What's Happening at #pla2014?

I'm headed to Indianapolis today for the 2014 PLA Conference. I am very, very excited to be able to attend a variety of sessions at this conference to contribute to my own professional development, and I anticipate that I'll be bringing a wide variety of ideas and resources back to my library after the conference. I will most definitely share these takeaways in a wrap-up post next week. I'll also be one of several librarians live-blogging the conference on the ALSC Blog, so you may get some sneak peeks at my takeaways over there throughout the week.

For now, however, I want to focus on some of the things that I've got going on while I'm in Indy. By all means, if any of them sound of interest to you, I'd love for you to attend.

Thursday, March 13

12:15-1:30 p.m. Storytime Underground Meetup

Join fellow storytime ninjas & guerrillas on Thursday, March 13 from 12:15-1:30 p.m. for lunch. The meet up will happen at The Landing on Maryland Food Court in the conference center (that way no one’s plans to attend sessions are disrupted).

As per the conference center website, “The Landing on Maryland Food Court is centrally located outside Exhibit Halls A-D and features four themed concepts: Espresso Caffé™, Indiana Grille™, Pizza™ and American Delicatessen™. This variety, along with a seating area, gives attendees a great place to enjoy lunch, visit with others or to just sit and relax.”

I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to spot the SU-ers in the food court, as we tend to form an excited mini-mob whenever more than three of us are in the same place.

4:15-5:15 p.m. Spark Talks I

As per the PLA program listings, Spark Talks are "fast-moving sessions featur[ing] five-minute presentations on the latest and greatest ideas from your public library colleagues. Come be surprised, inspired, and energized!"

I will be presenting my Spark Talk at precisely 4:27 p.m. It is titled "Guerrilla Professional Development: Put Collaboration to Work for You and Your Library," and my hope is that it will allow more libraries to consider mining the valuable expertise in their organizations when it comes to trainings.

This session will take place in Indiana Convention Center Room 106.

Saturday, March 15

9:15-10:15 a.m. Guerrilla Storytime: Training and Advocacy for Storytime Professionals

This ConverStation will open with Brooke Rasche and myself briefly introducing the ideas behind and value of Guerrilla Storytime--hopefully inspiring attendees to take the model back to their libraries, state associations, etc. Then we'll get into the meat of why Guerrilla Storytime has proved valuable to so many youth services librarians: time to share our experiences and expertise as we weigh in on the challenges of real, live, on-the-ground storytime practitioners.

This will be a full-on, participatory Guerrilla Storytime!

This session will take place in Indiana Convention Center Room 102.

10:30-11:30 a.m. Be a Champ! Advocate for Youth

As per the program description: "Be a champ by advocating for youth and youth services at your library! Learn how to advocate internally within your organization and with your local elected officials, as well as how to influence stakeholders and legislators at the regional, state, and national level. You’ll also discover how to relay your message through your social network sites, blogs, and newsletters."

I'll be co-presenting this session with Rhonda Puntney Gould, who is a tremendous advocate for libraries and youth services folks in particular. She designed the session with the uber-knowledgeable Marge Loch-Wouters. I'll be standing in for Marge in this session, as she's not able to make it to Indy. And while I'm no Marge, I shall do my best.

This session will take place in Indiana Convention Center Room 133-134.

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See you in Indy!