In his book Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck wrote that Texas “is a nation in every sense of the word.” And that’s certainly true when it comes to the Texas Library Association’s annual conference.

“We like to say we’re a national show produced by a state association,” says Walter Betts, a systems librarian at Texas Christian University who, as TLA president for 2016–2017, chaired the group that put together this year’s conference program.

Betts’s description certainly fits. TLA is the nation’s largest state library association meeting by a Texas mile, regularly drawing more than 7,000 librarians, publishers, and vendors and some 500 exhibiting companies each year—numbers that put the show in league with national conferences such as the biennial Public Library Association Meeting and the ALA’s Midwinter Meeting. And this year’s TLA conference, set for April 19–22 in San Antonio, will be no exception, with strong attendance expected for three days of programming on a powerful theme: Own Your Profession.

Betts says the theme reflects the idea that in today’s rapidly changing world, librarians must take charge of their own development.

“When I first started with the [conference-planning] group, I had three values that I really wanted us to consider. First was curiosity—the strong desire to know something. Second was innovation—how to translate an idea into something that creates value. And third: passion,” Betts explains. “Too often, librarians can be a little passive. It’s time for us to take charge. So I wanted to focus this conference on practical resources and tools that will spark people’s curiosity, help them be successful, and make them excited about being a librarian.”

Taking Charge

The conference theme is certainly timely. As Texas librarians prepare to gather in San Antonio, they’ll need to be assertive, as Texas libraries are facing significant budget challenges.

On the federal level, President Trump has proposed eliminating the Institute for Museum and Library Services, which provides critical funding for not only Texas libraries, but libraries in all 50 states. And in the Texas legislature, which meets every two years and is now in session, state agencies were directed to develop budget requests with both 4% and 10% funding reductions.

Such cuts would certainly hurt Texas libraries, which are still coming back from a deep funding cut (about 65%) to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) leveled in 2011. TLA is hoping to avoid any further cuts to the TSLAC budget.

“Our position is that TSLAC should maintain its current budget at the very least,” noted Jennifer D. LaBoon and Rebecca Sullivan, in a pre-conference message to TLA members. Although TSLAC’s total budget request is “essentially a drop in the bucket” in the overall Texas state budget, they noted “it is clear that new money will be very hard to come by in this legislative session,” adding that even if the state revenue projections shift upward, “the current political climate” may still preclude additional spending.

“Obviously, our legislative groups are working hard,” Betts says, noting that he has already been to Austin to testify before the legislature. “We know that, it being a legislative year, we’ve got to keep our folks mobilized and ready to go.”

The good news is that the budget battle won’t affect this year’s TLA—the state funding that supports programming at the conference (as well as librarians around the state) is already allocated for this year. There is, however, some concern for what might happen to Texas libraries—and TLA—next year if the proposed cuts come to pass, and attendees at this year’s TLA know they must be heard before the legislative session ends in May.

“
Library services bring people up, especially in places where they need the resources the most. So we need to be in the community to work with people, to help bring them up, and bring them together.
”

“At TLA, we do advocacy very well every year. It’s an endless job,” says Ling Hwey Jeng, TLA president-elect. As the one who will chair the 2018 TLA conference program, the potential cuts loom large over her planning, and she acknowledges the potential double whammy of state and federal funding cuts. Jeng, director of the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University, is especially sensitive to Trump’s proposal to eliminate—not just cut—federal library support.

“It’s hard to reinstate anything once it’s eliminated, because once it’s eliminated, if we manage to survive, people are going to say we’re doing just fine,” she says. “And that’s the wrong attitude. So we need to fight this.”

Both Jeng and Betts, however, are quick to frame the budget battle not in terms of how those dollars affect libraries and librarians, but how that funding benefits the people libraries serve—Jeng cites family literacy programs, education (for kids and adults), job training and job seeking, and how libraries serve as anchors in their communities. And she speaks of librarians dedicated to service.

“That’s what is important,” she says. “We monitor the situation, and we fight, but we ask ourselves: how are [these cuts] going to affect our core values?” Jeng says. “Our core values are service, equity, and diversity—the equal treatment of all people. And library services bring people up, especially in places where they need the resources the most. So we need to be in the community to work with people, to help bring them up, and bring them together.”

Betts also acknowledges that the fractious political landscape in the U.S. today goes beyond budget fights, and he says libraries can make a difference there too.

“We’ve actually got a program scheduled on how to have civil discussions at the library, because we’ve seen so much of a divide, with people just not being able to come together and have civil discussions,” he notes. “So, we’re going to talk about how can you get groups in your library to talk about these things, to have civic engagement, and hopefully we can come up with some solutions. We see libraries as a natural place for these types of discussions.”

Coming Together

TLA may feel intimate to its members, but make no mistake, like the state itself the Texas library community is huge.

In all, it includes more than 200 academic libraries, and almost 900 public library outlets if you count branches and bookmobiles. School librarians make up a huge contingency in TLA—the state counts more than 5,000 school librarians (and more than 4,500 members in the Texas Association of School Librarians, a division of TLA). And, for good measure, there are more than 200 special libraries—corporate libraries and the like.

For publishers and vendors, that size certainly is a draw. TLA members represent about a $1.5 billion market in terms of combined statewide annual library budgets—a big chunk of which goes to a wide array of books, resources, technology, and programming.

TLA itself is also big: it is composed of four divisions and 10 districts, and it contains 40-plus roundtables and interest groups. The association grants thousands of dollars every year to members through a program of more than 50 awards, stipends, and scholarships. And beyond the annual conference, TLA members participate in a range of programming throughout the year, with local district meetings across the state as well as webinars on topics such as leadership, copyright, management, and support-staff training. Incredibly, TLA pulls this all off with fewer than 20 staff members in its Austin offices.

Whatever your interest—whether you’re a publisher, vendor, or even a librarian in another state—the TLA conference is worth a visit. As Betts says, it really is like a national conference—and it boasts one of the strongest programs of any library conference, bar none. The 2017 TLA program, for example, will feature a range of authors and well as tracks on leadership, best practices, community engagement, employee management, branding, technology, reading lists, and innovative labs.

“All of our programs are designed to start conversations,” Betts says. “That’s what we want to see.”

TLA Program Highlights

More than 350 speakers and authors are part of a dynamic program at the 2017 TLA Annual Conference. Kicking off the conference, New York Times–bestselling author Cory Doctorow will deliver the opening General Session keynote (Thursday, April 20 from 8:15 to 9:45 a.m.). Doctorow writes both YA and adult fiction and blogs regularly on a range of issues key to librarians—including technology and DRM—for Boing Boing, the site he co-founded and co-edits. He is also a contributing editor at Publishers Weekly. His most recent book, Walkaway, will be published this month by Tor.

NPR contributor, storyteller, and New York Times–bestselling author Carmen Agra Deedy will keynote General Session II (Friday, April 21 from 4 to 5 p.m.). Born in Cuba, Deedy, an ardent supporter of libraries, came to the U.S. as a refugee and has become famous for her poignant, humorous stories and sharp narratives.

Chelsea Clinton will deliver the closing General Session keynote on Saturday, April 22, from 1:30 to 2:10 p.m.—but despite the family business, don’t expect a political talk. Chelsea Clinton is an accomplished activist, and her talk will focus on her work across the globe, and on the young people who are making a difference in the world today. Clinton will also answer questions by Sam Houston State University assistant professor Rose Brock and will discuss ways to help children become informed, inspired global citizens. Clinton is the author of It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going! (Philomel).Featured Authors

Hundreds of authors will be appearing at TLA; most notably, the Closing Author Session (Saturday, April 22, 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.) will feature mega-bestselling author Veronica Roth. The author of the Divergent series, Roth’s latest book, Carve the Mark (HarperCollins), was published in January.

The Opening Author Session (Thursday, April 29, 12:15 to 1:30 p.m.) will feature Greg Iles, the author of Mississippi Blood (William Morrow), and Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of the The Shoemaker’s Wife, whose book Kiss Carlo: A Novel (Harper) will be published in June.

The Black Caucus Roundtable Author Luncheon will feature actress and author Bern Nadette Stanis; Stanis’s memoir, The Last Night, recounts her challenges as a young black woman in Hollywood, and her role as a caregiver to her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother.

The Children’s Roundtable (Saturday, April 22, 8 to 10:15 a.m.) will host Caldecott Medal–winner Kevin Henkes. The TLA’s Evening with the Authors (Thursday, April 20, 6 to 9:30 p.m.) features a star-studded lineup including Nickolas Butler, Jennifer McMahon, Sara Paretsky, Ruta Sepetys, and Amanda Eyre Ward. And the Texas Association of School Librarians Business Meeting (Thursday, April 20, 3 to 5:15 p.m.) will host Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies and Leviathan series.

Note: many of these are ticketed events, so check the TLA conference website for details, as deadlines are approaching fast.

Big Ideas, and More

Librarians today increasingly have to think outside the box, and one of TLA’s tracks—the Big Ideas series—aim to help them. This year, the program includes talks by Anita Schjoll Brede, CEO and cofounder of artificial intelligence leader Iris AI (Thursday, April 20, 1:45 to 2:45 p.m.). Consultant and entrepreneur Tamara Kleinberg, founder and president of TheShuuk.com (billed as “an online marketplace for innovators”), will talk about strategies for breaking the status quo (Friday, April 21, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.). And coach, leader, and former Zappos “team-huddle innovator” Donovan Roberson will inspire librarians with tips on how to energize their own work, and their patrons’ experience (Friday, April 21, 2:45 to 3:45 p.m.).

The packed professional program includes leading librarians from across the nation, who will present on a range of topics. Among other highlights, the annual Directors Symposium, titled “Evolving to the Library of the Future,” will feature Syracuse University iSchool professor and longtime school librarian Sara Kelly Johns, Temple University dean of libraries Joe Lucia, and Cleveland Public Library director Felton Thomas.

And of course, don’t miss the Bluebonnets. Always a highlight of TLA, the Texas Bluebonnet Award is a nationally recognized children’s-choice award. The unique program is designed to encourage reading for pleasure among students in grades three to six. Each year, 20 books are chosen for the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List by a selection committee. If students read a minimum of five books from the master list, they can vote for their favorite title during January of each year.

At this year’s awards luncheon (Friday, April 21, 12–1:50 p.m.), Victoria Jamieson, the author of the 2017 winning title Rollergirl (Dial), will share insights on writing and accept the award from a group of student representatives. Note: this is a ticketed event and tickets must be purchased by Friday, April 7, through preregistration.

For a complete rundown, check out the TLA program online.