Why Librarians Should Show Up: Attending Conferences Hosted by Library Organizations

Every fall and spring, a familiar migration takes place across the library profession. Catalogers, systems librarians, acquisitions staff, and directors pack their bags and head to hotel ballrooms and university conference centers to spend a few days doing something that can feel almost countercultural in an era of webinars and Slack channels: showing up, in person, to learn from and argue with their peers. Conferences hosted by library associations — from the American Library Association’s (ALA) sprawling Annual Conference to smaller, regionally focused gatherings like the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries’ (ASERL) Library Technology Immersion Conference — remain one of the most effective, if sometimes underappreciated, tools for professional growth in the field. The 2026 conference calendar offers a good vantage point for understanding why.

A Case Study: ASERL’s Library Technology Immersion Conference

ASERL’s Library Technology Immersion Conference is a useful illustration of what a well-designed, association-hosted event can deliver. Now in its third year, the 2026 conference is scheduled for September 16–18 in Baltimore, with ASERL partnering with USMAI, UMBC Library, FLVC, and WRLC to co-host, and corporate sponsors including EBSCO, Adam Matthew, Clarivate, and Gale supporting the program [1]. The conference’s stated focus — practical learning, hands-on workshops, and conversations about artificial intelligence, digital storytelling, and accessibility tools — reflects a broader shift in library technology programming toward applied skills rather than theoretical overviews [1].

What makes the Immersion Conference format notable is its structure: mornings are typically devoted to shared plenary sessions, while afternoons break into three-hour hands-on workshops, giving attendees deep engagement with specific tools rather than a rushed, forty-five-minute survey [2]. Attendees at a recent iteration of the conference, held at Hunt Library in Raleigh, North Carolina, described sessions ranging from AI applications in library services to a live holographic presentation using volumetric video capture technology — the kind of hands-on exposure to emerging tools that is difficult to replicate through a recorded webinar [2]. The event also builds in dedicated relationship-building time through technology tours, “dine-arounds,” and informal collaborative discussions, based on the idea that some of the most useful professional learning happens outside formal session rooms [1]. ASERL also offers a limited number of scholarships covering the $250 registration fee, an acknowledgment that cost remains a real barrier to participation for many library workers [1].

Scale Matters, And So Does Focus

Not every valuable conference looks like ASERL’s. At the other end of the spectrum sits ALA’s Annual Conference, the largest annual gathering in the library world. The 2025 Annual Conference in Philadelphia drew roughly 14,000 attendees, according to a recap from Harvard’s Countway Library staff who attended [3]. That scale creates a different kind of value: the sheer breadth of programming — from open access and scholarly communication to accessibility and intellectual freedom — means attendees can deliberately step outside their usual specialty tracks and discover unexpected connections to their work. One Countway librarian described intentionally skipping familiar sessions in favor of a “path less traveled” through topics like disability-inclusive programming and digital accessibility, only to find those sessions more professionally relevant than expected [3]. ALA’s international reach is also notable; the 2024 Annual Conference in San Diego drew 340 participants from 51 countries, according to a report in a Cambridge University Press library science journal, giving attendees exposure to global perspectives on issues like the UN Sustainable Development Goals as they relate to library work [4].

Between these two poles sit conferences like the Charleston Conference, now in its fifth decade, which describes itself as a deliberately informal gathering where library directors, acquisitions librarians, and vendor executives “discuss and debate” scholarly communication issues in a collegial, low-pressure environment [5]. The 2025 Charleston Conference, held November 3–7 with an online component running November 17–21, drew over 1,600 collection development and electronic resources professionals to its one-day Vendor Showcase alone [6]. One attendee reflecting on the 2024 conference called it “one of the peak experiences” of her first year as a new business collections librarian, citing both the substantive programming and the informal opportunities to meet colleagues face-to-face [7].

https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ticker/article/id/9595/

Regional and topical conferences round out the ecosystem. The Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) rotates its annual conference through four U.S. regions on a four-year cycle specifically to widen access for librarians at small and solo-staffed institutions, pairing sessions on fundraising and board relations with the kind of practical, budget-conscious programming that large national conferences don’t always prioritize [8]. Meanwhile, ACRL’s “Immersion” program — sometimes nicknamed “summer camp for librarians” — offers a week-long, intensive instructional-design training model rather than a conventional session-based conference, illustrating how library associations have diversified their event formats well beyond the standard exhibit-hall-and-breakout-room template [9].

What the Evidence Suggests About the Benefits

Taken together, these examples point to a handful of concrete benefits that recur across library-association-hosted conferences, regardless of size.

Hands-On Skill-Building. Workshop-heavy formats, like ASERL’s three-hour afternoon sessions, let attendees actually use new tools and technologies rather than merely watching a demonstration [2].

Exposure To Emerging Technology. Sessions featuring volumetric video and holographic presentation technology, or focus groups on AI-driven research tools currently in closed beta, give librarians early, direct exposure to innovations that will likely shape their institutions in coming years [2] [5].

Cross-Institutional Networking. Structured informal time — dine-arounds, vendor showcases, welcome receptions — is always a highlight for attendees of these conferences. [1] [7].

Interdisciplinary Discovery. Larger conferences in particular allow attendees to explore other specialties and find relevance in adjacent fields, from accessibility law to children’s publishing [3].

Financial And Geographic Accessibility Efforts. Scholarship programs and rotating regional locations, as seen with ASERL and ARSL respectively, reflect a growing recognition within library associations that professional development access shouldn’t be limited to well-funded institutions and individuals [1] [8].

A Worthwhile Investment

Conference travel is not free, and every library budget has limits. But recurring testimony from attendees points to a consistent return: practical skills, early exposure to emerging technology, and relationships that outlast the conference itself. For library professionals weighing where to spend limited professional development dollars in 2026, association-hosted conferences remain a strong bet precisely because they are built by and for the people doing the work.

Sources

[1] Association of Southeastern Research Libraries. “Preview: 2026 Library Technology Immersion Conference.” ASERL, May 2026. https://www.aserl.org/2026/05/preview-2026-library-technology-immersion-conference/

[2] “Denice, Joddy, and Melde at ASERL Library Technology Immersion Conference.” ZSR Library, Wake Forest University, September 2025. https://zsr.wfu.edu/inside/2025/denice-joddy-and-melde-at-aserl-library-technology-immersion-conference/

[3] “Highlights from ALA 2025.” Countway Library, Harvard University. https://countway.harvard.edu/news/highlights-ala-2025

[4] “The annual conference of the American Library Association (ALA).” Cambridge University Press, published online September 18, 2024. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/E4BC0EF0C5AF897C7C68FFB53E225047/core-reader

[5] Elsevier. “Charleston Conference 2025.” https://www.elsevier.com/en-gb/events/conferences/all/charleston-conference

[6] EconLit / American Economic Association. “EconLit at Conference Exhibits: Charleston Conference 2025.” https://aeastaging.aeaweb.org/econlit/conferences

[7] “Charleston Conference 2024 Recap.” Ticker: The Academic Business Librarianship Review, University of Michigan Publishing. https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ticker/article/id/7269

[8] Association for Rural and Small Libraries. “Previous & Upcoming Conferences.” https://www.arsl.org/past-conferences

[9] Association of College and Research Libraries. “Conferences and Learning.” American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/acrl/conferences-and-learning