ALA Conference...the summit for Librarians

Over the past three days I attended my first American Library Association (ALA) Conference. What a massive production this annual conference is! ALA's website says that the average conference attendance is 25,000 participants. Phew! Pretty incredible! Basically, if you are anywhere in the vicinity of the Washington Convention Center, you will see parades of tote-bearing librarians, many adorned with buttons like "I love to read" or "Freedom to read", and other eclectic book related paraphernalia. We are a unique bunch, it is true, and there is something particularly unique about being at a conference with tens of thousands of other professional colleagues. Two of my librarian friends and I were commenting about the interesting dynamics that arise when you have this many people of the same profession all together in one place. You begin to recognize a certain commonality of mannerisms, ways of thinking, personal passions, and similar goals. We were talking about how amongst librarians, who are often more of the introverted, reflective, melancholic types, walk around the convention center more quietly, with a sense of interiority as they try to find the correct meeting room, and once in the session display a common sense of curiosity and love for learning. As my one of my librarian friends said, "When I would go to speech pathology conferences I never really felt like I fit in. But when I go to librarian conferences I just think, "I belong here!" It's true, in many senses I also felt as though I fit in. It's encouraging and invigorating to be amidst a worldwide crowd of colleagues, coming together with fundamental common visions and passions, sharing ideas and gaining inspiration to take back to your own specific library.

I attended the conference on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I was not thrilled to have to attend a work function on a Sunday, but was able to get to Mass on Saturday evening. I felt as though on Sunday, the Lord's Day, I was more conscious of the spiritual aspect of my professional life and place in the library realm. As you may or may not know, librarianship, although pinned as a very conservative, bun-donning, long skirt and blouse wearing bunch, has become quite a "liberal" profession, and the American Library Association in particular aggressively pushes agendas which I cannot condone. Over the past three years as I have been trained in this profession and then entered the workforce, I have learned that working as a librarian while maintaining my moral convictions is a continually evolving call and challenge. So many of the issues within librarianship, from issues of intellectual freedom to parental control to censorship and beyond are issues that must be wrestled with each time they are presented within their own specific context. While their are fundamental perspectives that a Catholic librarian can hold, it's not as simple as creating a black and white formula for dealing with these issues. Essentially they must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, in a thoughtful, nuanced way. The very fact that these issues cannot necessarily answered with a blanket philosophy can be daunting. And yet it is the challenge of so many Catholic young professionals today. We have not been called to shrink away from the secular world, but to be the leaven within society. And if we have been called, we will be given the grace.

Ultimately, I felt very invigorated by the opportunity to be a part of this large professional gathering as a librarian dedicated to the pursuit of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth. Our profession has such an incredible potential to provide others with the opportunity and inspiration to seek Truth through knowledge. What an honor it is to be an instrument in that pursuit of Truth in whatever small ways it may be. We are all called to "renew all things in Christ" (Eph.1:10) and I am excited to strive to make this incorporate this call into my life.