Call for proposals: Lake Superior Libraries Symposium

Text courtesy of Matt Rosendahl, Library Director, Kathryn A. Martin Library, University of Minnesota Duluth.

LSLS will be online again this year - a great opportunity to connect with a strong community of librarians! The call for proposals is now open:

Virtual Lake Superior Libraries Symposium 2022: Thrive

The organizers of the Lake Superior Libraries Symposium (LSLS) invite breakout session proposals for our tenth conference, which will be held virtually on June 10, 2022. The registration cost for this year’s conference is $20.

This year’s theme is Thrive. This theme was developed based on feedback from past LSLS attendees about topics they want to learn about combined with current library and world challenges. We’re interested in a conference focused on what library workers and libraries need and what we can do to Thrive. 

Possibilities for presentation topics include:

• Wellbeing and Care
  How have we made time and space to pursue our professional interests in meaningful ways? How do directors, managers, and other library staff foster a culture of care that encourages library workers’ personal and professional wellbeing? What strategies have we employed to mitigate burnout? How have we set boundaries around our work to ensure sustainable workloads for library staff? How has wellbeing or care factored into a program, service, or other aspect of library work?
   
• COVID-19 Silver Linings
  What have we learned so far during the COVID-19 pandemic that has improved a service, program, or library work? How has the pandemic helped us understand our priorities, strengths, and needs? How has the pandemic helped us better understand the needs of library workers and library users? How can what we’ve learned guide us into the next stages of the pandemic and beyond the pandemic?
   
• Marketing
  How do we effectively share our library’s worth and value? What tools and strategies have we employed to share our library’s story? What library stories have connected with our communities? 
   
• Collection Management
  How does your library approach collection management? What collection management projects are you proud of? What challenges to collection management have you faced and how are you working to overcome those challenges? How does your library evaluate and weed ebooks? What new collections have you added to meet the needs of your community?

Successful breakout session presentations will be applicable to many types of libraries and showcase effective and innovative practices. 60-minute breakout sessions should include 10-15 minutes of question and answer. Panel presentations, particularly those representing a diversity of library types, sizes, and/or locations, are strongly encouraged. LSLS 2022 will be held virtually. The steering committee will provide more information about the virtual format to breakout session presenters upon notice of their presentation's acceptance. 

Breakout session presenters should submit proposals at z.umn.edu/proposals. All proposals should be submitted by March 18th. Presenters will be notified of acceptance in April.  

LSLS allows library staff to share their expertise, learn from their colleagues, and network to develop a stronger community of information professionals. Staff from all types of libraries are encouraged to attend. The event is organized and supported by library staff and educators from Minnesota and Wisconsin; for a full list of our supporters, visit the Symposium website.

For questions about proposals and submissions, please contact Lisa Wheeler at ljwheele@d.umn.edu. A complete listing of speakers and agenda will be released in April.