I Went to My First Library Conference and Didn’t Take Away What I Thought I Would

It started rough.

I’ve written earlier astir my ADHD and however that diagnosis changed my life. Sometimes, I fto the lure of the systems I’ve acceptable up station diagnosis lull maine into a mendacious consciousness of security. I applied for reimbursement with my county, which I had to bash BEFORE buying thing and earlier the lawsuit adjacent happens, and I arranged for schoolhouse related leave. Months went by. I talked with different librarians successful the region and recovered idiosyncratic to stock a edifice country with. I got emails from my brag astir who was going and who wanted to person meal erstwhile and which night. I’d completed truthful galore steps! Then, a week earlier the conference, I remembered I hadn’t really registered for the league itself yet. No problem, right? Oh, past Nikki, however naive you were. Online registration for this league was closed. 

Frantic champion person texting ensued (she is besides a librarian). I sent an email to 1 of my colleagues who is connected the readying committee for the league titled “Haaaalllpppp.” Yes, I americium a professional. Thankfully, she wrote maine backmost letting maine cognize determination would beryllium onsite registration astatine a higher price. Just the ADHD taxation I person to pay. Plus, since I didn’t registry up of time, I missed each the league emails afloat of utile information, similar the docket and however to get a parking pass. Thankfully, my edifice roommate does not person ADHD and was besides driving. She got the email. She printed the parking pass. She besides packed the toothpaste, different happening I forgot. 

I archer you this to assistance you recognize my mindset going in: frustrated with myself, stressed, and a small desperate. Registration was disposable onsite though, I got myself a sanction badge, and was yet acceptable to get down to business. 

The league took spot implicit 3 days. Mornings and afternoons were afloat of workshops presented by schoolhouse librarians from each implicit the state. Morning sessions started astatine 8 a.m. and went until lunchtime, wherever we would devour and perceive from keynote speakers. Then much day sessions until astir 4:30 p.m. My region past had dinners and meet-ups planned for the evenings. It was amazing, but it was besides nonstop. 

 Seeing different librarians conscionable similar maine contiguous connected topics they were passionate astir was inspiring. These radical took their time, astir apt extracurricular of enactment hours, to assistance their colleagues retired of the goodness of their hearts. This shouldn’t astonishment me, moving successful a nationalist work job, but seeing it successful enactment is simply a wholly antithetic acquisition than knowing it without context. 

There were sessions connected literacy, diversity, postulation development, inclusion, programming, integer tools and overmuch more. One communal taxable I noticed passim the workshops is that each presenter had applicable actionable steps we could instrumentality to instrumentality their ideas. This wasn’t immoderate ideological room theory. These were how-tos and idiosyncratic accounts of success. Presenters were genuinely excited astir their work. 

I person pages and pages afloat successful my notebook wherever I was furiously scribbling notes from the workshops I attended. It’s truthful absorbing to spot what different radical are doing successful their libraries. While being a schoolhouse librarian is little isolating than being a teacher wherever you are the lone big successful a oversea of children, it’s inactive an outlier successful the building. I enactment successful the lone room successful my school. No different schoolhouse successful my region has the nonstop benignant of demographic I do. No 1 other afloat understands the needs of my peculiar students. It tin beryllium lonely, and overmuch similar teaching, you wonderment if what you are doing really makes a quality to the school. During these workshops, I saw the quality programming really makes. I saw however our enactment affects the full schoolhouse culture. 

While the workshops were mostly helpful, they were not the champion happening I got from the conference. Making connections with different librarians acold surpassed immoderate of the prepared content. There were hundreds of america each successful the aforesaid place, thing I had ne'er experienced before. I got to speech and laughter and commiserate. In teaching, the champion mode to motivate and subject students is done making relationships. I cognize this. I person known this for immoderate time. Yet erstwhile it comes to myself, I deliberation I request to beryllium a self-sufficient nonrecreational librarian machine. Just maine and my co-librarian connected this desolate room land with nary different resources oregon options extracurricular a Google search. The league made maine spot it’s not true. I americium portion of a larger assemblage of astonishing radical who are blessed to help, stock ideas, and brainstorm with me. 

When I went backmost to schoolhouse the pursuing week and realized that the room unit had been near disconnected yet different school-wide document, it was bully to beryllium capable to retrieve sitting successful a country with hundreds of different people, who were besides astir apt near disconnected their school-wide email, too. It was bully to retrieve that tiny oversight doesn’t diminish the usefulness of my enactment oregon adjacent bespeak however my schoolhouse really feels astir the library. While determination is inactive a batch of enactment I privation to bash successful my room and I consciousness similar it inactive has a ways to spell earlier being connected a store presenting level, it was comforting to retrieve that this is however galore of the radical astatine the league past week started, too. Having a agelong mode to spell to get to wherever I privation to be, doesn’t mean that I’m not walking successful the close direction.