Library conferences: Why bother?

From PLN

1 Joe Janes
2 Jeff Horrell
3 Jamie LaRue
4 George Needham
5 Loriene Roy (ALA President 2007/2008)
6 Related articles
7 Your turn: Talk about it

Library conferences: Why bother?

Library Leadership Network Peer Panel, June 2007

Edited by Frank Hermes, published June 19, 2007

Well, most of us are about to pack our bags and go spend a few days (or longer) in a place that is hot and muggy. Which is to say that it’s time for another ALA Annual Conference!

So this month we asked our panelists to explain what motivates them to attend ALA and other similar conferences:

Why do you go/not go to ALA (PLA, ACRL and other similar large gatherings)?
What do you see as the value of ALA (et.al.) to current and future library leaders?
What conferences are of greatest value to you? Why?
How would you like to see the ALA conference change?
What other relevant comments would you care to make?

Joe Janes

I go to ALA. Much as we all like to complain about it (both the conference and the organization, too big, too complicated, too slow, too conservative, etc), we couldn't do without it and it does do a lot of good.

The conference itself, for me, is much more about people than anything else. It's a chance to see old friends, make new ones, connect and reconnect. I also love to wander the exhibits. I have no money to spend, so the vendors ignore me and I can just meander around and see who's got bigger booths, smaller ones, gone altogether (DIALOG, snif), new (Google), who's bought who, and so on. All of libraryland under one roof.

I wish the conference was a bit more responsive. I know, given the size and structure, that it’s a huge undertaking that needs to be planned well in advance, but couldn't there be some way to plan some time to be planned later? Opportunities (no doubt well laid out) for spontaneity, for experimentation, for sessions that don't involve 4 people sitting at a table draped by a curtain, each of who get 10 minutes, take 15, race through too many powerpoint slides then leave next to no time for questions. Every once in a while something new and different comes along and when they work, people love it!

Oh, and we should go back to San Francisco too.

Editor’s note: We agree with Joe’s comments about the program, and were thus encouraged to receive this message form the ALA this morning:

Do you find that the most useful and energizing session you attend is the ad hoc meeting in the hallway or on break? Do you yearn for a chance to expand on those conversations with colleagues who share your passion for ideas and concepts not necessarily on the formal program? If so, ALA offers Taking Chances: Our Future or Our Demise, a unique Open Space Technology conference within the conference. Come prepared to be surprised as participants organize the agenda, convene the discussion groups, and come away amazed at how intellectually rich and energizing self-organized groups truly can be.

This is not like any session you've seen at ALA. Stop by on either Saturday or Sunday, from 8:00am - 4:00pm at the Washington Convention Center, Room 101 and be part of this unique experience.

Jeff Horrell

As a library director, there is a fair amount of travel as the representative of one's institution (ARL, DLF, CNI) and increasingly for development/stewardship activities. So there are times I forgo ALA or other large meetings when I know others within one's organization will cover specifics sessions. But ALA certainly provides the broad view of the profession and is equally important for specific areas of our work, particularly through the discussion groups.

I find the CNI meetings to be very useful. They are a day and a half, well-organized, and focused. I always feel I have learned a lot and have had an opportunity of talking with colleagues (library director members and CIOs).

I believe it is also important to attend and encourage others to participate in subject discipline meetings. We can learn much about how disciplines are changing and make useful connections for and among our campus academic colleagues.

Jamie LaRue

It's a conundrum. On the one hand, conferences give you the chance to see, talk to, and network with people of like minds. That's heady stuff, and can have a huge impact on your ability to solve real problems. On the other hand, it's expensive, whether you choose to pay for it yourself, or ask your institution to foot the bill. The other quandary is that I feel that the more expertise I have, the more I get out of a conference. On the other hand, I feel the need to encourage other, younger librarians to go. Finally, then, I go when the programs are very targeted to my current strategic interests.

George Needham

I probably have a biased view of this, since I've worked for a couple of library associations that made a big chunk of their annual income from conferences.

Someone once described a library conference as "a gathering of librarians, filled with fascinating learning opportunities and discussions, interrupted only by some boring programs."

I try to attend several library conferences every year: ALA Midwinter and Annual conferences, PLA every other year, ACRL and IFLA when I can, and a couple of state events. Why do I do this to myself? Because of the networking. A library conference gives us a chance to meet face-to-face and share ideas about the current and future state of the profession. I enjoy wandering the exhibit floor, seeing what, if anything, is new in the market. The sales reps are generally a wealth of information about what's happening in libraries; OK, let me state this more plainly: they have the good gossip.

When you consider the amazing changes in communications technology over the last few decades, you would think that national conferences would have changed a lot. But I'll bet that if a time traveling librarian from 1957 were to be dropped down onto the floor of the exhibit hall at the DC Convention Center on Saturday, June 23, he or she would feel pretty much at home. Some of the companies would be different, and they would think the computers were props from the movie Desk Set, but I'll bet that a lot of the programs would be exactly the same. (Dealing with obstreperous users, how to get more children involved in summer programs, preventing damage to materials, etc.) I'm not sure that there's likely to be any real change in the ALA conference any time soon. It is what it is, and expecting change is like expecting change in Mount Rushmore. You know that erosion will change it eventually, but you don't really want to wait around a few millennia to see it happen.

All cynicism aside, getting involved in a library association is good for both the individual librarian and the profession. ALA, PLA, Urban Libraries Council, ARL, and other national and international groups publish very valuable information to push libraries forward, and members write most of the things they publish. This is a good way for librarians to get known in the field if they want to advance. (Which is not to say that independent journals like, say, Library Leadership Network, can't be a good vehicle for this, too!)

I had one experience with electoral office in ALA, and that was more than enough for me. I prefer to serve on committees to which I'm appointed, rather than running for anything. (I don't even run for a bus any more.) This is another good way to get known in the profession, and getting appointed is not as difficult as you might think. Most ALA and state association presidents have a hard time filling all the appointments they need to make. Just let the president-elect/vice president know that you are interested, and you might find yourself inundated with appointments.

Loriene Roy (ALA President 2007/2008)

I attend ALA to meet my responsibilities--chairing meetings, representing ALA at various events, greeting guests, and providing media interviews. I go to ALA to learn through the myriad information programs that ALA committees and other units have organized. I go to ALA to meet new people--ALA members with whom I have shared email, members who volunteer their services by serving on committees, speakers, vendors, donors, ALA staff members. It is also a great reunion occasion and I look forward to meeting with former students and colleagues. I am able, over the next several years, to host events, another perquisite of attending. I especially enjoy helping showing current and former students ‘the ropes’ of maneuvering through their first ALA conferences.

Participation in ALA places future library leaders in an environment of awareness, of knowledge, of connectiveness. Future library leaders can also model professional involvement with their colleagues and demonstrate the value of attending and participating in ALA. It places someone on the fast track, bringing one from the position of passive attendee to active member.

I think that I’m a conference junkie. In addition to ALA, I enjoy attending the state chapter meetings. Over the past several years I attended the Tennessee Library Association annual conference and those of the Alaska Library Association and the Hawaii Library Association. I’ve attended the Texas Library Association for 21 consecutive years. This coming year I am slated to attend the Kentucky Library Association and the state conferences in Iowa, Illinois, Colorado, California, and Louisiana. These events offer opportunities to meet people who do not ordinarily attend ALA and to visit locations that are often too small to host large meetings such as ALA Midwinter and ALA Annual.

I also immensely enjoy conferences that are organized along my interests in services for and with indigenous peoples. The International Indigenous Librarians Forum has been held every other year since 1999. In February 2009 I hope to attend my sixth IILF when it returns to Aotearoa/New Zealand. I also try to attend the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE) and was fortunate to be at recent WIPCEs in Hawaii (1999), Canada (2002), and Aotearoa/New Zealand (2005). The next WIPCE will take place in Melbourne, Australia in December 2008. I try to attend the Sequoyah Research Center Symposium most years. This meeting takes place at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and brings together Native faculty, journalists, writers, and community activists.

How would I like to see the ALA conference change?

Conferences are a revenue stream for ALA and I understand the necessity of using the venue as a source of income for the Association. And each year, thousands of ALA members agree with us by registering and attending ALA. While the value of conference is tremendous—and the costs are in line with or less than the professional meetings of our sister organizations—attending conference is still an expensive venture for many members. The presence of Web 2.0 technologies can provide us with opportunities to share some of the excitement and information content available at conference with other ALA members unable to participate in face-to-face meetings.

Editor's note: Loriene, we’ll be looking forward to your role in maintaining and improving conferences that have great value—and maybe we’ll be blessed with a cold front, too!