American Library Assoc. (ALA) LibLearnX in Baltimore, MD January 2024

[hmaria1609]

On the old fora, we had a dedicated library section to discuss all things in the library stacks.

In January 2024, the American Library Assoc. (ALA)'s LibLearnX (formerly Midwinter) will be in Baltimore, MD. Conference registration is now open. Anyone here know of librarian friends going?

[apl68]

On the old fora, we had a dedicated library section to discuss all things in the library stacks.

In January 2024, the American Library Assoc. (ALA)'s LibLearnX (formerly Midwinter) will be in Baltimore, MD. Conference registration is now open. Anyone here know of librarian friends going?

There are probably colleagues with whom I'm acquainted going there, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.  I've never been a part of the ALA national conference scene.  Small-town librarians don't usually get to be a part of that.  I did go to ALA summer once, in D.C. in 2007.  The State Library flew me and several other small-town librarians there to take part in a rural library sustainability workshop.  It was a great time, and left me wanting to go to another national conference again someday.  But I've never had the chance. 

Otherwise I've only ever been to state library association conferences.  Just got back from one in Hot Springs last week.  It looks like it will be the last one I attend, since cutting my annual conference travel is one of the few low-hanging fruits we can cut from our budget now that we no longer have enough tax millage coming in to meet expenses.

[hmaria1609]

*Bump*
I made it to LibLearnX at the Baltimore Convention Center this weekend.
I spent some time in the exhibit hall--not as many library vendors were there. There are a few major library conferences coming up later this year so library vendors might have had to pick what to attend or pass.

Most of the sessions related to public libraries that I attended had strong showing. Readers Advisory is a big draw for us!
The one on AI & Libraries was interesting. The panelists talked about how librarians should learn to use AI and be knowledgeable on ChatGPT. When it was time for Q&A at the end, mostly academic librarians came up to the microphones ask the panelists questions.

I'm glad I went since it was local; I also got to see folks I hadn't seen in awhile. Not to mention fans for the big Ravens game on Saturday went home happy!

[apl68]

*Bump*
I made it to LibLearnX at the Baltimore Convention Center this weekend.
I spent some time in the exhibit hall--not as many library vendors were there. There are a few major library conferences coming up later this year so library vendors might have had to pick what to attend or pass.

Most of the sessions related to public libraries that I attended had strong showing. Readers Advisory is a big draw for us!
The one on AI & Libraries was interesting. The panelists talked about how librarians should learn to use AI and be knowledgeable on ChatGPT. When it was time for Q&A at the end, mostly academic librarians came up to the microphones ask the panelists questions.

I'm glad I went since it was local; I also got to see folks I hadn't seen in awhile. Not to mention fans for the big Ravens game on Saturday went home happy!

Any pointers on how librarians could make good use of AI?  I attended a session of AI at ARLA in Hot Springs this past year, and don't recall a lot about it.  Other than some talk about patrons asking librarians for non-existent citations "hallucinated" by somebody else's ChatGPT article.

[hmaria1609]

Plenty of pointers for academic librarians!

I found a blog article on the panel discussion from "American Libraries Magazine" Scoop blog:
https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/using-ai-responsibly/
Click the "Scoop blog" for more LibLearnX related articles.