Published: August 5, 2024 by Cat Tang

From June 27 to July 2, 2024, I had the opportunity to attend the ALA Annual Conference in San Diego, California, thanks to financial assistance from the SJSU iSchool travel grant and student organization leadership funding I was eligible for as the result of my involvement in the SJSU iSchool’s ALA Student Chapter. It was my first time ever attending a conference, and I was both nervous and excited to present the poster I had co-authored with my fellow ALASC officers, Brianna Morales and Shannon Broden. While I had initially planned to attend ALA Annual 2024 solely for our poster presentation, my personal schedule of commitments filled up with additional opportunities in the time leading up to the conference, so I ended up having a very busy six days! It was an incredible educational experience, and I left San Diego feeling like I had undergone significant personal and professional growth. I had an unforgettable time and am immensely grateful to the iSchool for making it possible for me to participate in the conference.

I traveled to San Diego on June 27 with the intention of taking part in a preconference walking tour led by the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum. Unfortunately, I ended up having to miss the tour due to an accident on the freeway and resultant traffic conditions. Before I checked into my hotel, however, I did stop by the San Diego Convention Center to pick up my conference badge, hoping to get my bearings and avoid the crowd of people on the first official day of the conference. This was a good decision—much of the conference was still in the process of being set up, so the convention halls were quiet and I was able to comfortably walk around and get acclimated to the space.

The next day, June 28, I got up bright and early for the Reference and User Services Association’s “The History and Heritage of the Asian Cultures Who Call San Diego Home” preconference, presented by their History Section’s Genealogy & Local History Committee. Or maybe I should say “cloudy” and early—the mornings were overcast almost every day during my trip, but the sun always came out later in the day. I enjoyed the cooler mornings as they created the perfect atmosphere for me to sip hot matcha on my way to start the day’s activities. I began that morning by catching the conference-provisioned shuttle to the Marriott Marquis, where the RUSA preconference was being held. Though the preconference was inaccurately titled, as it ended up being primarily about researching Mexican ancestry, indigenous roots, and other aspects of genealogy and local history, I was able to learn about many free and paid resources available to patrons who might come into the library looking to research genealogy or local history—valuable information to add to my reference toolkit.

The full-day preconference included a break for lunch, so I walked to the Gaslamp Quarter to get food. On my way back, I stopped by the ALA Store in the Convention Center to pick up the tee shirt I had purchased with my conference registration. Just as I took a seat on a bench to fold the shirt and tuck it into my bag, I heard a voice calling my name and looked up to see a coworker from one of my jobs approaching me—the first of many serendipitous run-ins with faces new and old during my trip! After being introduced to the friend she was traveling with and having a brief chat with the two of them, I said goodbye and headed back to the Marriott Marquis for the rest of the preconference.

The last session of the preconference featured Jacinta Wong, the executive director of the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, talking about the history of the museum, the Chinese population in San Diego, and the Chinatown that used to exist in the downtown area. I love learning about local history, but especially the history of peoples who share my identity, so her talk was everything I had been waiting for! After the session wrapped up, I approached her to introduce myself as the vice chair of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander iSchool Student Group at SJSU, let her know how much I enjoyed her presentation, and asked her if she might be interested in participating in a virtual speaker event for the AANHPI student group in the future. She responded affirmatively and gave me her business card, and I thanked her and said I would try to stop by the museum in a few days.

The preconference ran long enough that I had missed the opening session featuring Trevor Noah, but I walked back to the Convention Center in time for the opening of the Exhibit Hall at 5:30 p.m. Upon entering, I was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer size of the room, the seemingly endless rows of booths, all the people, and all the sights to see. As a first-time conference attendee, I had no idea where to begin or what I was even supposed to do—I’d heard about all the free stuff that gets doled out in the Exhibit Hall, but as I peered at all the books and items on display, I couldn’t tell what was actually free and what was solely on display. My nerves were also getting the best of me, so I slipped through the crowd taking only tentative peeks at the booths and trying not to make eye contact with anyone. In search of a friendly face, I headed to the Zine Pavilion and peeked at the zinesters tabling there, as my friend had told me she’d be tabling during the conference, but I didn’t see her. When I texted her about it, she informed me she wouldn’t be tabling until the following day.

Feeling a bit dismayed, I turned around and was surprised to find a series of food tables being set up and a long line of people already queuing to fill their bellies. Seeing as the last time I’d eaten had been five hours ago, I joined the line too, and getting some food in my belly provided some much-needed fortification, though I still felt like a wallflower hovering near the snack table at a party. I found myself surprised again when I finished my food and saw that the food tables had already been cleared out and were being packed up and put away again as quickly as they had been set up—seems like I had been very lucky to get a bite to eat!

Thankfully, shortly afterward I was able to locate my friend Erica Vu, current chair of the AANHPI student group, and with her by my side, I was able to more comfortably navigate the Exhibit Hall, though I still found the sheer amount of sights and sounds somewhat overwhelming. We stayed in the Exhibit Hall until it closed at 7 p.m., wandering the maze of booths and trying not to collect too many free tote bags and books—or, well, I tried. Erica went wild! After the Exhibit Hall closed, she invited me to dinner with a friend, but sadly I had to decline the invitation since I’m taking a class this summer, and I still had work to do. So, after my busy day, I headed back to my hotel room and buckled down to work on classwork before bed.

On June 29, I met up with fellow ALASC officers Brianna Morales, Shannon Broden, and Sabrina Bobadilla for breakfast at Achilles Coffee Roasters @ Park 12. Though we all live in California, it was the first time I ever met any of them, and we discussed job hunting and our conference experiences thus far among other fun topics.

Afterward, we split up into pairs. Sabrina and I headed to the Convention Center to explore the Exhibit Hall since Sabrina had not had a chance to see it yet. After stopping by the GameRT booth and a couple others, we headed to the Zine Pavilion, where I finally located my dear friend Eori Tokunaga—zinester, recent iSchool alumna, and my predecessor as ALASC events coordinator. Eori had graduated and left ALASC just around the time Sabrina had joined, so I introduced them to each other, and we chatted for a bit. Unfortunately, I could not stick around long because my poster presentation with Shannon and Brianna was set to begin soon, and I needed to head upstairs to the Sails Pavilion, but I was very happy to see Eori again. I wished her luck with the remainder of her zine tabling and bid Sabrina farewell, too, since she intended to stay and continue exploring the Exhibit Hall.

When I arrived at the Sails Pavilion, Shannon had already set up our poster, and I was greeted by the Brooklyn Public Library staff presenting their own poster on their Pathways to Leadership DEI scholarship program in the spot adjacent to us. The poster Shannon, Brianna, and I had authored was entitled “Organizational Preservation: From the Perspective of an ALA Student Chapter” and it captured the work we have done over the past year to build a sound infrastructure and ensure the long-term health of our student organization. We had intended for our poster to appeal to a broad audience of student organizations and non-student organizations alike, so we were delighted when we were approached by not only SJSU alumni and current iSchool students looking to learn more about ALASC and get involved with us, but also library professionals from a diverse range of organizations, who complimented us and noted the relevance and applicability of our work to many different organizational settings. By the end of The Educators Poster Session, we felt like our poster presentation had been a success, and I was energized by having had the opportunity to talk about our work in ALASC with other students, alumni, and library professionals.

After Brianna helped me take down the poster, we said our goodbyes, as she had another engagement to attend as a 2023-2024 Spectrum Scholar, and I walked to the Hilton Bayfront to attend the SJSU iSchool ALA Annual networking reception. At the reception, I reunited with Sabrina, and we met another current iSchool student and talked to her about our work in ALASC, piquing her interest to join us in the future. I also had the opportunity to finally meet iSchool Director Anthony Chow in person—after having met and worked with him online numerous times—as well as many other iSchool alumni who came to the reception. It was a lovely occasion filled with networking, food, cake, several raffles (none of which I won), student poster presentations, and the appearance of the iSchool’s serving robot carrying drinks to attendees!

The following day, June 30, kicked off with me catching the conference shuttle to the Convention Center and walking from there to the Manchester Grand Hyatt, where Erica and I were scheduled to take part in an iSchool video shoot. After some confusion over how to operate the elevators, I made it up to the room where the interview was being filmed, and Erica and I had the opportunity to talk about our iSchool student journeys, our work forming the AANHPI iSchool Student Group, and why diversity, equity, and inclusion is important. I was a bit nervous about being interviewed, and so was Erica, but we both thought it was a good opportunity and an important chance to share our stories.

Afterward, Erica and I went to afternoon tea together, then parted ways as I headed to visit the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum and Erica returned to the Convention Center. At the museum, I enjoyed viewing cultural artifacts and learning about the history of Chinese settlers in San Diego. I particularly appreciated the intricate display of shop dioramas depicting San Diego’s historical Chinatown.

When I finished exploring the museum, I returned to the Convention Center and rejoined Erica at the main presentation stage upstairs, listening to ALA President Emily Drabinski in conversation with other librarians for about 20 minutes. Though I wished I could have stayed longer, I then had to depart and walk over to the Marriott Marquis for my next engagement, the New Members Round Table Annual Social. There, I was reunited with Sabrina and Shannon, and we were joined by Dr. Chow and fellow ALASC officer Eddie Lagos. SJSU’s ALASC had the honor of being distinguished as NMRT’s Student Chapter of the Year 2024, so my fellow ALASC officers and I took a picture with Dr. Chow to commemorate the award.

The next morning, on July 1, I again woke up bright and early to report to my volunteer shift at the iSchool booth in the Exhibit Hall, where I had the pleasure of meeting SJSU staff members Vivian Zuo, recruitment and events associate; and Sheila Gurtu, student outreach specialist. I also met Dr. Chow again, as well as iSchool Professor Lisa Houde and a number of SJSU alumni, current students, and prospective students. I love doing outreach, so I had a wonderful time talking to everyone who stopped by the booth—especially the alumni, as I was able to tell them about ALASC’s semesterly “Connect Over Coffee” series and gather interest for the upcoming fall 2024 event.

After I finished my shift at the iSchool booth, Erica met me in the Exhibit Hall, and we walked to the Gaslamp Quarter together to visit a cat cafe. We played with kitties for an hour, then returned to the Exhibit Hall, which was closing at 2 p.m. Booths were being deconstructed and cleaned out, with some vendors giving away all of the items they had left. As a result, some people were queued up in long lines, waiting to get their hands on the last books available at publishers’ booths. Personally, I had no interest in waiting in a long line, so I just floated around seeing what was left. Throughout the conference, I had adopted the policy of collecting only what I wanted and truly planned to read or give away to other people (such as a bunch of children’s books for my aunt, who is expecting a new baby soon), so I maintained that standard until the very last day. Erica and I had gotten separated in the chaos of the Exhibit Hall winding down, but somehow, we managed to find each other again without any coordination right outside one of the doors to the hall.

Erica had collected far more books than me, so she decided to return to her hotel to drop them off, while I stayed at the Convention Center hoping to catch a few educational sessions before the end of the conference. I had wanted to go to educational sessions throughout the past few days, but the sheer busyness of my schedule had made it impossible for me to catch one until the very end. Erica returned to the Convention Center after depositing her books, and we both attended a session called “Paddling the Canoe Together: Three Pacific Island Librarians Share Ways to Serve Indigenous Communities,” hosted by SJSU alumni and staff member, Neil Ordinario, along with Pacific Islander LIS professionals Nicky Andrews and Steve Shaw. Their presentation covered many topics, including the marginalization of Pacific Islanders within combined “Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)” spaces, lack of Pacific Islander representation within the publishing industry and LIS field, and ways LIS professionals can advocate for Pacific Islander communities. The presentation uplifted and invigorated me because I had been working on an AAPI Heritage Month display for my library this past May, and I observed the very phenomenon they described in their talk—my library had almost no books written by Pacific Islander authors or featuring Pacific Islander characters for me to feature in my display. When I tried to look for references or recommendations for works we might add to our collection, I repeatedly ran into “AAPI booklists” that only had works by Asian American authors and no Pacific Islander authors at all, to my utter frustration. But Neil, Nicky, and Steve’s presentation included a wealth of resources to find indigenous Pacific Islander books, media, and archival materials, and that excited me so much I felt a renewed determination to engage in ally ship and advocacy sparking up inside me. After the session ended, Erica and I approached Neil to convey our compliments and thanks for the fantastic presentation, and it was also nice to just meet him in person, as we had previously hosted him as a guest for the AANHPI student group’s March 2024 monthly Teatime.

While Erica returned to her hotel after that, I stayed for one last session about youth engagement, community outreach, and connection, which again left me feeling energized because youth services, outreach, and building community connection are probably the aspects of librarianship I am most passionate about. Thus, I wrapped up my day with a sense of rekindled joy and commitment to librarianship.

On July 2, the final morning of the ALA Annual Conference, I caught the shuttle for the last time and met Erica at the Convention Center to attend the closing session, which began with incumbent ALA President Emily Drabinski giving concluding remarks, announcing the 2024-2025 presidents of ALA’s subdivisions (e.g. PLA, ACRL, YALSA, etc.), and passing her ALA presidency to incoming 2024-2025 ALA President Cindy Hohl. Maybe it was from all the inspiring and uplifting events of the past few days marinating in my soul, but I found myself becoming unexpectedly choked with emotion as I watched and listened to Emily declare, “When ordinary people like you and me stand on behalf of things that matter, we can win the world.”

The closing session then proceeded to a talk moderated by Kwame Mbalia and featuring Anika Noni Rose, best known as the voice of Princess Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. As I watched and listened to the two successful Black artists talking about their journeys and the voices they’ve given to their communities, then I really did start crying. DEI work is never-ending, and sometimes, I feel like we still have so far to go, but in that room, in that space, in that moment at the very end of the conference, my heart felt so beautifully and painfully full. Anika talked too about her love of libraries, self-care, and struggling with motivation with such gentleness it seemed impossible for me not to cry—I had sustained a personal loss just before leaving for the conference, and her words brought my grief back to the surface, yet not entirely in a bad way. Even as I cried, I felt that my heart was on the path to healing. I don’t think I was alone in my emotion—earlier during the conference, I had noticed there were conference badge ribbons available that read, “Be kind to me, I’m grieving.” During that closing session, it seemed to me that there were many emotions in the room. Kwame began tearing up, too, and when he did, he affirmed, “Crying is gender nonspecific,” which touched my very soul.

At the end of that morning, when I walked out of the Convention Center for the last time into the bright San Diegan sunshine, I felt that strange mix of emotion that accompanies a good cry, that sense of emptiness and grief mingled with peace and relief. From start to finish, ALA Annual 2024 was a flurry of new and deeply meaningful experiences for me, and I loved every moment of it. I am so grateful to the iSchool for giving me this opportunity, for all the people I’ve met along this journey, and for everyone back home who’s been cheering me on. At the end of the conference, I returned home ready to continue growing as a person and a professional, energized and inspired and eager to continue fighting the good fight, uplifting people, and creating community! I can’t wait to see what the rest of this year and my MLIS journey has in store for me.

Editor’s Note: The SJSU iSchool highly encourages students to attend professional conferences but also realizes that it can be cost prohibitive. Travel grants are available to eligible students to help lessen the financial burden and increase conference participation. iSchool student Cat Tang received one of these travel grants.