SLA 2018: A Reflection

2018 Special Libraries Association (SLA) Conference was a very different experience than 2017 Special Libraries Association Conference. For one, I had my six month old with me. He was a star of the conference, charming nearly everyone who met him. It also meant, for me, balancing my double persona of “new mom” and “professional”. It meant skipping the chance to meet Dr. Carla Hayden to go back to the hotel room, where he was having bonding time with his aunt (my sister), to make sure he was fed. It meant during my own presentation Monday afternoon, sweltering under a blanket while he fed as I talked on Documenting Our Libraries for the Future. That’s an accomplishment I want to find some way to list on my CV – “presented at a professional conference while breastfeeding my kid. That’s multi-tasking.” It meant making the best of my time at the social events, and heading back to the hotel room earlier once he was getting tired. It meant making the most of my colleagues’ offer of help to watch him so I could still talk to vendors, or actually eat a meal. It meant knowing where every bathroom in the Convention Center was in case I needed to change a diaper.

It was a very different conference from last year, but in some ways, much more rewarding. I talk extensively how SLA is my professional tribe. From a new member when I was still an MLIS student, to now somehow, almost ten years later*, offering advice and help to new members, this organization is my go-to for job advice, the way I keep track of current informational trends, the people I want to keep updated in not just my professional accomplishments, but my personal. (Hence, bringing my six month old to the conference. Ok, that was me breastfeeding too, but still, definitely wanting to show off the tiny human in person, rather than just showing a million photos.)

I was slightly terrified in bringing him. Worried I would not have the time I needed to network, and… I was right. I had less time in the Exhibit Hall. Less time to linger in the convention halls shooting the breeze. But I also had so many great conversations over tea, making breakfast dates two of the three mornings to see people, of getting invited out for an afternoon caffeine pick-me-up one of the afternoons, stroller, baby, and all. This is a conference and organization, where I am a known entity, and everyone cooed over the baby, then asked how I was, how my job I was, and how I was balancing priorities.

It’s tough. There are days I am not balancing anything, but knowing I have a “safe place” in SLA to learn, grow, make mistakes, and bring my kid to the conferences, certainly helps immensely.

*(I became a full-fledged member in 2010, but I was a student member for the two years of my MLIS program before joining the larger organization. So depending on you count, I’ve been a member for either 8 or 10 years.)

There are a few sessions I attended I want to highlight here. Hopefully, I’ll have the time between babies with ear infections, trying to sleep myself, and basic work and mommying. Watch this space!