Members Benefit from Attending 2023 NWILL Conference With Amigos Scholarship

With an exclusively designed sponsorship package, Amigos supported the Northwest Interlibrary Loan & Resource Sharing (NWILL) Conference exhibiting at a virtual booth and providing several Amigos member libraries scholarships for a staff member to attend the conference. Recipients of the Amigos Scholarships were asked to share some takeaways from the conference such as what stood out to them at the conference and anything they started or planned to change after having attended the conference.  

Miguel Fernandez, Systems Librarian, Sul Ross University, said that it gave him great ideas to improve his department, including revising policies and procedures, and exploring solutions for implementing Controlled Digital Lending.

Karen Guerin-Delce, Library Technology Specialist, University of North Texas – Dallas, mentioned "I was deeply impressed by the array of informative sessions and the opportunity to connect with fellow professionals in the field. The conference provided invaluable insights into the latest trends and best practices in interlibrary loan and resource sharing, inspiring me to adopt new approaches in my daily work and explore innovative technologies that can optimize interlibrary loan processes and enhance user experiences." Karen noted that one of the conference's highlights was the keynote presentation by Sara Benson on "Moving Beyond the CONTU Guidelines: How to Incorporate Fair Use into Interlibrary Loan Practices." This thought-provoking session addressed the issue of libraries' reliance on outdated CONTU Guidelines for copyright compliance, advocating for a more modern and flexible approach grounded in fair use principles.

Brandon Martin, Instructor of Library Services, Systems Librarian & Resource Sharing Coordinator, Northeastern State University Broken Arrow Library, provided this feedback on their scholarship experience: "I really enjoyed the variety of sessions available at the conference and felt there was something for everyone. Session topics included copyright, student worker training, eBook lending, accessibility, lending special collections, and more. The session titled Writing it all down: The evolution of future-proofing library workflows will inspire us to take on our documentation again and create something better than before and something that can be used for the foreseeable future."