I looked forward to ACRL 2019 in my home state of Ohio for weeks, and the conference in Cleveland did not disappoint. As I reflect on the conference, a key theme of challenging assumptions and taking the time to talk with others began with Michele Norris’ opening keynote about The Race Card Project.

The theme for this year’s ACRL conference is “Recasting the Narrative,” and in this era of rapid-fire disruption it’s hard to avoid thinking about how institutions we take for granted will have to transform themselves. As the information landscape flips upside-down and inside-out, librarians are uniquely positioned to help people navigate this new reality. But rather than serve as the traditional gatekeepers and tour guides of information, one of the trends we’re seeing today is the evolution of librarians as storytellers.

I recently attended the annual Charleston Conference in Charleston, South Carolina (November 5-9, 2018) for the first time. This conference is known as an important event to attend if your work involves scholarly communication, library publishing, collection development, acquisitions or e-resource management. The sessions and discussions covered many interesting and emerging issues including discovery, technology trends, budgeting, analysis and assessment, and user statistics. I learned quite a bit in this conference and chatted with publishers and vendors who shared some upcoming features in their products and services too.

The International Federation of Libraries and Associations (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) 2018 just ended last week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Over 3500 attendees came to this year’s conference in Malaysia. Participants came from all over the world including Myanmar, Brazil, New Zealand, Serbia, Sierra Leone, and Spain, and the topics of discussion ranged from scholarly communication to sustainability to linked data.

Last week, I attended the 5th annual LILi Conference held at the Glendale Public Library in California. The theme was, “It’s Not Just Academic: Bridging Gaps with Information Empowerment in All Libraries” and explored information literacy services and programs provided by different libraries including public, academic, school, and others.

Last week, the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) brought together comic art and graphic novel fans, illustrators, artists, gamers, celebrities, educators, and librarians. Numerous events and seminars across the San Diego Convention Center and the San Diego Central Library (SDCL) covered diverse topics ranging from “Designing the Costumes of Wakanda” to “A Crash Course to European Comics.” This conference provided a great opportunity for librarians seeking to learn more about the latest publications, trends, and scholarly works on comic research. 

By Sol M. Lopez, MLIS

ALA annual is so large and broad in scope, and yet manages to offer a handful of specialized workshops for every possible area of the profession. Learning about issues that impact minority academic librarians, what different types of libraries are doing on diversity, inclusion, and equity were among the highlights of my experience. 

At this year’s ACRL conference we hosted a small booth survey (and raffled off a free year of InfoLit Modules to Carl Andrews, Assistant Professor/Librarian at Bronx Community College!) to get a sense of how librarians felt about FYE, faculty collaboration, and information literacy.

We had an amazing time in Baltimore for the ACRL Conference, and we’re grateful to all of the librarians we got a chance to meet and talk to about the state of research and reference today.

Digital Learning Objects: Exploring New Ways to Teach Online Learners