MLA/DLACon2025

“The Library is For Everyone: Engaging Adults With Intellectual/Developmental
Disabilities (IDD)” is dedicated to engaging patrons with intellectual
and/or developmental disabilities through a holistic approach. This program will include
inclusive strategies that foster social interaction, lifelong learning, and community
integration. Attendees will explore methods for creating accessible programming,
sensory-friendly environments, and leveraging partnerships with local organizations.
Together, we can build supportive spaces that celebrate diversity and enhance the lives
of all patrons.

The educational waters can appear choppy with much to navigate for student success: early literacy and school readiness, emergent readers and literacy instruction, college and career readiness, and equitable, inclusive access to resources and materials for all our students of all abilities. How to tread these waters? In this session, LaShawn Myles, Carrie Sanders, and Kim Cowles share about statewide educational resources and services available to public libraries. Attendees will also hear how the Maryland State Library Agency and the Maryland State Department of Education are fostering school-public library collaboration in all communities to support youth learning and family engagement.

Join manga translator Amber Tamosaitis in a discussion of all things manga! We’ll discuss the process of bringing manga over, how various content and cultural considerations, the value of manga across readers demographics, and some ideas when integrating it into a library’s collection and programming!

Efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in libraries have been on the rise in recent years, however many staff and community members in the queer community tell us there is still work to do. Join representatives of the LGBTQ+ Interest group for a panel discussion to reflect on methods to move beyond discussion and into action, building on trainings to make concrete change in our organizations.

Interlibrary Loan brings together resources for people all over the globe, however, not all libraries conduct resource sharing in the same way. Join us for a resource sharing conversation where we can learn about one another’s ILL practices and how we can improve on the services we provide.
Attendees will learn about one another’s daily processes and best practices, as well as how Maryland’s Public Library Systems share materials across the state. Pratt staff from the MILO department will share Pratt’s practices for interlibrary loan across both Marina and OCLC PRA-14217474 and answer questions about interlibrary loan from attendees.

Middle grade novels exploring relationships between tweens and their adults are critical for addressing intergenerational patterns and showing children finding their own, healthy path forward. These stories create a gateway into difficult conversations and create community within various library patron populations. In this panel, four award-winning authors will present recent books that address themes of mental health stigma, drug addiction, systemic racism, generational trauma, and bodily autonomy, lead a conversation on library programming to open up intergenerational conversations, and provide reading lists, model display and book club ideas, and activities and community partnership ideas to facilitate family conversations.