Academic librarians from around Iowa met at Drake University on May 28 and 29 for the annual joint meeting of the Iowa Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and Iowa Private Academic Libraries (IPAL). Seventy people attended the conference, and another 9 members attended virtually. The theme of this year’s conference was “Some Assembly Required.”
Attendees were welcomed by Hope Bibens (Drake University) Chair of the conference planning committee, Teri Koch (Drake University) Dean of Cowles Library, Provost Sue Mattison (Drake University), Jodie Morin (Buena Vista University) President of Iowa ACRL, and Eric Jennings (University of Northern Iowa) President of ILA. Lisa Martincik (University of Iowa) Chair of the Awards Committee, introduced Zane Collett, a student at the School of Library & Information Science at the University of Iowa, who is this year’s winner of the Mary Iber Spring Conference Scholarship.
During the conference, which concluded Thursday afternoon, members could participate in nine concurrent sessions, seven different interest group sessions, seven “lightning talks,” and dine-arounds held at area restaurants Wednesday evening. We were fortunate to welcome many members attending their first ILA/ACRL/IPAL conference and to recognize Cyd Dyer (Simpson College) who was attending her 48th spring conference on the eve of her retirement.
Next year’s conference will be held at Wartburg College in Waverly. A new conference planning committee will be convening soon to begin work on our 2026 conference. Watch the ACRL listserv for more details!
Thank you to our presenters, everyone on the conference planning committee, Cowles Library and Drake University for a very successful conference!
Last Updated on June 18, 2025 by ECC ILA/ACRL