Several Illinois academic and research librarians were included in AL Direct‘s coverage of the ALA 2017 Annual Conference. Veronda Pitchford, Director of Membership Development and Resource Sharing at the Reaching Across Illinois Library System, was mentioned in the article Top Tech Trends: Advice for Makerspaces. Pitchford was part of the LITA Top Technology Trends Panel, and she discussed those conclusions specific to resource sharing that the group had reached in its annual report. (Even though she was not mentioned in the article, Margaret Heller, Digital Services Librarian at Loyola University Chicago, moderated the discussion.)
Also, Sarah Hill, Information Services Librarian at Lakeland College, was mentioned in the article Getting Teens Real Ready for the Future. Hill gave the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) President’s Program, which included an overview of her yearlong initiative as President, “Real Teens, Real Ready”. The initiative focused on innovative library programs that help meet the specific needs–academic and personal–of young adults, and examples included programs from Chicago and Skokie.