Conference Time...

Through my current employer and with my student discount, I was able to attend the 2010 Joint Meeting of the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona (MLGSCA) and the Northern California and Nevada Medical Library Group (NCNMLG). I am incredibly lucky that this conference was held locally because I would have missed out if it had been in San Francisco or Las Vegas. Through this conference, I was able to learn more about the profession and about myself as a future librarian. It was an amazing opportunity to meet and speak with profesional librarians, to see and hear presentations from an interesting array of library professionals, and to mix and mingle with a variety of vendors and exhibitors.

While this conference was specific to those with an interest in medical libraries, it was a great learning experience for a student interested in any branch of our field. The obvious advantage to attending any library conference is that one can see how they work – meaning, what is the format, what is a poster presentation, and what exactly happens at an association’s business meeting? By seeing how the conference works, I am better prepared to speak to a future employer about why it is important for librarians to attend and why conference registration fees should be included in the budget.

One excellent feature of this conference was the lunch-time Round Table Discussions. Each participant was in a group that was given a specific topic to discuss; my topic was “Marketing Your Library”. It was great to hear what librarians have done to market their libraries in both academic and hospital settings. In many instances, librarians are working in small groups or alone and without these conference opportunites, many librarians may not know what kind of tools and resources are available. In my current position as a Library Assistant at a hospital library, typically, I am at the library alone. The librarian only works part-time and we have conflicting schedules. By attending this conference and the discussion, I was able to learn about where to apply for grants and about free resources available to my library.

This conference was also a way for me to see that new graduates can get great jobs. One of my fears is that I will not have enough experience to get a job that I really want when I graduate. I am very afraid of settling for the wrong job. However, at this conference, I saw presentations from librarians that have only been out of school for two years or less. It was very comforting to know that even new library school grads can find jobs.

Overall, this was a wonderful experience to hear about the hot topics in medical libraries and to meet future employers and current peers. It is unfortunate that budget cuts have greatly affected how many people can attend conferences, but now I know how important and helpful conferences can be. Perhaps the most important thing I learned from attending is that conferences are worth the money and conference fees should rarely be cut from library budgets. Attending this conference was a great opportunity for a new librarian and one I hope more students can experience.