Attending the MLA conference this year in Milwaukee was a highly rewarding experience! I am grateful for the opportunity to go, as I was able to see a new city, see what\u2019s changing in librarianship, make friends, and gain inspiration for new and continued library-related projects back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Milwaukee is a wonderful city with lakeside views and even multiple beaches. The art museum is absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring. The days were cold but sunny, and there were late-night thunderstorms which helped me fall asleep. There was a lovely mini mart near my hotel with helpful essentials like coffee and ice cream, and I found a pizza-by-the-slice place within walking distance as well (all very important).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year at MLA, a key overall difference that I noticed was the variety of discussions on the use, ethics, and direction of AI in library and information science. I noticed that this year, presenters had tangible data and assessments on AI performance that I hadn\u2019t seen in previous years, and so there was really a lot to say. Also, the audience\u2019s perspectives on AI usage were refreshingly varied. Some shared positive experiences, others pointed out specific flaws. Checklists, data visualizations, and rubrics were presented as ways of measuring and evaluating AI performance. Q&A sessions that followed were engaging. This trend toward variety was informed and based on experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another key moment at MLA this year was that Shannon Jones led the Janet Doe lecture, and was the third black woman in MLA\u2019s history to do so. Shannon\u2019s inspirational accomplishments in librarianship and sense of humor made her lecture memorable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for my personal highlights! I am most proud of leading an immersion session with two co-facilitators on creating and editing tutorial videos. This was a major accomplishment. We practiced and prepared for months! In our session, we had a full house of attendees who participated in our activities and asked great questions. Afterward I felt energized, buzzing with ideas like providing more in-depth video editing instruction online and maybe a longer video editing in-person instruction session. I\u2019m grateful for the feedback I received and for the opportunity to contribute to librarianship at MLA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlights stemmed from some key unexpected moments:
– While searching for the EBP caucus during the caucus meetup lunch session, I ended up at a totally different table and talked with the director of a cancer center instead. Because our work was different, we were able to provide refreshing perspectives on each other\u2019s contributions to librarianship. I was touched to hear her say that flexibility is a strong asset in the field, and I fear that for better or for worse, that will stick with me (sorry for folks who may be more detail-oriented!). I\u2019m grateful that at MLA, directors and early-career librarians like myself can sit at the same tables and talk.
– I spontaneously left the poster session early to talk with a new friend over empanadas: we both go on rounds, but she goes with multiple different groups, while I go with one group and am looking to grow. We talked about instruction sessions in clinical spaces and developing a medical knowledge base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had two additional presentations at MLA this year, first on a collaborative project evaluating the AI tool Elicit, and second on an instruction session for medical students on one of their rotations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was grouped with a clinical collaborations group for the AI evaluation project which surprised me initially. But after listening to the other speakers, I appreciated that what made our project unique was its collaboration aspect. Also, seeing the other accomplishments of clinical support shared in the session, workshops and embedded research groups, encouraged me to consider new ways of collaborating with clinicians. Particularly now that the AI evaluation project is coming to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My second presentation about embedded instruction for students on rotation was key to my friendship development at MLA! Many other librarians in attendance also go on rounds at their institutions. And since many of us are the only rounding librarian at our respective institutions, it was cathartic to have a space to ask questions we\u2019d been holding onto for what\u2019s felt like too long: Who has gotten access to the electronic health record? Who is developing new connections with clinicians? How do you address clinical questions that come up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then after a few days of hard work, we partied! I was able to hop from the EBSCO private night-at-the-museum tour to Ovid\u2019s swanky rooftop dance party. It\u2019s fun to relax and enjoy being in a new place. There were also a few moments of synchronicity: first I wandered into the historical center on free admission day, and then later bumped into some colleagues at the Milwaukee airport for some final reflection before heading back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, the ability to attend and contribute to a conference like this reassures me that I belong in library and information science. I wish the same opportunity for my colleagues and look forward to connecting more and more. I am excited for next year\u2019s conference in Denver!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wanted to designate a spot for acknowledging the support I\u2019ve had over the past year. I am very grateful for the collaboration and contributions of Jessica Koos, Emily Espanol, and Sunny Chung in preparing the immersion session. My supervisor, Lynn Kysh, has provided amazing mentorship and guidance which helped me feel like three presentations could be doable. Lynn also led the collaborative project on evaluating Elicit, and I appreciate her leadership. I also am extremely grateful to the NCNMLG for sponsoring my trip to Milwaukee and making this all possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Submitted by Sadie Davenport, Health Sciences Librarian, University of California, Davis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attending the MLA conference this year in Milwaukee was a highly rewarding experience! I am grateful for the opportunity to go, as I was able to see a new city, see what\u2019s changing in librarianship, make friends, and gain inspiration for new and continued library-related projects back home. Milwaukee is a wonderful city with lakeside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5407"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5409,"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5407\/revisions\/5409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnmlg.mlanet.org\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}