I was a first-time attendee at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2017 conference held in Baltimore, MD. This conference was attended by 3,400 college and university librarians, and spanned Thursday (3/23/17) through Saturday (3/25/17). I was able to attend the pre-conference on Wednesday, COUNTER Bootcamp: A Workshop about COUNTER Reports, SUSHI, and Usage Analysis–which was priceless to me in my job as an acquisitions librarian. ACRL offered breakout sessions, panel sessions, contributed papers, roundtable discussions, and poster presentations–also valuable were vendor exhibits (over 220) and opportunities to network with other librarians. Pam Gladis (University Librarian at McFarland Library) and I submitted a proposal for a roundtable discussion on our collaboration with SMSU’s IT Helpdesk, which was accepted and we hosted “Opening the Door to Our Silo: Blending IT and Library Service Points at a Main Floor Service Desk” on Friday at 3pm. I was concerned about the time and expense of this conference, but thanks to SAMMIE, I received a scholarship that covered the conference registration. I was able to attend sessions that gave me ideas for instruction, help in compiling usage statistics, and timely information on preserving library and higher ed funding (just to name a few!). Attending was time and money well-spent, and I am looking forward to ACRL 2019.
