I was able to attend MLA this October which was inspiring and informative. While there I attended a variety of workshops. I will provide a brief overview: Merchandising: Using Sales Techniques to Enhance Your Collection. This was such an eye-opening session about the visual aesthetics of arranging books on the shelves as well as within [...]
I attended the webinar "Difficult Discussions with Patrons: Using Jefferson Fisher's Book the Next Conversation" by Steve Albrecht Nobody likes to hear bad news and most people hate being told what to do. How we tell people what they can and cannot do in a library has an effect on how people react. I was [...]
I was able to attend the Minnesota Library Association Conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota on October 9 and 10, 2025. It was wonderful being able to see fellow Minnesota librarians that I don’t often get to see outside of Zoom meetings. Having this time set aside to get together and collaborate is invaluable. The MLA [...]
I got the opportunity to go to the 2025 MLA conference because of Prairielands! At this event I listened to multiple different speakers about different topics. I learned about book bans and how it makes an impact to library users, understanding the importance a library has in a community, and how to bring more patrons [...]
MLA 2025 Cultivating Connections: Stronger Together MLA 2025 sent me back to my library energized and full of new ideas. This year I think the topic of Cultivating Connections was perfect. The Stronger Together component reminds me that we are only better when we work together. I truly believe this, and it is a common [...]
I found this year's MLA conference to be incredibly useful and well worth my time. I attended sessions relating to VR technology, AI, book clubs, leveraging community organizations and resources, using data to tell the story of how libraries are valuable, and the reality of book banning and censorship. Additionally in light of Baker and [...]
I had the opportunity to attend the 2025 Association for Rural & Small Libraries Conference September 17-20 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The ARSL Conference is full of applicable sessions aimed toward the smaller library setting. I left taking away many great ideas. We had the opportunity to hear Keynote Speaker Mychal Threets share his story [...]
I was fortunate to be able to attend the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico from September 17-20. This is an annual conference focused on only small and rural libraries, so every session and speaker is aimed at our experiences and focused on the resources we have available. I [...]
For 2025, the Association of Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) held its annual conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As always, this conference was jam-packed with quality presentations from libraries similar to ours, serving communities in towns and cities ranging in population anywhere from 200 to 20,000 with attendees from all over the United States. I [...]
I attended the annual Koha-US Conference in Providence, RI September 2nd through the 5th. The conference was very informative and served to heighten my interest in pursuing some of the topics presented. The first day featured presentations on the history and adoption on Koha, the impact of regional user groups, and how to analyze collection [...]