This is the final article about the Public Library Association (PLA) Conference Scholarship that MLS offered this past spring. You can find background information and recipients’ advice to future conferencegoers in our June 2024 and July 2024 newsletter articles.
This month, we share some scholarship recipients’ comments about conference sessions and other highlights. Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.
Conference Sessions
Scholarship recipients attended many “amazing,” “exceptional,” and “wonderful” sessions. Presenters came from all over the county, including some from Massachusetts! Below is a sampling of sessions that scholarship recipients attended along with their observations:
- Customer service: “I attended a session entitled Putting Our Words into Action: A Toolkit for Customer Service with the Sequoyah Regional Library System in Georgia. They created a Customer Service Plan, to ensure the same service to every patron as they experience the library. They referenced Customer Service Plans from both Watertown and Somerville Public Libraries, so I intend to use their plan along with our neighbors to craft one for our library to standardize service customized to our community.”
- Local history: “The session titled Bringing the Library of Congress to Local History Research was super helpful! Our library has a decent local history collection and our community loves learning about local history and genealogy. This session gave me more FREE resources that I can pass along to our users. I plan to create a list of LOC resources that will help our local researchers and have it available in the local history room and on our website.”
- Rural libraries: “Another wonderful program that I attended was Transforming Community: A Rural Library’s Story. The McIntosh Memorial Library is a vibrant community hub in rural Viroqua, Wisconsin. Not only was the program inspiring, but I also learned practical tips in how to implement programs and services that will enhance our community.”
- Management: “The best session I attended was called How to Say the Hard Things: Lessons Learned in Years of Crisis presented by Brandi Cummings. This talk focused a lot on how managers approach their staff, not only during crisis, but every day. Some ideas highlighted were being authentic, empathetic, and transparent. This really resonated with me because I previously worked in a library that was all about secrecy and playing staff against each other, which created stress, uncertainty, and a hostile work environment. Hearing Brandi reinforce my management philosophies gives me great confidence when dealing with staff and making sure there’s room for everyone to communicate honestly.”
Other Highlights
Scholarship recipients also shared other highlights about their time at the PLA Conference.
- Meeting library staff from across the country: “One of the big takeaways from this conference was how important it is to connect with other librarians so that we can share our experiences and our insights. I met so many incredibly kind librarians from across the country. We all share the same values concerning access to information, but we experience what that means so differently depending on which region of the country we’re working in. It was refreshing to be among people who care about libraries as much as I do.”
- Spending time with other Massachusetts library staff: “Before this conference, I had not met many other librarians in my area, so getting to meet so many local librarians was great! Many of us work in small towns or are from rural libraries, so being able to share and discuss with so many librarians who experience a lot of the same challenges was so helpful. I’m hoping to stay in touch with many of the librarians I met from Massachusetts and visit them at their libraries now that I’m home!”
- Exploring the exhibit hall: “The exhibits expo was extremely helpful! I was able to get a wide range of ideas in regards to furnishings, distributors, services, and library products that I am going to be able to directly apply to a large scale improvement project my library is currently engaged in.”
- Participating in special events: “I participated in one of the library bus tours in Columbus. The architect speaking talked a lot about porches, both literal and metaphorical. Porches are a place to experience hope and connection with your community. When you use your porch, you are saying that you want to be involved in your neighborhood. While he was able to design and build a literal porch for this community, the sentiment will come home with me. How can I provide metaphorical porches for my town.”
We hope you enjoyed reading about MLS members’ experiences attending the PLA Conference. If you are interested in receiving a conference scholarship, check out our Conference Scholarship LibGuide.
Thank you again to Senator Jacob Oliveira, who championed the funding amendment that made the PLA Conference Scholarship possible!
Blog coordinated by:
Terry McQuown, Consulting & Training Services Director
Jack Martin, Communications Manager
