I recently attended the 2016 National Conference for Rural & Small Libraries in Fargo, ND. I heard some wonderful authors, including Will Weaver and William Kent Krueger. I did not attend Lorna Landvik’s presentation because she was just in Redwood Falls. Jodee Bock was a motivational speaker and did a great job. I wrote down several quotes that I plan to use and also titles of some books that I plan to read. Think and Grow Rich looks interesting, as does Loving What Is. Betty Gronneberg was the other large group speaker and I loved her inspiration for Early Literacy, improving the life of girls and empowering them towards success. I attended the sessions, Be Your Own Graphic Designer, Librarian as Salesman, Pop Up Libraries, Being a 21st Century Librarian, Lights, Camera, Advocacy. I also enjoyed Community Anchors to Catalysts for a few minutes, Modifiable Music and Movement, and a session on Handling Conflict with Grace. Most of the sessions I attended were well thought out and had information I could use in my library. There were a couple that I thought could have had a little more information and actual hands on projects for us. I am hoping to do something with pop up libraries and gained some good information from that session as to what works and what doesn’t when traveling with materials. I enjoyed learning about the graphic design computer programs as I am not very familiar with them. I did enjoy the music and movement class but with my background, I really didn’t learn anything new or useful to me for use in our library. My favorite part of the conference was connecting with librarians from across the country, as well as those from nearby. I enjoyed sitting with new people at lunch and getting ideas from them also. I think if I attend this conference in the future I would like to go as a speaker and share some of the great things happening here. Thank you, SAMMIE, for the opportunity to attend this conference.
