MLA/DLACon2025

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.

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.

Join us for three mini-presentations on libraries as mental health hubs, culinary programming, and workplace efficiency.
1) Public Libraries as Mental Hubs for Local Communities (Through their resources and existence as public spaces, public libraries can mitigate issues like isolation and loneliness.) - Reshma Khan
2) No Library Kitchen, No Problem: A Culinary Programming Partnership (Learn how Pratt Library is building a mutually beneficial partnership with experts that know best when it comes to food safety and education.) - Allie Smith
3) Utilizing Digital Resources for Workplace Efficiency (Approach common library roadblocks with new, innovative resources and tools that aid in workflow automation.) - Daniel Dennies

AutismFriendlyShows.com and Turtle Dance Music will present a fantastic, interactive musical Autism-Friendly Professional Development for librarians, administrators, teachers and parents. The presenter will demonstrate low-costing instruments, sensory-fidgets, and technology for librarians to share in their programming. This hands-on workshop will cover topics ranging from trends in libraries for sensory-storytime and autism-friendly programming, hands-on demonstrations for potential user-friendly activities in your library, promotional suggestions for wording of fliers, managing meltdowns, following the children's strengths and a whole range of practical topics related to autism and early childhood development that will also be covered. Librarians will benefit from the engaging materials, hands-on activities and abundance of take-home materials.

Libraries can play a vital role in the privacy journeys of our patrons, but teaching privacy in an approachable way can be difficult! As library workers, we can incorporate privacy lessons into our programming in a way that recognizes both the comfort levels and tech literacy levels of our learners. Using Library Freedom Project's approach of teaching through a lens of optimism and harm reduction, Tess Wilson will share practical ways to teach our communities about online privacy, the risks involved with sharing personal data, and more. Attendees will learn good practices and techniques for teaching privacy, and leave with several bite-sized lessons--adaptable for a range of ages and audiences--to take back to their institutions.

“Fostering an Inclusive Workplace for Staff with Intellectual/Developmental
Disabilities" will equip participants with practical knowledge and tools to create a
supportive environment for colleagues with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Participants will explore effective communication strategies, inclusive practices, and
resources to enhance collaboration and understanding. This workshop will emphasize
the importance of diversity in the workplace and provide actionable steps for fostering
an atmosphere where all staff can thrive. Join us to learn how to cultivate a more
inclusive library community that celebrates everyone's contributions.

In this presentation you will learn how to weed your collection so both you and your patrons can find the materials you are looking for. Easier searching, cleaner library shelves, a more current collection and most importantly, no more grubby books!

Presenters will share their experiences, including goals, partnerships, challenges, and successes, in planning Banned Books Week programming in an academic library setting. First, we will discuss the significance of our programming in the contexts of the history of Banned Books Week and of the current cultural climate. Then, we will explain how we collaborated with various individuals and groups to promote student engagement. Finally, we will reflect on what we learned and share strategies for other academic libraries to adopt for local implementation.

The panel will share their experiences of planning, the implementation process, their success and the obstacles they faced while putting these programs into place.