The following letter of thanks was submitted by ILA Scholarship Award winner, Dan Gall, Coordinator of Library Instruction for Distance Education at the University of Iowa:

The conversations all went something like this…

Me: “I’ve only been in Iowa for about 10 weeks…”
ILA member: “Great! Welcome to Iowa!!”

Iowa has a reputation for friendly people and friendly ILA members were certainly the highlight of my day at the conference. From the new members’ breakfast through the evening reception, I was pleased, though not surprised, at the genuine warmth people showed me. And not just me – throughout the day I took time to notice what was going on around me and found busy librarians taking time to greet old friends, introduce new friends and make connections. Even during the afternoon hours spent volunteering at the registration desk – time when few were registering and anyone coming to the registration table was there because of a problem – people were consistently friendly. This was especially noteworthy to me because, being a new guy, I could only rarely help them with their problems.

I was also impressed with the breadth of the sessions, even though I was forced to make some hard choices. As a distance education librarian, do I focus on the sessions targeted to academic librarians or do I attend the sessions focused on the public libraries many of my distance education students are probably using? Do I focus on the new technology sessions that interest me or on sessions that might give me more background on libraries in Iowa? Tough choices - but a wonderful problem to have.

Regardless of the sessions, though, the ILA conference for me was a wonderful opportunity to meet my new colleagues in Iowa. Having talked with public and academic librarians and learned a bit more about Iowa, I’m happy to join you.

I give my thanks to the ILA/ACRL for the conference scholarship. I enjoyed meeting some of you at and after the business meeting on Thursday and hope to meet more of you over time.

Scholarship Provides Professional Experience for New Librarian

The following letter comes from scholarship recipient Sarah Frye of Vogel Library, Wartburg College

As a recipient of an ILA/ACRL scholarship, I had the opportunity to attend this year’s ILA Fall Conference [...] my first experience attending a professional conference. I was somewhat unsure of what to expect from the event; at the Opening General Session, I was pleased to find myself engrossed by Chris Crutcher’s vivid storytelling [...] I enjoyed Crutcher’s opening session so much that I hurried to find a seat at his concurrent session. Crutcher’s sessions helped me recognize that, as someone who has worked primarily within an academic setting, I have dealt with issues surrounding intellectual freedom much less frequently than my colleagues in school and public libraries. This reinforced my appreciation for academia and for writers who risk criticism and censorship in order to tell their stories.

After lunch, I attended Dr. James Elmborg’s session on “The Future of Library Education” and Sharman Bridges Smith’s session “Observations from Ground Zero: Lessons Learned from Katrina.” Elmborg’s message made me think about how new librarians and established librarians have much to learn from each other’s insight and experiences in the field[...]

At the ACRL Subdivision Business Meeting and later at the Banquet, I had the opportunity to meet many new colleagues from across the state. This diverse network of practicing librarians is perhaps the most valuable resource available to me as I am new to the profession and new to Iowa. Amongst all the unfamiliar faces, I have to say that I was surprised to bump into several classmates from Indiana University. (Go Hoosiers)!

On Friday, I attended both of Stephen Abram’s sessions: “Social Libraries: The 2.0 Phenomenon” and “Baby Busters, Gen X, and Born Digital Babies.” Abram, like Elmborg, addressed the importance of staying in touch with current trends within the field. I thought that Abram’s message was particularly powerful because I plan to work directly with college-aged students throughout my career. I can’t imagine the amount of change I will encounter between now and the time that I retire, but I realize that I will always have something new to learn!

Overall, I was pleased with the variety of topics covered in sessions at the conference. More importantly, I was pleased to meet so many librarians with the desire to continue learning within the profession. I think it is easy to allow yourself to explore new ideas and to stay well-informed of current library trends as a graduate student. It becomes more difficult, however, once you begin a career. Good librarians recognize this and commit themselves to the goal of professional development[...] I had a wonderful experience at the conference and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to attend.