Reflections from ER&L Conference Amigos Scholarship Recipients

Amigos' sponsorship of the Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L) 18th Annual Conference provided free conference registration to staff from six libraries across the country – Nova Southeastern University Library, St. Mary's University, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, California State University, Los Angeles, East Texas Baptist University, and Salem College Library – access to e-resources management education.

To learn about the latest trends in electronic resources and to network with other librarians and information professionals, ER&L provided the option to join together in Austin, Texas, for the in-person March 2023 event or to hit the trails online at Camp ER&L Virtual Conference.

Recipients of the ER&L Scholarship sponsored by Amigos have shared some of their takeaways from the conference below. Overall, the individuals who attended the conference were very grateful for the opportunity and found it to be very informative and helpful.

Below are reflections and feedback from four Amigos scholarship recipients:

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"I enjoyed the ER&L conference this year, as it is consistently a very well-organized conference with a lot of top-notch content, and well thought out programs. I especially enjoyed learning more about how other libraries are tackling the practical considerations of open access, especially with "transformative agreements" and Subscribe to Open. Additionally, I was engaged by the Opening Keynote about AI and robotics, and it got me to thinking about the effects of these technologies on our profession. I appreciate AMIGOS for sponsoring my registration!"

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"I loved the keynote addresses at the beginning and end of the conference. Often keynote addresses are boring and forgettable but these stood out as informative and entertaining. Both provided food for thought and I'm still thinking about the issues they addressed, particularly the fuzzy dividing line between human and machine, that is only getting fuzzier as AI and robots become more important in our lives.

I have been working on diversity, equity, and inclusiveness for our collection and I tried to attend all the sessions on collection development, particularly those that addressed DEI issues. I'm considering how to adapt some of the techniques that others have used to evaluate and improve their collections with DEI in mind."

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"This is the first time I've ever been able to attend a conference that is geared specifically towards E-Resources. It was great to see how many sessions were applicable to my work. Part of my job also involves digital publishing, and there was less directly related to that topic (which was to be expected), but I still found some interesting sessions on transformative agreements and OA memberships that could prove valuable as I get more involved in this type of work. This was also the first time I've attended a virtual conference, rather than in person sessions, so it was a learning experience for me in separating my day-to-day work to truly allow myself to "attend" the conference. I also appreciate how supportive everyone was in all the sessions, asking thoughtful questions and providing supportive feedback and comments.

There were a few presentations in particular that I am planning on referencing in the near future, two related to onboarding new e-resources employees and one related to data privacy. We’re in the process of hiring an e-resources assistant that I will be supervising, so I'm hoping to make the onboarding process for them as smooth as possible. I also created a data privacy working group at our library to start working on a library (and possibly campus-wide) data privacy policy, so the information I learned at ER&L will be helpful."

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"As a first-time attendee as well as a recipient of in-person attendee awards sponsored by Amigos Library Services, it was such a great experience to attend the 2023 Camp ER&L. Since my current role in my institution is limited in specific areas of e-resource management, I always wanted to learn more about managing electronic resources. All sessions at ER&L were very informative, so I could learn a lot from the conference. It was amazing to see how ER&L brought so many information professionals having similar interest, but various expertise together and how they share their knowledge and strategies in e-resource management. ER&L provided a gateway helping people communicate and collaborate with each other. I felt so grateful to attend the conference and be part of the ER&L community this year. I hope to attend the ER&L conference every year and learn more about the management of electronic resources."