I was able to attend the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) annual conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The opportunity to meet with and talk to other libraries from small and rural areas is invaluable. We struggle with many similar issues, and it was incredibly beneficial to get to talk through things with them and find out what their small libraries do. The sessions offered at the conference were outstanding. I attended one on book club programming, one on aiding in prisoner re-entry, one about preparing for disaster in rural areas, one about customer service, and another on diversity and inclusivity. While those were all the conferences I was able to attend in person, some of the others were recorded and are available online to participants. I am so grateful to have been able to attend and learn so much more about these topics, which are incredibly relevant to what we are doing. ARSL is the most valuable conference I attend, and I would recommend it to any rural and/or small librarian.
