Hundreds of Librarians Visit USC Shoah Foundation Exhibit at ALA Conference

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Douglas Ballman, left, and Sandra Aguilar at their table at the 2015 ALA Conference)

External Relations Manager Douglas Ballman and Archivist Sandra Aguilar gave demonstrations and answered questions about the Visual History Archive to a diverse crowd of conference attendees at the American Library Association (ALA)’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco June 26-29.

USC Shoah Foundation is a longtime attendee of the ALA conference, and Ballman gave a presentation about the Visual History Archive at a previous conference. But this was the first year it hosted a table in the expo hall as well.

The ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition attracts 25,000 librarians, educators, authors and more to five days of sessions and events. Sessions cover the latest developments in the library field, and the exhibition hall is a showcase for 900 companies to share their products and services.

USC Shoah Foundation’s table received a steady stream of librarians interested in learning more about programs and content during the four-day event at Moscone Center.  Connections were made with public librarians from as far away as Oklahoma and Texas as well as a digital media technologies librarian from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. No less than three prison librarians came to the table asking about how the incarcerated might be able to access testimony in an environment without the internet.

Over 100 booklets on the VHA were distributed and some good ideas came out of the conversations. One attendee suggested the Institute create “shelf talkers,” which are signs that attach to a bookshelf in the corresponding subject area that guide library patrons to online resources like the VHA Online.

                                                                                                                                    – by Sandra Aguilar, archivist