Heeding the Call: Centering Academic Libraries at the ILA 2024 Annual Conference
March 20, 2024
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by Dan Matthews, Moraine Valley Community College
IACRL Past President
In recent years, IACRL members have been asking for more academic programming at the ILA Annual Conference. But to expand our offerings and build on the excellent presentations of years past, we need members to submit proposals.
There is so much incredible work happening in Illinois libraries that is worth sharing. We have seen serious expansion in the area of Open Educational Resources, nuanced and important conversations about artificial intelligence–both as a tool and an instruction session topic–and I’m sure there are many other ideas and projects worth sharing with each other, so I would like to take an opportunity to encourage our members to submit proposals for ILA 2024, whose theme is “Libraries are Lit: Sparking Innovation and Imagination.” The deadline for submissions is April 5, 2024.
Submitting a proposal can be intimidating for a number of reasons, but I want to assure you that whatever you are doing in your libraries and in your classrooms is worth sharing and will provide essential conversations and connections with our colleagues around the state. The point of our conference is to get connected and get inspired, and we are the ones that can make that happen. I hope you will share your valuable knowledge and experience at ILA this year.
ILA has curated a number of helpful resources to guide applicants through the submission process. I’ve linked them below, and also want to offer to share any personal insights into presenting at the ILA Annual Conference that I can. Please don’t hesitate to reach out: matthewsd29@morainevalley.edu.
Here are the links related to submitting a proposal:
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