I have been a member of the Arizona Library Association for over 30 years, and in that time, have held numerous offices in the association. Most recently, in 2020, I was elected to the Executive Board as the southern region representative, (and was just re-elected this October to another 2 year term).
These past few years have been very challenging for AZLA. The pandemic has been largely responsible for us not having an in-person conference in over two years. That, combined with a few other major challenges, held us back significantly, causing us to lose membership and go into debt. Things began to change however, in early 2022, when a new slate of officers was elected to manage the association. The new president, Lisa Lewis, brought all the current officers and members of the State Library together at a planning retreat held in May in Chandler. We renewed our commitment to keep the association alive and growing. We also let go of our office manager and took control of the association’s website and other management functions. Our top priority was to plan our upcoming conference and to get our finances in order. The board and the conference planning committee were very eager to see to it that this conference was successful.
In the end, the 2022 conference, was in my opinion, one of the best we’ve ever put together. While we didn’t get huge attendance numbers, we had some excellent programs and all of our keynote speakers were top-notch. I cannot take any credit at all for the conference’s success. That needs to go to our conference planning committee and our president, president-elect, and treasurer, who met frequently to sort out all the issues, select the programs and keynote speakers, and pay all the bills that come with putting on a big three day event like this. It turned out to be one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended.
The conference was held in Prescott, Az, on October 27 and 28, 2022. I left Tucson at 9am on the 27th, and made a pit stop in Phoenix where I bought a few things at Bookmans on Northern Ave, including a couple of Benny Goodman albums and a book on jazz before heading up to Prescott.
More Benny Goodman albums for my growing collection.
I found this too. It’s a heavy mutha.
I arrived at the hotel in Prescott some time in the afternoon. I’d never been to Prescott before, and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. The elevation of the town is over 5,000 feet, and there are hills and mountains all around. It was gorgeous. The weather was cool and the skies were nice and clear the whole time. I spent most of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the conference, but did manage to go shopping at a few thrift stores and visit the downtown area on Friday morning. I regret not being able to spend more time exploring, and would like to go back one day to do that. Jerome and Camp Verde are in the vicinity and it would have been great to visit these places and to visit friends who live in the area.
I bought this postcard in the downtown area. It’s one of many that I found while there.
The drive to Prescott from Tucson took more than 4 hours. I stopped in Phoenix and visited Bookmans on the way up and also encountered some slow traffic along the way.
“It’s a New Day” was our conference theme. Lisa Lewis, our new president came up with it. It was perfect.
AZLA President Lisa Lewis and President-elect, Casey Van Haren at our registration table. Lisa is a very no-nonsense, but inspiring leader, and Casey is a hoot. What a great team!
Our conference was held at the Prescott Resort and Casino. My room was spacious, but the bed wasn’t very firm, and the carpeting was lumpy. Oh well. At least there was a great view.
The first photo was taken from my room window, and the one on the right was taken during our opening reception.
I ran into my friend and colleague, Jean McClelland. She photobombed my shot of the sunset.
Jamie LaRue is a longtime librarian who has spoken several times at our conferences. He was just great. He spoke about the idea of “intentional transformation” and how libraries can change lives. It was a very profound talk and I enjoyed it immensely.
My good friend Jose’ Aguinaga is now a library science professor at San Jose’ State University. He made it to the conference on the first day, and we had coffee and lunch together. I always enjoy meeting up with him. He’s a great friend and colleague.
This was a very informative program.
Some of the women featured in this book were present and spoke during the luncheon on Thursday. They were amazing. I introduced the speaker for this program. The young woman who did the presentation shared a lot of interesting information and ideas.
I also introduced my colleague Robin Huff-Eibl, who spoke about the University of Arizona Library’s technology lending program and its impact on our student population, particularly students of color. It was a very informative presentation.
I don’t know why I’m including this place, but I had dinner here. It was not great and way too expensive, but convenient, as it was just down the street from my hotel.
I sat at the same table with these volunteers from the Scottsdale Public Library. The lady pictured on the far left won this year’s volunteer of the year award. Adiba Nelson closed the conference with a wonderful talk about her life and its challenges. She made us all laugh so many times it was just wild. Loved her. On Friday morning, I hit the thrift and antique stores, as well as the Sharlot Hall Museum. The Governor’s mansion houses the little gift shop there, and these photos were taken inside it.
I found these while in the antique stores. The Dee Dee Sharp picture sleeve didn’t come with the actual record, but I already had it at home.
Treasures from the St. Vincent DePaul thrift store.
I found all of these cds for 50 cents to a dollar at the St. Vincent De Paul and Disabled American Veterans thrift stores. CDs are not as popular as they once were, and one can easily find lots of great recordings at these places, but it sometimes takes patience and time to wade through a lot of “junk” before you find the good ones. I found a lot of great ones! It was my lucky day.
More postcards that I found along the way. I was able to make a quick stop into one of the stores along Whiskey Row. The photo on the left is of the kiosk on the grounds of the old State Capitol, I think.
My last activity while in Prescott was having dinner with Lisa Lewis and other folks involved with the conference. We had a lovely time. I got up bright and early the following day and headed back home to Tucson to prepare for my Boston vacation with Ruben.
