MLA 2024 Conference

Joining is just the first step to getting the most value from your MLA membership. Learn from active MLA members and leaders how to get involved, make your voice heard, create what is missing and find your people. The panel will share what MLA is currently doing to ensure a member-driven organization, and share ideas about making MLA work for you.

MNLINK is one of the most powerful ways library collections are connected to one another in our region. With the adoption of a new interlibrary loan interface this past spring, we have the opportunity to create a better user experience and local library metadata practice is an important place to start. Join Minitex staff to learn more about how metadata works in MNLINK, how it powers search, request, and display functionality in the interlibrary loan system. We’ll discuss some of the annoying problems end users encounter when our metadata fails to deliver a good experience. Then we’ll propose some ways that libraries in the MNLINK network can improve and fix metadata problems. If you are a cataloger, public services staff or resource sharing library worker, join us with your questions or concerns, audience participation is welcomed!

Come learn from MLA's Legislative Leadership Team. We'll share a brief Minnesota civics lesson, discuss MN state law affecting to libraries (all things Chapter 134 and more!), preview of MLA's 2025 Legislative Priorities, and provide some election speculation.

Do you want to know what the 2024 award-winning books are all about before you read them? Are you looking to add award-winning titles to your collection but you want to spend your money wisely? Do you love hearing and talking about books? This session is for you! This session will walk you through the award winners and some honorees for 2024 including awards such as the following: Newbery, Caldecott, Theodore Seuss Geisel, Sibert, Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe, Odyssey, Pura Bel Pre, Sydney Taylor Asian/Pacific American, Printz, YALSA Non-fiction, Edwards Award, Stonewall, Maud Hart Lovelace, and Star of the North There will also be time for participants to share their favorite award winners from 2024 and beyond.

Many librarians are tasked with caring for their building in addition to running their library. Without the proper training and knowledge, this can be a daunting venture. In this session (also led by Jack Rol, Construction Manager with the Mayo Clinic) we will talk about the basic steps librarians can take to develop a plan for their building that will help track and identify issues early before they become costly emergencies.

The Minnesota Historical Society digitizes Minnesota’s newspapers and makes them available in the Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub. Learn more about the MNHS newspaper collection, digitization processes, how this work is supported, and what you can find in the digitized newspapers and in the Hub. Newspapers are a valuable resource for personal and family research, for students and teachers, and for local libraries, historical societies, businesses and more, documenting the people, places, events, and stories of a community over time.

How do we connect and engage with people so that we can advocate for our libraries? We tell our stories. How do we craft the best stories? There are some great ideas in the book, Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative and Visual, by Brent Dykes.

I will briefly discuss our consortium short course where we used this book, along with some of the key data storytelling concepts. Then participants will go through an exercise to get you thinking about what data you have and start sketching out your own data story.

At the end of this session, participants will understand key data storytelling concepts. Participants will apply these concepts to their situations and start creating their own data stories. The intended audience is anyone who wants to create more effective data stories in order to connect and engage with people and ultimately advocate for their library.

In an increasingly asynchronous world, libraries are faced with the challenge of offering service hours and access to library spaces in ways that meet their users' needs. One emerging solution is self service access, which extends service beyond regularly staffed hours. As a complement to traditional staffed hours, these new service models can be a valuable addition by offering patrons the opportunity to use their libraries when it best suits their schedules. In this session, four library systems in the Twin Cities Metro will share their experiences with self service building access solutions. By the end of this session, attendees will understand how these technologies can be implemented in different ways for various service models and communities. They will also discuss the broader impact on both frontline staff and library users in their diverse mix of urban, suburban, and rural communities.

How do you connect to your community when you have limited time and limited resources? (And don't we all!) If you're in greater Minnesota in a smaller community, it can be even more challenging to find those powerful partners. Our panel of library directors from the SELCO (Southeastern Minnesota) region are here to provide their insights into how they have partnered with community organizations, government entities, and local businesses to create connections that benefit their libraries financially and programmatically. What challenges have they faced, what successes are they the most proud of? The goal of this session is to help library staff find new ways to establish, refresh and sustain the community partners who can be powerful library advocates and partners. The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A session.