Students Experience the Library Profession at ILA
More than a dozen SLIS students and two professors left in the dark and rain to attend the annual conference for the Iowa Library Association on Friday, Oct. 23 in Des Moines. And that was just the LISSO carpool. Several others attended on Wednesday and Thursday.
The theme of the conference was “Deciphering our Future: Transforming Iowa Libraries”. Session topics ranged from the latest technology to popular reads to community involvement.
Megan Enright & Annette Bramstedt look at their
session choices for ILA on Friday.
SLIS student Annette Bramstedt went to a session about tools and technology.
“The best part of that was getting to sit next to a practicing librarian and chitchat with her during the presentation because you got to see what are the main issues in adopting a Kindle,” she said.
Maddie Armstrong said she wished some of the sessions, including the tools and technology one, would have been longer so she could have gotten a better feel for the subject.
Elizabeth Boyne was at the same session and said she had not realized the potential of the Kindle for the library. The presenter discussed allowing temporary downloads after the library had purchased ebooks.
“I think I got good discussion material for class,” Melissa Moore said.
She attended a session about security cameras in the Iowa City and Sioux City public libraries and said there were some things she didn’t really want to know.
LISSO president Rebecca Troup said she felt invigorated after the conference. She said it was a great reminder of why she wanted to be a librarian in the first place.
Nicole Dudley and Mara Egherman have a
discussion at Java Joe's in Des Moines after
ILA.
To check out what some of the presenters had to say about the future of the profession, click here.
For more photos from the conference, click here.
