interesting since it is an area that I have not previously explored and
AN ITRL2 STUDENT’S CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
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can see how it would be beneficial to my user population. By implanting myself in the learning
management system of a classroom, I could foster a strong connection with students and make
myself more available to promote library resources.
The Meeting Needs and Making a Difference: Engaging Adults through Programming session
was the one that I walked away from with the highest level of excitement. In this program,
academic librarians identified underserved user populations within their institutions, including
veterans, student parents, and LGBTQ individuals. For each population, the library began to
offer unique programs and resources to meet their respective needs. Although some, such as
study sessions for veterans, proved not to be well-attended, I learned that the fact that the library
was making an effort to support those groups had a large impact of the individuals who identified
with those populations. Even though the veteran students may not have attended the study
sessions, they began to see the library as a friendly, supportive environment where they could
seek help. Similarly, by simply hosting a program organized by the school’s Gay-Straight
Alliance (and not actually planning the event), the library also presented itself as a welcoming
atmosphere for diverse populations. As someone who works at a rural community college
library, I was very intrigued by the session’s discussion of student parents. My college has a
large number of nontraditional students, many of whom have families with multiple children.
Since this creates an additional barrier for learning for those individuals, my library has been
interested in exploring ways to better serve the population. One solution presented in this session
was to actually invite the students to bring their children and provide them with a unique “family
room” for studying that included study rooms with glass walls, a children’s book collection, toys,
and a television. The institution presenting for this session was a state university with a much
larger budget than my college, however the overall idea is one that I think could be achievable
through creative strategies and is one that I intend to explore in the future.
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Networking Opportunities
One major benefit of library-oriented conferences is that you have the opportunity to connect
with an endless number of individuals who are often striving toward the same goals as you. In
the Schmoozing for Beginners session, I learned some techniques on how to present myself well
to others, strike up conversations, and leave a lasting impression on people. I attempted to utilize
these skills at ALA by talking to individuals who attended the same sessions as me to see if we
had similar objectives for our institutions. One such instance was in the Student Assistant 2.0
session, where a group of us who worked at small community colleges introduced ourselves and
exchanged business cards so that we could continue our discussion and share ideas in the future.
I also connected with some of the exhibitors, such as ExLibris, the company that hosts the ILS
that my library is currently migrating to. I met an individual from the company who worked with
me for an extended period to give me demonstrations and answer my questions and who
encouraged me to continue emailing her throughout the migration process.
Conclusion and Future Conference Endeavors
Overall, I found ALA to be an incredibly stimulating experience that left my head spinning with
potential ideas for my library. Although such a large event can be overwhelming at times, I think
it is incredibly valuable for individuals in the same profession to come together to share concepts
and strategies, particularly when they work in areas that are typically isolated such as I do. One
thing that this conference inspired me to do was to begin presenting at conferences. I have never
done so before, but after listening to some of the session topics, I feel confident that I too have
instituted programs and ideas that could be advantageous for others to learn about. I look forward
to future opportunities to both attend and present at library and information environment events.
AN ITRL2 STUDENT’S CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
References
American Library Association. (n.d.). ALA conferences: Q&A. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/offices/conference/confservices/ccc/faq.
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