Getting the Word Out: Attending Non-Library Conferences

Last week, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference for the second time. As the conference web site indicates, STLHE is a "national association of academics interested in the improvement of teaching and learning in higher education" made up of faculty and teaching and learning resource professionals from Canadian and international post-secondary institutions. So, while STLHE is a conference primarily aimed at educational developers and faculty, there were also a few librarians in attendance. If you teach or are interested in learning more about pedagogy, it's a great conference to attend. But, while I enjoyed the sessions, what I found most beneficial was the opportunity to get the word out to them that librarians are also interested in teaching and learning and that we can be a valuable resource to faculty in the classroom.

A couple of my liaison librarian colleagues recently wrote about their experiences attending "non-library" academic conferences in our staff newsletter. One went to the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences Congress (formerly known as the "Learneds") and the other joined in the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology (CAPA) but both had the same feeling I did about the value of networking and sharing ideas with faculty. As one of them (Susan Shepley) wrote in our staff newsletter, "It made me feel that I was part of a larger academic community: one where asking questions is just as important as finding answers." So, if you have never considered attending an academic "non-library" conference and have the opportunity to do so, I highly recommend it.