Attendance was up at the 2019 Wyoming Library Association conference that was held August 7-9 with 141 attendees and 24 vendors. In addition to the pre-conference sessions, fabulous keynote with PC Sweeney, and Ron Franscell’s author luncheon, there were 35 breakout sessions conducted by 59 presenters.

Jacob Mickelsen, Carbon County Library System Executive Director, was elected Vice President of WLA. Outgoing President Kate Mutch, Natrona County Library Assistant Director, passed the gavel to Abby Beaver, who will lead the organization as President for the 2019-2020 term. Abby is the Information Services Manager at the Wyoming State Library

Many were in attendance Thursday night for the Awards Reception honoring Dolleen Grobe as WLA’s Outstanding Heroine, Crest Hill Elementary Librarian Devin Hodges as Outstanding Librarian, and the Laramie County Community College Ludden Library & Learning Commons as this year’s Outstanding Library. Grobe was honored locally at a reception at the Ten Sleep Library in July. Plans are in the works to visit LCCC and Crest Hill Elementary to make local presentations there.

Generous WLA members donated 20 gift baskets to the annual Wyoming Library Leadership Institute (WLLI) raffle – everything from pet toys to Wyoming Whiskey. The raffle raised $1,742 for WLLI.

See more conference photos and news on WLA’s Facebook page. Also, keep in touch with WLA throughout the year by signing up for its email lists. Encourage your friends and co-workers to join the lists, too – you don’t have to be a member to subscribe.