I get to go to my first library conference!
The Public Library Association’s biennial conference is in Denver this year, and my boss acquired passes for some of our staff. While I’m only attending for a day, and only to see the exhibits, I couldn’t be more excited. There will be library people from all over the country coming in for this, and it’s going to be a great chance to do some networking and see what cool developments are in store. I’ll be tweeting from the conference tomorrow, under the #PLA2016 hashtag. If you’ll be there, come say hi.
P.S. Non-library friends in the area, I might be around after!
The Swords of the Ancients 
National Library Workers Day
Today is National Library Workers Day.
Today is a reminder that not everyone
Who works in a library is a librarian,
But the library doesn’t work without
All of them.
To keep a library running, you need people.
People who care about other people;
People who know how to find answers;
People who know how to fix things;
People who know how to clean things;
People who want to help;
People who want to learn and grow;
People who aren’t afraid of change;
People who are courageous in the
Face of people who would sow fear;
People who are good with money;
People who are good with kids;
People who are good with teens;
People who are good with adults;
People who are good with seniors;
People who are artistic;
People who are young and old;
People who are there to build others
Up, not merely themselves;
People who long to tear down
Hatred, not stoke its flames;
People who want to share in their
Community;
People who have seen the struggles
Faced by libraries in the past who can
Guide them into the future;
Skeptics and believers;
Leaders and followers;
People who exist within and without
All of the categories that so many strive
To create to enforce a rigid order;
Night owls and early birds;
People who want to use the library’s
Services and expand them;
Shushing people, laughing people;
The people whose eyes grow wide
With sheer wonder when they see
Everything that a library can be;
People who want to make the library
A place that is truly welcoming and
Safe.
Because without all of these people doing
What they do, a library
Isn’t a library. It’s just a building full of books.