Written By: Laura Dowell
Edited By: Adina Vega
A view of the University of Rhode Island‘s campus.
This was my first time at a library conference, and it did not disappoint! The Special Libraries Association (SLA) 2024 annual conference was held on the University of Rhode Island campus and provided me with my first experience in the dorms. I arrived on campus and met my suitemates, who were delightful and welcoming. I was the last to arrive, and we walked down to the welcome dinner in one of the newer buildings on campus. The University of Rhode Island campus was green and spacious, with a mix of older stone buildings and modern structures for classes, dorms, and student activities. Daily short walks between the exhibit halls and dining locations balanced the overall experience.
It was a great honor to represent SJSU by participating in my first panel discussion titled “What Library and Information Science Students Learn Today” alongside Julie Maekask and Amanda Crego-Emley. Our panel took place on the morning of the first full day of the conference, for which I was grateful as it spared me the lingering anticipation of presenting throughout most of the conference. This panel was probably one of the most attended small room panels, as people were sitting on the floor and in the back. I received many thought-provoking questions from the audience and got to hear the perspective and experience of what current hiring positions are looking for from recent graduates and applicants. One interesting thing of note was the surprise from the audience members that a specific reference class is not required at any of the MLIS schools presenting on the panel. San Jose State University was the only school with an applied research methods class as a required class.
Standing with the presenting SLA Student panel.
The conference centered around the theme of AI, featuring numerous presentations and speakers who discussed the impact and correlation of their specialized libraries to this theme (see complete list here). One of the unique activities of the conference was an AI Chatbot from recorded transcripts of all of the presentations created by the keynote speaker, Brain Pichman. This platform’s beta version will be available for around three months, enabling users to explore and learn about presentations they were interested in but unable to attend. It is not flawless despite my exploration of it, similar to other AI technologies. Nevertheless, it does provide users with a brief overview of the SLA panels’ features.
The chance to participate in this conference provided me with the opportunity to establish connections for the SJSU SLA student chapter, as well as to distribute information and share my knowledge with other members. I met many military, law, corporate, astronomy, and academic librarians eager to share their knowledge and welcome the many students in attendance. There was global representation, with librarians from the UK, India, and Canada in attendance, which provided a global perspective on how collection development is done globally. In addition to the chance to establish professional connections after graduating and explore the various special library prospects within this community. This experience has reignited my desire to strengthen the connection with SLA and SLASC by considering joining the Student and New Information Professionals (SNIPS). This holds particular significance given the knowledge that SJSU is presently the only SLA student chapter in the United States.
Discussing what makes SLASC such an excellent student chapter.
The conference ended with a really fun dance party that allowed me to teach other librarians how to do the cupid shuffle and a belly full of laughs. I am so glad I went, even though returning home to the reality of work and my upcoming ePort was hard. I am grateful for all the funding that made this possible, the SLASC for allowing me to represent them, and all the wonderful work and opportunities we have at SJSU.
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