NLA/MPLA Joint Conference

This dynamic preconference will equip library workers with the knowledge to confidently navigate some of the most challenging issues facing libraries, the skills and media training to communicate most effectively, and awareness of what successful library advocacy has looked like from those involved in the work.

The NLA Advocacy Committee needs to confirm speakers for this preconference if accepted, but we have a plan in mind and anticipate that we can provide four hours of content. This includes the following:

Policies in Practice – Navigating Requests for Reconsideration, What It Means for Libraries to be a Limited Public Forum, First Amendment Audits and How to Respond

Policies in Practice Workshop – Facilitated group workshop with attendees working together to review or create a library policy.

Media Training – How to communicate with the media, stay on message, etc.

Panel Discussion – Members from NLA Advocacy, MPLA, state senator or staff, elected officials. Moderated discussion on what has worked for them, how to communicate with elected officials, what people can do.

The rapid arrival and development of AI is having a profound effect on libraries, librarianship, and education. As libraries and librarians work to account for this new, disruptive, and powerful information technology, they need to take into their patrons, stakeholders, and organizational cultures. Join a diverse panel of librarians for a discussion of how guidance, policies, and the conversations surrounding AI are playing out in community college, public, and university libraries.

The role of libraries in today’s communities extends far beyond new construction. It includes the creative adaptation, renovation, and expansion of existing buildings to meet evolving user needs. Through adaptive reuse, strategic additions, and new facilities, libraries are embracing flexibility and innovation to remain vital civic anchors. This panel will examine multiple approaches to library design—transforming existing structures, expanding current spaces, and building new—highlighting how each can produce dynamic, sustainable, and inclusive environments.

Woodrow Wilson said that he used his brains and all that he could borrow. Following his insight on the power of collaborating, please help us discover solutions to library-life challenges. There will be mentoring as we help each other.
Got a conundrum to share in advance so it can be anonymized? Please provide as much information as you can to help us better understand it. You can send it to Elena Rosenfeld ([email protected]).

Many library professionals carry expertise that extends far beyond their institutional walls — and their communities often need exactly what they have to offer. This session explores how technical services librarians can apply professional collection skills in volunteer, consulting, and community settings, drawing on real experience working with public libraries, faith communities, and civic organizations across the region.
Presenters will share practical frameworks for approaching community collection work, including collection analysis and catalog assessment, layout and space consultation, development policy creation, and cataloging and processing for under-resourced collections. The session uses a congregational library project as an anchor case study — walking through building an online (and free) catalog, through collection analysis and withdrawal recommendations, to a formal collection development policy — while situating that work within a broader pattern of pro bono and consulting practice.
Attendees will leave with transferable tools and strategies for bringing their own expertise to the communities they serve, and with a clearer sense of the professional value that flows both ways.
Learning Outcomes — Attendees will be able to: • Understand the steps in building an online and free catalog •Apply collection assessment and development methodologies in small or under-resourced community library settings •Develop or adapt collection development policy frameworks for non-institutional contexts •Identify opportunities for pro bono and volunteer collection work within their own communities

When the Tyson Foods plant announced its closure in Lexington, NE, the Lexington Public Library was one of the first responders. By assessing Tyson workers' needs, the Library became a space not only for information, but a place to be heard and seen. Learn how the Library stepped up to the community's needs when a third of its population lost their jobs.

Join regular Hosts Jake and Mary in an IN PERSON version of our popular monthly web chat. The topic for this meeting will be a ‘potpourri’ which means we’ll be taking your questions about anything that’s impacting your library life. Bring your questions, thoughts and whimsies for an enjoyable hour of conversation and sharing.

Chew & Chat is a monthly web meeting where librarians from the MPLA region gather over lunch to discuss a topic. Topics are selected by attendees at the January meeting and listed in the MPLA newsletter. You can join us by visiting the MPLA website and clicking on the Calendar of Events. We’d love to see you.

Did you know that Nebraska has an OER action team?  We do!  Come to our panel discussion to learn about what we do, what plans we have, and how you can get involved!  We will introduce the Midwest Higher Education Compact (MHEC) and how our partnership with them benefits Higher Education in Nebraska.  In addition, we will discuss how we have implemented OER at our institutions (from just barely to quite a bit) and what is in store for the future.

AI use in libraries is pretty polarizing. What better way to consider an issue more fully than to hear from someone who loves it and someone who hates it?

Andy Hamilton, Head of Public Services (Luddite) and Shanachie Carroll, Regional Branch Manager (Tech Bro, but nice), both with the Mesa County Libraries in western Colorado, will discuss how and why they use (or don't use) AI tools in their workflow.

They'll ask and discuss thought-provoking and challenging questions about the pros, cons, successes, failures, pitfalls, and ethical quandaries they've experienced around AI usage. This session will be interactive, with participants asking and answering questions and sharing their own feelings as well.

After this session, participants will have a more balanced understanding of where AI may be appropriate or may not be appropriate, concerns to address in writing policies around AI, and in thoughtfully exploring the nuanced territory around the use of AI in libraries.

Public libraries and School libraries have the same goal: be an open and welcoming place for people to work, study, and just be. We are going to tell the story of a Public Youth Services Librarian (Justine Ridder) and a School Librarian (Dana Fontaine) came together to collaborate and make both spaces feel connected across the city.

Libraries are not run on thoughts and prayers. We also cannot buy materials with kindness and hugs. We are also so busy. I am going to speak about many types of fundraisers and put them into three categories: no effort, low effort, and all hands on deck. I have done many types of fundraisers and will showcase what I did, what was successful, what worked, what didn't and what kind of buy in you need with your community and your patrons.