Thanks to Nick Andrews, the library director in Elmwood, for this guest post about his experience at the WLA Conference.  Nick received a scholarship from IFLS (with funding from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the Institute of Museum and Library Services)

My first WLA Annual Conference gave me new ideas, new connections, and new context for libraries and librarianship. I plan to return again, and I’m excited to share out what I learned. In addition to new programming ideas and useful background information, just being surrounded by library professionals and library school students was energizing. People were excited about libraries and the differences we can make! People were excited to learn, and to share their experiences. My library is [very] small, so that collaborative energy is something I don’t get on a daily basis at work, and can’t be replicated through webinars.

Four talks led directly to new programming ideas for Elmwood library. I’m coordinating with another rural library to bring in Badger Talks speakers throughout 2025, bringing high-quality researchers from UW-Madison to our area at no cost. I will be creating Memory Care Kits over the course of this year to give folks experiencing memory loss and their caretakers to interact meaningfully even through challenging changes. I’m going to bring my local teachers to the CCBC in Madison for a “field trip” to get a tour and book recommendations for their students. And I’m creating some fun “is this real or fake news” challenges for teens based on PBS’s fact checking presentation and resources.

Not every session led to new programming, of course – presentations were varied in their target and scope, and many weren’t even primarily focused on public libraries. I did walk away with useful information about a variety of topics that will make me a better librarian! I know much more about the logistics of digital archiving projects; the time and equipment investments were different than I anticipated, and there are a lot of free tools available, especially for small communities and collections. Generative AI seems to change the landscape every day and a half, so it was great to hear about how it impacts libraries now and how it is likely to impact us moving forward. Learning about the research required to document Indigenous voices throughout Wisconsin history was insightful. Hearing from DPI about what our Annual Reports make possible in terms of data analysis, and what is changing, put the Annual Report into context for me and will help me talk about it to my Board, my municipal leaders, and other stakeholders.

I am a happier, more motivated, and better educated librarian because of WLA. Strongly recommended!