I know I am personally very excited for this year’s NJLA Annual Conference, and in particular the many networking and sessions opportunities where we can all speak freely, share ideas, address challenges, and explore areas of our work that may not always be the most comfortable.The NJLA Conference is a time for us to connect, reflect and embrace each other’s ideas and differences, while challenging the status quo in moving our profession forward.

With that in mind, the NJLA Reference section is excited to be sponsoring a few opportunities where we can examine, discuss, and think critically about the issues we face.

Transformative Conversations with "Problem Patrons" (Friday, June 1, 9:00-9:50AM) will consider how expectations, labels, and behaviors impact communication. The discussion will further consider strategies for transforming conversations within the context of being culturally sensitive . This discussion will use the lens of social services to analyze the impacts of our expectations, labels, and behaviors upon our own communication. From that perspective, we'll learn new strategies for transformative conversation.

Reference Librarians Speak Freely (Friday, June 1, 11:30AM-12:20PM) is yet another opportunity for all of us to come together, discuss and consider how the role, responsibilities, and nature of reference work (and for that matter the reference librarian), is changing. This particular discussion truly is for any librarian who has an interest in exploring what it means to be a librarian in 2018, and what it may mean in the future.

Find Your Niche: How to Establish and Run Your Niche Book Club (Thursday, May 31, 4:10-5:00PM)

In considering the standard format our many of our library book clubs, here is an opportunity to talk about and examine the book club model for more niche genres and titles. How can we organize and provide quality book discussion experiences for those books further off the beaten path, and serve the needs of those who may have interest in these titles? This panel will consider those questions and provide potential models for making books clubs like these a success.

Click here to view the full schedule of programs co-sponsored by the Reference Section.

We hope to see many of you during these sessions, passing in the halls, or maybe for a cocktail or other social event!

-Doug Baldwin and the 2018 NJLA Conference Committee