I just got back from an amazing national conference in Minneapolis, MN — Public Library Association’s National Conference!

My library sent me, along with two of my co-workers, to this three day conference. We flew out on Tuesday (on a flight full of librarians!) and home Friday night. It was so awesome! We had three days of inspirational speeches, informative and engaging sessions, and a few vendor after-hours parties. :)

We stayed at a fancy hotel called the W Foshay, with fancy rooms that included white noise machines and a robe! The hotel had a speakeasy (very well advertised) on the 27th floor and amazing views from the observation deck on the 30th floor.

The conference started with a few speakers, including Dr. Brandy McNeil, the President of PLA, Jacob Frey, the Mayor of Minneapolis, and Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama. The speeches were energetic and inspirational. Over 6000 librarians from around the world attended!

I was super nervous about this whole event. We reserved our tickets around the height of the ICE invasions around the city (because that’s when we got approval to do so) and as the event grew closer and ICE moved to the airports, my anxiety grew. But we got there, saw no ICE activity (in the airport or on the streets), and were surrounded by 6000 other brave librarians there to celebrate libraries and the the freedom to read! It was amazing.

The sessions were inspiring, informative, and (sometimes) a little boring. LOL. The exhibition hall was HUGE and filled with vendors giving aways stickers and free books. We had to check an extra suitcase on the way home to bring back all the free books we got!

Several vendors also offered after-hour parties, so on Thursday night we hit up two of them. The first was fancy and a little subdued, but they gave away even more books. The second was a big old party, full of delicious food, free drinks, and a rocking dance floor.

We flew home Friday afternoon, again with lots of librarians. I’ll bet that plane had way more books than the average Delta flight! LOL.

I feel so fortunate that I got this opportunity. So grateful we had a safe trip there and back. And so happy I had a weekend to recover before going back to work tomorrow!

Also, here’s a great article about the conference from Publishers Weekly.