Monday, August 29, 2022

MN Library Association Opportunities: Student Round Table and Annual Conference

 Student Round Table Call for Nominations


The Student Round Table is looking for new leadership team members for the 2022-23 school year! The Student Round Table is for any student interested in building connections and working with other students in a professional setting before graduating with their library and information science degree. Leadership is open to any students of any library and information science-related programs, as long as the student is a member of the Minnesota Library Association.


For any questions, please contact Megan Demeuse at mrdemeuse786@stkate.edu.


MLA 2022 Conference Update

The Minnesota Library Association (MLA)  is proud to announce the speaker lineup for the 2022 Annual Conference to be held October 27 & 28 in Duluth, MN. The conference theme is “Emerging Opportunities” and is planned to feature keynote speakers and featured speakers that will be well known to Minnesotans and library staff from around the state.


The Thursday lunch keynote is slated to be intellectual freedom champion Reanna Esmail of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Esmail’s talk is to be titled “Intellectual Freedom, Privacy Rights, and the Critical Practice of Librarianship'' and aims to bring nuance to questions related to surveillance capitalism, big data, and censorship, while also exploring ways for library workers to promote privacy rights, digital literacy, and intellectual freedom in their critical praxis. Esmail is a noted national speaker on such topics, a frequent contributor to the Intellectual Freedom Blog, and active with the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom.


Friday’s lunch keynote is to be Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page. Justice Page will engage in an open conversation with MLA President Steve Harsin about his career, challenges we face in the modern environment, his career writing children’s books, and the Page Foundation. As a Minnesota hero, Justice Page has a unique perspective on a wide range of issues of interest to libraries of all types.


Featured speakers are to include Laura Erickson, one of the best known ornithologists in America, who is to participate in a panel to address work done at the College of St. Scholastica on their Catalogue of Birds. Also, State Librarian Tamara Lee and Head of Minitex Maggie Snow will address their accomplishments of the past year, the results of a state-wide survey they conducted, as well as their vision for Minnesota libraries. Representatives from SELCO will address a major region-wide community assessment conducted in the SE region of Minnesota. And Scott Libin, with a 20 year career in journalism as a reporter, anchor and producer, including 8 years at Twin Cities Public Television is to address “What do the Ancient Greeks, Pyramids and Toyota Minivans have to do with good communication?” The session is about what you need to do to develop a speech where your message will be heard.


Numerous other sessions will be presented by library staff from around the state. The two-day conference will be hosted at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.  Besides the conference sessions, there will be a silent auction fundraiser for the Minnesota Library Foundation, an event at Glensheen Mansion, an annual business meeting, exhibit hall, award ceremonies and other related activities.


The 2022 event marks a return to an in-person conference after two years as a virtual conference during the pandemic. Early bird registration rates are in effect through 11:59pm on August 31, with regular rates thereafter.


Conference registration can be found at the MLA website. https://www.mnlibraryassociation.org/page/2022Conference 



Event Details:

Date: Friday, October 7

Time: 8:30am-12:00pm


Registration will happen in early September; watch for an update!

CYP Unconference: October 7

Join CYP and fellow Minnesota youth librarians for a morning of learning and growth at this year’s Unconference! The Unconference will uplift LGBTQIA stories and experiences, and we’ll learn more about how to make our colleagues and patrons feel safe and welcomed.

We will begin with a presentation by Archie Bongiovanni, a local author whose works include the graphic novel A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns. This will be followed by panel discussions regarding LGBTQIA programming and resources, which will feature local librarians and guest outreach librarian Becky Hass from Annapolis, MD.