MLA/DLACon2025

In a polarized society, how can libraries provide a home for civil discourse about important community issues? This hands-on workshop will give you the tools to host a focused civil conversation at your library: a Braver Angels debate. This format provides an easy, adaptable structure for digging into an important local or national issue with your community. The structure alternates speeches and questions using an impartial chair. This session will cover what a Braver Angels debate is, how to select a good topic for one, and how to identify a chair. Attendees will also participate in a Braver Angels debate.

With censorship attempts cresting at record levels, library teams maintain cohesion and communication through careful navigation. In this interactive workshop, participants will envision a challenge-ready team in their organization. Hands-on application of content in a provided copy of the ALA Editions workbook Prepared Libraries, Empowered Teams, will provide attendees with tools, resources, and actionable steps to tailor a team-centered challenge preparedness action plan to meet the needs of their library and community.

Are you looking to revitalize your Teen Services and better connect with the teens in your library? In this highly interactive and collaborative workshop, library staff will have the opportunity to share their struggles, wins, and solutions with their peers and learn skills for creating an equitable and engaging foundation for Teen Services. Based in connected learning and youth development, this training offers fresh perspectives and actionable plans for staff to implement in their library services right away. Your participation is a valuable part of this experience, and we encourage everyone to contribute as much as they feel comfortable.

Intellectual Freedom is one of the core values of the library profession and a basic right in our democratic society. It guarantees the rights of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment. These rights are being challenged at an unprecedented level in libraries of all kinds all across America. This three-hour workshop will include presentations and breakout sessions with hands-on exercises. Join us to learn about the spread of mis- and dis-information and the role library workers play in the fight. Gain strategies for standing up for our values during crisis conditions and organizing against attacks on libraries.

Presented by EveryLibrary, this program teaches you to leverage technology, channels, and messaging to connect with political, donor, and grant-making support. With non-political insights, participants will learn strategies to build lasting support for their library or organization beyond simply inviting use. Participants will gain the tools to differentiate audiences and craft impactful messages that resonate.

Get to know ALICE: Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed. While accounting for nearly 41% of the US population, this segment of our population is often underrepresented, unknown, and unheard. Through the use of a simulator exercise and small group discussions, attendees will experience the struggles of the ALICE population and participate in discussions focused on finding ways that libraries can provide assistance to these families. Attendees will also be introduced to data provided by the United Way that can be used to raise awareness of this group in their own libraries.