Olivia Moris is the director at the Altoona Public Library.  She started as director there in 2024, so though she has a wealth of experience in libraries in Minnesota, she is still getting the lay of the land in Wisconsin.  This year she received a scholarship to attend the Wisconsin Library Association Conference.  One insight from her experience is especially useful for how to get the most out of a conference experience.  Sometimes it is not just the sessions that you remember long after a conference.  Thanks, Olivia!

I was a regular attendee at the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) annual conference, I served on committees and volunteered for many opportunities. Because of that and the interconnectivity of my job there, I knew nearly everyone at MLA. I don’t think I gave any thought to how that would impact my experience. I was unprepared for how “fish out of water” I felt. 

Still, I’m a believer in “begin as you mean to go on” and I did so by volunteering to do resume review during the conference. This helped me to meet people, including Laura Sauser, WLA Executive Director, who arranged the review opportunity, and the librarians I was paired with for review. I found this to be a truly rewarding experience. After dealing with the resumes, I was able to chat with each of the librarians and get to know them.