During the ELUNA 2018 Annual Meeting earlier this month, Elizabeth Fairall of Palm Beach Atlantic University is the 2018 winner of the Sherrie Kristin Memorial Scholarship, which honors Sherrie Kristin’s many contributions to the ELUNA community. Elizabeth wrote a report on her ELUNA conference participation that was supported by this award:
Let me begin by extending my gratitude to the ELUNA Steering Committee for offering me the Sherrie Kristin Memorial Scholarship, which enabled me to attend the recent ELUNA Annual Meeting in Spokane, Washington. I have never attended such a large conference and it was an unforgettable experience. The opening session was particularly memorable, with the rock music and the AC/DC shirt reveal; you never knew what was going to happen next! I also never knew who I was going to meet next. I was finally able to be in the same room with people that I had only heard about through the listserv, like Laura Guy, and Nili Natan, whose webinars I attend regularly. It was wonderful getting to meet librarians from other schools around the country and Canada. I now have specific librarians that I can contact directly when I have questions about how other small schools are doing something in Primo or Alma.
While at the annual meeting, I discovered resources that I had never heard of before, such as Esploro and Primo Studio. I learned more about Primo VE and am excited about migrating to it one day. I also came away with practical applications that can be implemented in the near future, such as tips for migrating to the new user interface for Primo and strategies for utilizing the license management feature in Alma. The closing keynote by Laura Pressley was truly inspirational, especially when she talked about having a long term focus. She pointed out that the short term tactical things we’re doing along the way move the change forward; it doesn’t have to be a drastic change overnight. By the time the conference was finished, I was excited to get back to work and share all that I had learned with my colleagues. We have already begun putting into action some of the ideas that I learned at this year’s ELUNA Annual Meeting. It was honestly an invaluable opportunity.
