(via Sarah Sagmoen, University of Illinois Springfield)
As the co-chair of the 2017 ILA Conference planning committee, I want to personally invite you to submit a proposal for a conference session. As an academic librarian myself, I would love to see more academics represented at ILA. We do amazing work for our campuses and communities and have an important voice to share. I have found ILA to be an excellent opportunity to learn from our colleagues in public, school, and special libraries. It’s the perfect place to meet new people and talk about how we can work together to share the value of libraries more widely. I hope you’ll consider submitting a proposal and joining us at ILA 2017.
The formal “call for proposals” is below.
Libraries of all types foster diversity, engage community, and champion social justice. The 2017 ILA Conference, Rise Up, is a chance for us to come together and share our ideas to better our communities, our institutions, and ourselves. How are you making a difference? What are you doing to improve your library and uplift your patrons? Tell us about it. Illinois libraries of all sizes and types make big impacts on their unique communities. Our conference should represent diversity throughout our state and we especially encourage submissions from typically underrepresented perspectives.
Share your ideas by submitting a conference proposal. The ILA Annual Conference Program Committee is seeking programs addressing anything that makes you want to Rise Up, especially the following topics.
- community and campus engagement and wellness
- compassionate service
- internal and external leadership at all levels
- activism and social justice initiatives
- student success and achievement
- behind-the-scenes work that supports access and the patron experience
- assessment and data-driven decision-making
The deadline for submission is Friday, March 24. To learn more, and submit a proposal or proposal idea, go here.