ALA Annual Conference (and what you can do when you’re stuck at home!)

24 Jun

This week Chicago hosts the ALA Annual Conference where librarians from across the country will come together for networking, continuing education and the chance to meet authors and illustrators while learning about upcoming new releases. And as much as I love traveling to the ALA Annual Conference sometimes it’s just not feasible. So what can you do if you’re #ALALeftBeind?

There are amazing continuing education opportunities that you don’t have to leave the comfort of your own home to participate in.  Check out WebJunction – a website built specifically for library training including self-paced courses as well as webinars across a wide-range of topics that librarians face.

If you can’t make it to the Annual Conference, check out ALA Online Learning many of ALA’s divisions host online learning on a variety of topics that interest librarians in all fields.

You can also check out state associations and local chapters who often have day-long workshops or conference based around a specific topic. These are most often more affordable and easier to get to.

And don’t forget to check out universities who often have continuing education opportunities. I’ve taken a class from the School of Library & Information Studies through the University of Wisconsin-Madison which I really enjoyed and they have a number of online courses they offer each semester at a low cost.

So even if you can’t make it to the ALA Annual Conference, don’t despair – there are plenty of other places to go to continue your education. It’s also important to attend continuing education opportunities for the networking aspect. Although I’m an introvert, it’s always refreshing to be around other librarians where I can bounce ideas off them and talk about library issues without having explaining it – they just get it. And that’s what I like most about this career, I am continually learning something new and it’s amazing.

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