Amigos Scholarship Recipients Share Reflections from ER&L Conference 2024

One of the Goals and Strategies in the Amigos Strategic Plan to 2025 is to focus on Libraries and Library Staff by supporting and promoting member libraries and the growth and development of library staff.

Through sponsoring the 2024 Amigos Library Services Professional Development Award, Amigos provided free conference registration to staff from four libraries across the country for the Camp Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L) 2024 Conference.

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 in Austin, Texas, for the in-person March 2024 event or to hit the trails online at Camp ER&L Virtual Conference.

Meghan Phillips, Electronic Resources Librarian at Mid-Continent Public Library, had this to say about the conference:

"I want to thank Amigos once again for granting me the opportunity to participate in the ER&L Conference. As someone who is still relatively new to this role, I am very eager to learn. It was very comforting to hear from libraries across the country who were experiencing struggles similar to mine and to learn from them. I was able to gain new insight into solutions that I hadn’t considered. I greatly enjoyed the presentations on organizing information for improved user experience, improving invoices and workflow, and the implications of artificial intelligence in the library world."

Jackie Blanton-Watkins, Associate Professor of Library Science at Kennesaw State University Libraries shared that as a first-time ER&L and first-time national conference attendee, what stood out to her was the intense focus on the kind of work she does. Jackie shared, "I had too many things I was interested in seeing. People are doing some really neat things at their libraries, and some are doing things I have been considering or have started thinking about. It's gotten me to start working on those things again and generate new ideas, so it was great for inspiration."

Chris Martin, Head of Access Services and Interim Assessment Coordinator at Loyola University Chicago Libraries, was glad to learn more about AI. He said, "What was most valuable was hearing about the approaches that libraries and vendors are taking with regard to AI. Our library has started some ‘AI literacy’ planning but still wants to do more, and we have questions about vendor-led AI efforts, particularly for our major projects (e.g. Alma/Primo) ... Also, getting perspectives from others in the areas of collection assessment and data gathering examples from libraries. I learned a great deal, and I am super grateful to have had the opportunity to attend. Thank you so much!"