TNLA 2025 Conference

Grants provide vital support to libraries and archives engaged in archival description and digitization work, and granting and re-granting agencies require publicity and outreach for these projects. Unique collections and contexts present different opportunities and challenges to sharing these projects and generating engagement with patrons, fellow professionals, and other interested communities. Panelists from the Knox County Public Library, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and the Tennessee State Library and Archives will discuss recent and ongoing externally funded projects and offer a range of perspectives on planning and conducting impactful outreach.

Andrea Zielke, TEL Administrator, will give an overview of TEL resources as well tips and tricks about how to use TEL for research and learning.  You'll leave this event knowing more about TEL resources, where to find marketing materials so you can share these resources with patrons at your library.

Alex Sharp (Tennessee Wesleyan University), Jessica McClure (University of Memphis), and Cassandra Taylor (Nashville Public Library) will be showcasing data about public librarian's burnout during the book ban crisis. This data was accumulated by the Intellectual Freedom Committee and will be presented and discussed in an interactive panel with attendees. They will be discussing how to set healthy boundaries in many aspects of the library profession with patrons, students, and colleagues including book bans, budget cuts, and managerial responsibilities.

Book censorship has been a polarizing issue in Tennessee. From the chilling effect of inflammatory rhetoric to claims that children are being sexualized by pornography, words uttered in these moments have been divisive, and state laws now restrict what people can read. Our research explores discourse both for and against book censorship in Tennessee to understand how and why narratives about book censorship were developed and reproduced, and how language in use influenced, changed, or reinforced public thinking about books and libraries in Tennessee.

You want to encourage your students or patrons to love reading--you really, really do. The thing is, you only have so many hours in a day, and responsibilities can be overwhelming at times. We'll talk through some of the easiest ways to increase students' interest in your library and in reading, and there will be time to share and learn from each other as to what programs have been implemented successfully in their libraries.