by Zach Miller
Quick Summary
The inaugural edition of Minitex Connect was a success and a learning experience, for the attendees and organizers alike.
The Minitex Connect Planning Committee would like to thank each and every one of the 43 presenters and 339 attendees who made the first-ever Minitex Connect possible.
You gathered over two half days, representing 128 organizations and eight states. Attendees from Hennepin County Library, Saint Paul Public Library, and the University of Minnesota were the most numerous (not counting Minitex), and the vast majority hail from Minnesota, but you came in strong numbers from North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin as well.
In our follow-up survey, more than 98 percent of the ratings of conference elements were positive, and almost 96 percent of respondents "somewhat" or "strongly" agreed that they learned something new. Likewise, over 87 percent "somewhat" or "strongly" agreed that what they learned will help them improve library services.
Speaking of learning new things and improving services, congratulations to Kyle Triska of Minitex for presenting the most-attended breakout session of the conference: "Electronic Delivery MiniTech: The hardware and software we use at Minitex to fill your requests."
We're already in the very early stages of planning next year's conference, and the feedback we received will help us do that. We know for certain that there are ways we can improve.
We'll share the full schedule earlier next year, and we'll work harder to facilitate meaningful interaction. We wanted to bring the library community together, and in one sense we did: we attended sessions together for two half days. But simply learning side-by-side doesn't rise to the level of collaboration we hope for at Minitex. We'll keep that in the front of our minds for next year.
It will be time for Minitex Connect again before we know it, and it's bound to look a little different than it did this year. But if there's one thing we know for sure, it's that we hope to see you there!
The Minitex Connect Planning Committee is Beth Staats, Dana Kocienda, Gerri Moeller (chair), Jordan Wagaman, Molly Huber, Raquel Franklin, and Zach Miller.
