ILA Wrap Up With Links

Last week I was at ILA Annual for 3 days. As usual, it was a great conference where I got to see many of my IL colleagues and join them for learning. I caught up with many people I hadn't seen in a while and met new people too.

Last week, I posted here about my programs with links, but today, I want to mention a few other programs and meetings.

On Tuesday I attended the program entitled, "What They Want Where They Want it: Passive Advisory for Books, Movies, and More" presented by Jennifer Asimakopoulos and Jez Layman.

Use this link, type "Layman" under the field for Speaker's last name and hit search and you will pull up the PDF of their slides.

Here is the link to my notes from Twitter. I put them into one thread and doubled checked that you do not need an account to view these, simply click that link. You can pair the slides and the notes together for a solid recap.

Attending this program is proof that even when you know the 2 people and their work very well [their library is right near mine] you can still learn a lot. This was the program I attended that I think will help my readers the most, right away. There is much to learn from Jennifer and Jez and the work their team has done for years. That's actually the main take away here, when a team works together over years, the amount of product they can create, together, is astounding.

On the final day of the conference, I was one of the organizers of another program involving Jez Layman. I had invited her to interview Kelly Jensen live on stage in a program sponsored by ARRT:

(Don't) Call Me Crazy: Book Release and Author Interview with Kelly Jensen

Venue: Peoria Civic Center

Room: 220

Join the Adult Reading Round Table [ARRT] as they host a book release party with librarian, Boot Riot Editor, and bestselling author Kelly Jensen as she launches (Don’t) Call me Crazy, an essay collection that explores, through essays, artwork, poetry, and other ephemera, the ways that mental illness impacts individuals, family and friends. This collection includes contributions from Victoria Schwab, Adam Silvera, Libba Bray, Esmé Wang, Yumi Sakugawa, Mike Jung, s.e. smith, Meredith Russo, and Stephanie Kuehn, and more. Kelly will be interviewed by Jez Layman live on stage. They will be discussing the book, how mental illness is portrayed in literature, how we help readers find inclusive titles, and much more. There will be time for questions from the audience. Kelly will sign copies of the book purchased at the event for you or your library.

Kelly and Jez talked frankly about mental health, RA Service, and Kelly's new book, (Don't) Call Me Crazy. You can click here for the Twitter thread of my notes from their conversation.

After the talk there was a nice long line of people all waiting to buy the book, and many people were buying multiple copies! This is a book you need to have at every library. I would suggest a copy in YA and Adult. 

I was so very proud of both Jez and Kelly. This was one of the best programs I have ever been a part of, both because of their honesty and the need for these conversations about mental health.

These are just 2 of the many wonderful programs that happened at ILA Annual this year. Anyone, whether you were there or not, is welcome to peruse the conference program and download handouts and presentations with this link.

I love state library conferences for many reasons, but the biggest reason is because they are just as informative as a national conference but on a smaller scale. Next week I get to do it all again as I was invited to the Wisconsin Library Association Conference. 

Of course, I love my own state library conference most of all. I love it so much that I even sponsor everyone's coffee for 1 morning each year. Also, I think I may have joined another committee while I was on the pub stroll. Oh well. 

If you went to ILA or another state library conference recently and want to share something you learned with the rest of my readers, please let contact me.