Conference Planning: What To Expect When Attending ER&L For the First Time

Advice for First Time Attendees From Conference Founder, Bonnie Tijerina

Annual Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference 

Austin, Texas

This annual Electronic Resources & Libraries conference is held in Austin, Texas.

Electronic resource librarians and digital publishing professional attend this event, not just for the professional development opportunities it presents, but also networking and collaborating across industries.

Scholarly publishing and library acquisition models are changing and in a constant state of flux. The information age is in full effect. Almost every academic institution across the nation has felt the benefits (and sometimes pitfalls) of technology within their local institutions.

The questions therefore become, how do we (academic library, publisher, vendor) affect the future of higher education publishing and learning?

I recently had the chance to interview futurist and founder of ER&L, Bonnie Tijerina, on the impacts of digital scholarly publishing and what the above means for those involved with higher education.

Background Questions: 

• Name: Bonnie Tijerina
• Occupation: Founder of Electronic Resources and Libraries, Researcher at Data & Society
• Location: New York City, NY, USA
• LinkedIn Profile: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/bonnietijerina
• Personal Bio & Background: Bonnie Tijerina is a librarian, entrepreneur and library community convener. She is also the founder of ER&L (Electronic Resources & Libraries) conference. Bonnie is currently a Researcher at the Data & Society Institute in New York City. She has worked in academic libraries for over ten years, most recently at Harvard University. She relishes the role of library convener and in 2013 initiated an effort to connect the library community with tech, academia, and business with the #ideadrop Library House, an effort she led during SXSW Interactive.

Interview Questions

Neese: ER&L is a relatively new conference yet has gained massive traction among the higher education community since its inception in 2006. Bonnie, as the founder, where did the idea for ER&L come from? What led you to create this conference?

Tijerina: I’ve spent more than a decade on ER&L. We’re in our 13th year this year and it is incredible to think that back in the mid-2000’s I was a new librarian, just a few years out of library school. I believed earnestly that if we got together as a group that we could get a handle on emerging issues in e-resource management.

We were faced with electronic content that we had many ideas of how we might handle, but little standards and common language as well as a lot of frustration and concerns. So, I surveyed my colleagues on a listserv. To our community’s credit, many people eagerly jumped at the idea of a gathering. At that time, I was at Georgia Tech and that’s basically how ER&L was born. Over a decade later, many of those original volunteers still volunteer at ER&L, attend ER&L and send their staff to ER&L.

Neese: What has been the biggest challenge you have had to overcome in both starting and growing ER&L?

Tijerina: Managing the growth. I have been a full time librarian for most of the time I have been the coordinator of ER&L. For a while, it was 2 jobs for me. Over time, volunteers have stayed on and we’ve retained a lot of knowledge across our committees. We’ve also added staff which is necessary for a 1300+ person hybrid event that it has become. We not only have 800 people joining us in Austin but many more joining online for the live streaming online conference.

Neese: BY SOME, ER&L is considered the most nimble, thought-provoking and industry-challenging conference in its field. Why is this so?

Tijerina: We have a fleet of hardworking people, our core volunteers, who annually review the tracks from which our programming all hangs. I credit our community, and specifically our volunteers, with keeping their finger on the pulse of what we need to be addressing in the conference.

I also believe our openness to view ER&L as a platform and not just a conference allows us to make rapid decisions and deploy a new topic or program without any additional layers and loss of inertia.  

Neese: How does ER&L differ from what one would experience at other industry related events like the annual Charleston Conference or ALA Annual?

Tijerina: Well, we’re a niche conference and provide really important professional development for people who work in eResources, digital services in libraries and amongst the many library vendors.

The tone we set is one where we come together with industry partners to solve common challenges and educate one another. I think this is our great strength. If we strip down a subject to a problem to solve, a lesson to learn or a success story whether that is in a library or in a product, we gain insights, we gain partners and understanding that I ultimately believe supports our missions.

Neese: For first time attendees are there any events, sessions or parties that are a "must-do" while at the conference?

Tijerina: So many good things to do as a first timer, and you can’t make a mistake. I’d suggest getting your badge on Sunday and starting with the introduction to ER&L session on Sunday afternoon, followed by UT’s Welcome Reception at the Perry Castaneda Library.

Days are packed with great sessions from the opening keynote, all day long. The lightning talks are always a surprise. You never know what you’re going to get in that session. You may find a project or product you had no idea was out there or find that you’ve got a lot to share with colleagues working through a challenge.

The Exhibit hours have expanded this year. It is key to know the products and services available and the people who make them. They are a part of our network and I think the Vendor Reception is a must attend party.

After the day of learning and networking, I love that we see our community out having a great times in the city. There are fantastic museums, incredible live music and clubs and bars on 6th street.

Neese: As a first time attendee myself, I keep hearing chatter online about something called "Battle Decks". Can you elaborate here?

Tijerina: Sure. Battledecks is ER&L’s version of PowerPoint Karaoke. Jesse Koennecke from Cornell runs this as a part of the Fun & Games committee after the reception in the Ballroom. It’s great fun.

He’d want me to share his recent blog post inviting you to join: https://www.electroniclibrarian.org/2016-battledecks/

Neese: I noticed many registered attendees are "virtually attending" ER&L this year. Is this a new initiative and can you explain how this option might benefit those who can't physically attend in person? How does that work?

Tijerina: ER&L has had recordings and some sort of an online offering almost from the beginning, but over the last few years we’ve been able to provide a platform that allows many people who would otherwise not be able to come to Austin to join the conference online. In many ways, this has enabled our community to grow.

For example, one of our committee members Sarah Schaff at Denison is staying in Ohio and she’s organized a large viewing party across several libraries. We send the group attendees a party kit with posters and buttons and snacks. I love that there is networking happening beyond Austin and that we can bring a little fun and levity to the learning, too.

Neese: Last but not least, what will attendees come away with from their participation, both physically and/or virtually, from ER&L?

Tijerina: I’ve heard someone describe ER&L as “burning man for libraries.” I’m not sure that I’d go that far! I do think ER&L is well-curated by great volunteers and carefully shepherded by Elizabeth Winter from Georgia Tech (ER&L Program Planning Chair) and me.

When someone leaves ER&L, I would be pleased to hear any or all of this: “ER&L provided great sessions, ample opportunities to build a strong peer network, great snacks and an overall great time.”

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We love a good discussion and hope to hear your thoughts and opinions on digital publishing and ER&L 2018.

Please feel free to comment or answer some of these questions yourself and let us know what your predictions are.

• If you have attended ER&L in the past, what advice to you have for first time attendees?
• What is the most important digital change you think we will see evolve over the next 3 - 5 years?
• What are the major issues academic librarians and publishers will have to overcome (together) for the betterment of our industry? 
• Looking forward to your comments!

About:

Bonnie Tijerina: Fellow at @data_society, Librarian, @ERandL Founder and President. Library and information professionals hold skills and values necessary for the current and future of the networked world. My mission is to engage the library community in a broad conversation on the future of libraries and the important role library professionals can play in a modern, digital world. Tweet to Bonnie: @bonlth

Kait Neese: Ms. Neese has worked in the digital publishing sector of the book industry since 2009. She began her career in the fields of Print-on-Demand (POD), eBook and Self-Publishing technologies. She has attended over 42 International book fairs since 2010 and was recently a featured speaker at the First World Digital Publishing Conference held in Beijing, China. As of April, 2015 she transitioned from the general trade publishing and into the world of academic scholarly publishing. She was the former Midwest Account Manager for eBooks and Digital Content Sales at Taylor & Francis Group and now currently serves as the Southeast Account Manager for Springer Nature in College Markets, Public Libraries and K-12 Institutions. Tweet to Kait: @kaitneese or email [email protected] .