The American Library Association’s Annual Conference and
Exhibition 2019 was held on June 20th to the 25th in the Walter E. Washington
Convention Center in the heart of the nation’s capital, downtown Washington,
D.C., and it is the biggest conference and exhibit for librarians in the
industry. To date, ALAAC 2019 was one of the most worthwhile experiences for me
as a library professional, having attended eleven events (nine of which were
professional panels), networked with a variety of folks in the industry, and
even being re-tweeted by the official Rakuten Overdrive twitter account for my
fanart of the Libby app! But that’s a story I’ll save for last.
The main reason I attended
ALAAC 2019 was for the professional panels. I picked the ones I went to because
of a mixture of reasons: some looked interesting, some directly tied to my work
in YA, some spoke to my values as a librarian, and some of them featured
celebrities that I admire. Here’s a short list of all the panels I attended and
their associations with specific groups:
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Opening General Session feat. Jason Reynolds (ALA)
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Pitfalls of Neutrality: What Does Inclusivity Mean in Libraries (ALA - OIF)
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·
Turning Enemies into Advocates: How Empathy-Based Training
Eliminated Barriers Between Youth & Our Staff
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·
Launching and Maintaining a Library After-School Space for Grades
6-12
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Social Unrest, Democracy and Librarianship in the 21st Century (ALA - EMIERT)
·
·
From Fortnite to 'Big Mood': Keeping Up with Teen Trends
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Auditorium Speaker Series featuring George Takei (ALA)
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Tough topics in YA: How the 2019 debuts are tackling the dark—but
real—issues teens care about
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·
An International Leaders Forum: Leading a Vision for a Global
Community of Libraries (ALA - IFLA)
·
To kick off ALAAC 2019 with Jason Reynolds is an absolute treat,
and every librarian who attended the panel would wholeheartedly agree. He was a
terrific speaker and eloquent wordsmith: his talk about the value of libraries
was as enlightening as it was inspired, and I felt ready to tackle the rest of
ALAAC 2019 as I walked out of the opening session! This was good because I had
some days that had panels back-to-back: a mistake I won’t repeat again. In the
panels that were specifically young-adult orientated, I learned the serious
risks that bias has in both the smaller interactions between staff and patrons,
staff and staff and staff and administration regarding YA topics, as well as
the larger, macro-level institutional biases that would affect the work being
done in the field. For example, two of those panels highlighted how stereotypes
play into how other staff and adults would treat teens, and best practices to
either avoid or to help exercise empathy in the face of bad first impressions.
The more wide ranging panels that appealed to my sense of librarianship and
values of social justice were also eye-opening, as they highlighted the very
real reactions, pushback and successes of implementing some as (seemingly)
simple as gender-neutral restroom signs, and how libraries can uphold positive
social justice values in the face of discrimination and in light of a globally
minded and international world. And as for celebrities, I would have never
forgiven myself if I missed a chance to see Captain Hikaru Su--uh, I mean,
George Takei in real life, albeit from far away. He was also talking about his
upcoming middle-grade graphic novel called They Called Us Enemy, which in
the light of current events and my own identity as Asian-American was moving
and important to learn, and a book I’d absolutely order and recommend to as
many patrons as humanly possible.
The other half of ALAAC 2019 was the exhibition hall, a two
city-block wide stretch of basically everyone in libraries, library-adjacent
businesses, and, most importantly, library schools. I spent hours in this hall
greeting friends, making contact with publishers, learning how to play the
various games I intend to set-up and run in the Govans branch, and filling my
half-dozen tote bags with free books, ARCs, and swag, but the most important
interactions I really had with folks in the exhibit hall were the conversations
I had with the various universities that offered degrees in library and
information sciences. Every one of these colleges had kitschy giveaways and
random raffles (one of which I won--thanks for the baller tote bag, Drexel
University!), but it was really the conversations and interactions that I had
with the people who attended the booths that brought home how cool it is to be
a librarian and how becoming one with a degree isn’t too far-fetched! I
particularly had an amazing talk with a professor, Dr. Cecilia L. Salvatore
from Saipan, working on research about indigenous diasporas, and we immediately
bonded over the issues of the label AAPI, a notorious bar in Guam and the
Japanese soldier who hid nearby twenty years after WWII ended, and just so much
more about our shared cultural heritage. She told me to look her up in
Dominican University and to please, please apply for my masters there,
and I’ve never been more sold about a school by one person as I have by hers!
Just from this one convention alone, I’ve never wanted to get that MLIS degree
more than I have now.
To that end, going to ALA was an absolutely stellar experience,
and a must for anyone seriously thinking of making libraries a part of their
career path. The people I’ve met, the stories I’ve heard and the many, many
positive things I’ve experienced in ALA have really affirmed my career choices
here in Pratt, and I hope to go back again knowing what I know now to really
experience ALA to the fullest.
But, before I conclude this post, I also want to highlight a
particularly fun interaction I had with the communications folks in the
Rakuten-Overdrive booth, the folks who created the e-book/e-audiobook app
Libby: I draw for fun, and months ago, I created a mascot-type character for the
app, and the Rakuten-Overdrive folks loved it so much that they re-tweeted it
on their official Twitter page! But, because I didn’t have my business cards
with me, they couldn’t credit me in the initial tweet. To that end, I was lucky
I brought my drawing supplies with me because I drew them more Libby fanart
right on a business card with my twitter handles on them, which they also re-tweeted!
Outside of that conversation with a professor, this was the single best thing
to happen to me in ALA!
