Many thanks to Laura Turpin, St. Croix Falls Public Library, for this incisive tour through her experiences at the PLA Conference!

I didn’t go into the 2026 PLA conference looking for information on any specific topics beyond “I want to learn something interesting and/or useful to me.” So imagine my surprise when I reviewed my session notes and saw a few repeating themes: connecting with youth, communicating inclusivity, and defending intellectual freedom on a practical level.

I attended one session on teen services in rural areas, one on summer programming for rural areas, and one on Makerspace programs for teens and tweens. The presenters for the first two sessions all had experience working with teens at small libraries, and shared not just their programs and services, but the reasons behind why they offered them. All presentations emphasized that, when working with youth, be where they are, see what they do, and hear what they think. Then use that data to find where you can have the most impact, focus your attention there, and stop angsting about what you’re not doing. This is a long process; expect to make efforts for *years* before you see meaningful results, especially with teens.

I also attended three sessions on inclusivity and accommodations: Protecting Queer Staff at Your Library; Accommodating Neurodivergent Employees; and Inclusive Programming for Children and Youth. Together, these three sessions drove home that inclusivity needs to be explicit for people to truly feel comfortable. Queer staff (and others too!) need to know in advance what the library will do when somebody targets them. Neurodivergent staff need to know what to expect in advance so they can budget their energy accordingly and prepare responses if they need to. Caregivers for children with disabilities need to know that they will actually be welcomed, not just tolerated, when they make the effort to bring their child to a program. Marginalized communities are deservedly skeptical when organizations tout their inclusivity; too many organizations work harder at saying the right things than at changing their attitudes and practices. If you don’t know what a particular group needs, ask its members within your community or advocacy groups made up of its members. Then let them know exactly what you will do to welcome them.

Finally, I attended three sessions about intellectual freedom. The first, Faith Allies for Intellectual Freedom, described a new program being launched by United for Libraries and Interfaith Alliance. One of their takeaways was that faith groups who support intellectual freedom exist, and they can make powerful library partners for areas where their aims overlap. Another program drew lessons from the era of comic book censorship that can be applied to modern anti-censorship efforts, focusing on the ideas of perserverence, adaptation, and community. The last session I attended was called Good Trouble in the Library, and showcased some practical ways to apply perserverence, adaptation, and community to help counter the effects of censorious movements. They focused on sharing responsibility and building partnerships, reducing the cost of helping, and keeping services going by communicating about them only strategically.

The final important thing I learned was that the best time to walk by the publisher booths in the exhibit hall is about two hours before closing on the final day. Nobody wants to ship all their display books