What's In a Conference?

What is the difference between an AASL division conference and an ALA entire organization conference, you ask? Okay, maybe you didn’t ask, but is that any reason not to tell you? One difference is that the people who attend AASL are entirely library teachers while at ALA we get mixed in with all the other librarians. Both have their advantages.  Still it is great now and then to get together with a big bunch of people from all over the country who walk the same road in their daily work.

The other major difference, at least for me, is that AASL sessions all relate to my daily work while ALA is mainly meetings and planning sessions. I mean, I suppose someone could go to ALA and focus on library teacher related workshops and stuff, but by choice I work on various committees and this work involves much of the conference. So a lot of the ALA conference is about helping to run the organization, including the AASL division. On the other hand, at AASL conferences committee work is prohibited. Yes, not merely off the schedule; affirmatively disallowed!! So the whole conference is about working with students, handling resources, and other things connected to what I do in my work day to day. Both kinds of conferences serve valuable purposes and I am pleased for the opportunity to do both. Still there was something refreshing and invigorating about my first AASL conference and I expect this, my second, to have similar qualities.

As I look forward to AASL beginning later this week, I am planning to bring my laptop. So perhaps while I am there I will blog answers to a few more questions you didn’t ask – or if you like, did ask on the blog or the MSLA listserv.

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