Pitch a Program - Lake Superior Library Symposium

 

Submit a Breakout Session Proposal for LSLS 2024! DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 5!  “Persevere: Carrying On Our Mission”   The organizers of the Lake Superior Libraries Symposium (LSLS) invite breakout session proposals for our 12th annual conference to be held on Friday, June 7, 2024, at University of Minnesota - Duluth.   This year’s theme, “Persevere: Carrying on Our Mission,” invites attendees to share and strategize on some of the difficulties facing our profession amidst increased financial and societal pressures, new technologies, and a polarized political environment that targets libraries. How do we stay true to the Library Bill of Rights and other core beliefs of the profession? How do you ensure that you are serving differing perspectives of your community? We want to know how you and your colleagues are persevering through these challenges. Possible presentation topics include, but are not limited to, the following: reproductive, gender, and sexuality information patron privacy fighting against censorship and book challenges preventing burnout (staffing shortages, budget shortfalls/stagnation, price increases) avoiding mission creep/defining and living mission and vision emerging technologies, i.e. AI building support for libraries within our communities advocating for ourselves and our patrons Successful breakout session presentations will be applicable to many types of libraries and showcase effective and innovative practices. 60-minute breakout sessions should include 10-15 minutes of question and answer. Panel presentations, particularly those representing a diversity of library types, sizes, and/or locations, are strongly encouraged. All presenters will receive a discounted registration rate of $25. Breakout session presenters should submit proposals at https://forms.gle/2QLmjyqa4PVZysAE9. The CFP submission deadline is Friday, April 5. Presenters will be notified of acceptance in mid April.     LSLS allows library staff to share their expertise, learn from their colleagues, and network to develop a stronger community of information professionals. Staff from all types of libraries are encouraged to attend. The event is organized and supported by library staff and educators from Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin; for a full list of our supporters, see http://lakesuperiorlibrariessymposium.com/about/supporters/.   For questions about proposals and submissions, please contact Julie Rustad at jrustad@css.edu. A complete listing of speakers, agenda, and costs will be released in late April.   Click here to submit your proposal!

Lake Superior Libraries Unsypmosium

The Lake Superior Libraries group has been holding marvelous January and June nulti-type library conferences for libraries in states/countries that border Lake Superior (MI, MN, WI, Canada). These are truly superior conferences with solid content usually held in the Duluth/Superior areas. This year, they go virtual for their half-day January Unsymposium and everyone throughout our state is invited! 

The ninth annual Lake Superior Libraries Unsymposium is going virtual this year! Mark your calendars for Friday, January 8, 2021 and plan to join us for an afternoon of conversation, collaboration, and connection--from wherever you are!

Although we can’t meet in person for our 2021 Unsymposium, we’ll stick to the “unconference” format and use the online meeting platform Unhangout to brainstorm and vote on discussion topics before breaking out into small groups for discussion. We want you to ask questions, interact with other participants, and offer expertise drawn from your own experiences. Rather than listening to a single speaker, you determine the conversation!

Plan to join us January 8, 2021 for our virtual Unsymposium for invigorating discussion with other library folks and be prepared to take that enthusiasm back to your library! Registration is open now!  Sign up for our mailing list, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, or visit our website for updates.

CALL Conference Rescheduled to April 15, 2019

The C.A.L.L. (Conference About Libraries & Learning) conference, a multi-type conference co-sponsored by the La Crosse School District, UW-La Crosse Murphy Library and La Crosse Public Library has been re-scheduled for Monday April 15. Despite the polar vortex's determination to whirl away this scrappy little conference, organizers were able to re-book all the speakers and find a more spring-like date!

This year's theme and focus:

"Service runs through a librarian’s work day. We know it from day one going in to the field. We expect to be tired at the end of a day, week, program, or semester. Patrons, students, community members or administration turn to us for answers, help, expertise, reassurance, and a friendly smile.

So let’s talk about burnout. What do we do when we have barely anything left to give, when we’re at the end of the rope, when we feel emotionally drawn and the tanks of compassion are running on empty? Is there any space in our work lives to recognize that sometimes we feel unprepared for the realities of managing and regulating the requirements of emotional labor of librarianship? Let’s talk about it."

To register and read more about the conference, please stop here.

Call for Proposals Lake Superior Library Symposium

This great multitype library conference is small but mighty. Held in the Duluth Superior area, it welcomes presenters and attendees especially from the northern parts of WI, MN and MI and the southern part of Canada. It's an amazing opportunity to share collaborations with colleagues across library types. This year's conference will be held Friday June 7 in Superior at Lake Superior College. I've been attending the past 5-6 years and have learned a ton and met some great people outside the youth services and public library spheres.

The call for proposals is open until March 15. This year's theme is Sea Changes in Libraries.

I have long felt that we youth services staffers have a ton of skills to share with colleagues who serve other ages and in other types of libraries - project management; creating balance in programs and services; mad, gentle people wrangling skills; massive partnership chops - and an unerring ability to learn and grow by sharing our knowledge, ideas, sorrows and joys with each other. These skills and talents make for great presentations to share with others...kind of "how I run my librarianship good."

Please consider doing a proposal and attending. It is so worth it, not least to get out of youth services box!

Let's Not Burn-out! CALL Conference Registration Open

Thursday, January 31, 2019

It is our distinct pleasure to invite you to the third Conference About Libraries & Learning (C.A.L.L.). The conference is a collaboration between UW-La Crosse Murphy Library, the School District of La Crosse & La Crosse Public Library and will take place on the UW-La Crosse campus on Thursday, January 31, 2019. Librarians from all types of libraries (school, public, academic, special, etc.) are welcome to attend.

Register here to attend the C.A.L.L. conference on Jan. 31, 2019

• Cost to attend is $50.00 per person plus Eventbrite service fee
• The conference will take place in room 3310 of the UWL Student Union (campus map)
• Light breakfast and hot lunch is included in the cost of attendance
• For questions regarding the C.A.L.L. conference, registration, parking, or any other campus access issues please contact Liz Humrickhouse at ehumrickhouse@uwlax.edu

Service runs through a librarian’s work day. We know it from day one going in to the field. We expect to be tired at the end of a day, week, program, or semester. Patrons, students, community members or administration turn to us for answers, help, expertise, reassurance, and a friendly smile.

So let’s talk about burnout. What do we do when we have barely anything left to give, when we’re at the end of the rope, when we feel emotionally drawn and the tanks of compassion are running on empty? Is there any space in our work lives to recognize that sometimes we feel unprepared for the realities of managing and regulating the requirements of emotional labor of librarianship? Let’s talk about it.

For this year’s C.A.L.L. conference, we are going to explore ideas and techniques, both urgent on-the-spot, and intentional techniques to cultivate when time allows.

We are excited to invite presenters on the following topics of interest that may include, but are not limited to:

• Techniques to combat compassion fatigue in the workplace
• How to emotionally support one another professionally
• Techniques to de-escalate emotionally charged interactions:  librarian to patron and colleague to colleague
• Workplace practices to nurture self-care

Registration Open for Lake Superior Library Symposium!

The amazing Lake Superior Libraries Symposium is a great one day (or two day if you come to the Thursday afternoon pre-conference) opportunity to learn and network with WI, MI and MN librarians.

Always located in Duluth, this year's conference, on Friday June 8, features an incredible keynote by Rebecca McCorkindale, developer of the Libraries are for Everyone graphics and lively sessions by librarians representing all types of libraries, positions, and staff levels. The schedule is here.

The Thursday afternoon pre-conference features Mark Holman, director of the Sitting Bul College Library on the Standing Rock Reservation, the site of recent Dakato Access Pipeline protests. He will explore the library's experiences and foster a discussion about the best course for libraries to navigate as they become both willing and u willing participants in fractious events.

To register ($25 for pre-conference; $55 for conference), stop here