What are some conferences or workshops that I can attend?

Question: What are some conferences or workshops I can attend?

Response: I love going to conferences and workshops. A number of years ago someone recommended that all teachers belong to a professional organization and I have ever since. Here are some organizations that I belong to now or have belonged to in the past. Below are some of the conferences and workshops I have attended that pertain to libraries and books and reading.

IRA – International Reading Association – Yearly conferences, local chapters, monthly journal.
At the conferences authors are brought in to speak by the IRA, and some of the exhibitors also bring in authors to autograph books. Usually you have to purchase their book to get an autograph. I enjoy hearing authors speak, but there are many other sessions to choose from as well. One year I decided to focus on poetry, another year I went to a lot of Reader’s Theatre sessions. There are many sessions to choose from and if you don’t like one, you can leave and find another one. I make out a schedule for each day for myself listing the time slots and the sessions that I like during those time slots. I use this as a quick reference for the day and can quickly go from session to session. If you have attended the NAD Teacher’s Convention, you will have a glimpse of an idea of what an IRA is like. The NAD convention had about 6000 people in attendance and an IRA usually has an attendance of about 15,000 – 18,000.

ALA – American Library Association – yearly conferences, local chapters, monthly journal.
Very similar to the IRA, but geared more toward librarians. In fact, geared toward public libraries more than school libraries. Similar in size and attendance to IRA. One difference I noticed was that there were many many free books from publishers. The books were advanced reading copies. Most of the books were not for a school library. (One example: I did pick up one book that looked interesting for our school. It was titled “Brooklyn Bridge” and was by Karen Hesse. We have a number of her books in our library; you very possible have as well. I am glad I read the book first because even though the history part is wonderful, there are short incidental chapters that have a ghost child living under the bridge. Needless to say, I did not purchase the book for our library.)

ASDAL – Association of Seventh-day Adventist Librarians – Yearly conferences, held just before the ALA and in a spot nearby. Last year ALA was held in Anaheim, CA and ASDAL was held the week before in Loma Linda, CA. This year ALA will be in Chicago, IL and ASDAL will be at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI. Most members are college or university librarians, but they are encouraging elementary school librarians and academy librarians to join also.


I also have found that the workshops offered by BER – Bureau of Education and Research are excellent. The information I receive is timely, the workshops are small enough to get personal attention or to have questions answered, the presenters are qualified and entertaining, and I leave with a booklet that I can refer to for years.

Have a great week,
Audrey