With an estimated attendance of more than 4,000 librarians, exhibitors, and authors, the Texas Library Association is ready to gallop into the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas from Tuesday, April 1, through Friday, April 4. TLA members from across the Lone Star State will address legislative policies, everyday operations, and practical tools for patrons. They’ll also have 220 exhibitor booths to choose from at the show, whether they’re seeking the latest tech, multiplayer games for their library branches, or favorite authors’ autographed books.

TLA president Elizabeth A.M. Howard, the director of the West Library at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, “jousted over some ideas” with the conference planning committee to come up with this year’s TLA theme, “Library Renaissance: Our Quest for Renewal.” Library workers’ many specialties make them akin to “Renaissance men,” Howard says. “We bring all of our gifts together to do what we do.” The theme also alludes to “a rebirth after crisis, because we’ve been dealing with so much recently. We need to take care of each other so we can continue to do an amazing job serving our communities.”

Plus, she adds, the wordplay hit the mark: “Renewal was a great, cute term—because we renew our books, right?”

Legislative rodeo

TLA 2025 convenes amid turbulent times in geopolitics, and in the United States librarians remain on the front lines of debate. In Texas alone, says TLA executive director Shirley Robinson, “we’re currently tracking about 47–50 bills that have been filed related to library services and operations.”

Several recent bills support Texas libraries, proposing increased funding for both infrastructure and broadband, but Robinson says “the majority are detrimental and could dramatically change how libraries operate in the state.” Though the Fifth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals blocked key provisions of House Bill 900, which had sought to impose book ratings last year, other provisions of HB 900 are still being implemented—including the creation of statewide standards for library collections. She points to additional efforts by the Republican-led state legislature to build on HB 900 by amending the penal code and allowing civil action against libraries; she also is concerned about Senate Bill 13, which would require school districts to establish local school library councils made up primarily of parents, which could exert control over children’s library borrowing and remove books and materials that the council deems indecent or harmful to minors.

In response, TLA’s initiatives for 2025–2026 include a regional version of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom’s Law for Librarians program, informing members on First Amendment rights, privacy, the Children’s Internet Protection Act, and other policy concerns. “We’re focused on educating our members on what is happening and encouraging them to talk to their local lawmakers,” Robinson says. “We’re doing our work at the Capitol to provide testimony and response. That’s been a huge effort of ours.”

Throughout the conference, TLA’s legislative and intellectual freedom committees will offer sessions on censorship, obscenity regulations, and freedom of information laws. In particular, Howard directs conference attendees to “Update from the Capitol: 89th Texas Legislative Session” (Tuesday, 12:30–1:30 p.m., ballroom C2). “This is our legislative update, where we tell them what’s come out of the last legislative session and what we’re seeing in the upcoming one,” she says. “It’s an informative session, so people know how to move forward, whether it’s writing their legislators or adopting different policies or making it more clear how we’re doing our ordering.”

Career considerations

Career development is another focus at TLA, especially with library staffing and morale in decline. Over the past year, Robinson says, “because of what our members and all libraries across the country are going through, we’ve been providing resources and services to help our members feel supported by the association as they look for career expansion opportunities.” She touts a “holistic new platform” on TLA’s website, offering an online career center, résumé help, connections with job coaches, and workshops.

“Not everybody has the budget to travel to conferences,” Robinson says. “We want them to be able to get education online, at their leisure.”

TLA 2025 has carved out space for first-timers to meet seasoned pros, including at a “Newbies Brewing Connections” coffee hour (Wednesday, 7–8 a.m., room D220). “Our library schools are great at recommending that students get a membership, because it’s so affordable for them to get to TLA” and apply for stipends, Howard says. “That’s how I went to my first conference, back in 2010.”

TLA president-elect Valerie Prilop, a specialist in consumer health at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in the greater Houston area, reinforced the show’s networking opportunities. “Library school students are facing a lot of uncertainty, yet they love libraries,” Prilop says. “I’ve been a member of TLA for over 15 years, and it was because one of my library school professors said, ‘You need to join TLA.’ I went to my first conference as a student as well.”

At the show, attendees seeking advice can participate in a round of “mentor speed dating” (Wednesday, 10–11 a.m., room D161) and attend sessions on midcareer pivots, “cool jobs” in nontraditional settings, and career outlooks in academic, public, and school libraries. Yet career seekers aren’t the only ones in need of professional solutions.

“A lot of our school librarians aren’t getting travel funding or support at all from their institutions,” Howard says, adding that librarians from smaller public libraries and rural areas struggle to attend. TLA will record a few sessions this year to make select conference materials available to non-attendees. In another effort to make memberships and shows more affordable, Robinson notes, the association will roll out a restructured dues system in 2026.

Looking Ahead

TLA’s exhibit hall promises a vast array of shiny objects, and attendees will be hard pressed to take it all in. “We will definitely be looking to see how vendors are incorporating AI,” Howard says, with attention to “protecting data that’s put into AI and making sure the data is responsibly harvested.” Sessions will address how to create productive AI queries and use AI in information literacy courses.

Howard can’t wait to welcome keynote authors Misty Copeland, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Louis Sachar, as well as other guests. “Mychal Threets is coming,” she says, referring to the PBS Kids librarian and influencer. “He just brings library joy. He’s also Time magazine’s 2024 next generation leader, so he’s our superhero.”

And it’s never too early to think about next year. “We’ve already started talking about the 2026 conference,” Prilop says. “Our theme has not been finalized, but I’m thinking about building connections and community for strength, joy, and support.” She applauded “the broad representation that we have in our organization, across a state that is incredibly diverse—and by that I mean rural and urban, large and small communities, different backgrounds and experiences.”

Robinson is optimistic about the future, in spite of the challenging landscape for libraries in the Lone Star State. “We’re seeing incredible grant and fundraising support for scholarships, stipends, and collection development,” she says. “We’ve increased the funding we give back to our members by about three times thanks to some recent incredibly generous supporters, who recognize and see where the industry is.”

Hopefully, Robinson adds, “we can keep members investing in themselves until we get to a place of more normalcy” in Texas and the U.S. “We’re going to get through this legislative session, and we’re doing all we can at the Capitol.”

TLA’s next annual conference will be held in Houston, Mar. 29–31, 2026.

Read more from our TLA Preview.

TLA 2025: A Library Renaissance Roundup