Casey Orr, CLRC Professional Development Award Recipient, Talks About the 2025 ALA Conference

In June, I attended the ALA 2025 Annual Conference & Exhibition as a participant and presenter, thanks to the Professional Development Award through the Central New York Libraries Resources Council (CLRC). This was my first time attending an ALA conference, and the first time I presented solo research at a library conference. As a library science student and future librarian, this was a great opportunity for me to connect with others in the general community as well as library researchers working in similar areas.

Due to my summer internship work schedule, I arrived in Philadelphia late on Friday and attended the Saturday and Sunday events. On Saturday, I attended various talks, including the main stage event with Dr. Carla Hayden, and visited many vendors at the Marketplace. The talks I attended were amazing, and I had a great first day at ALA.

The next day, I presented my poster, “The Impact of ChatGPT on Academic Library Reference: A Case Study in Ethnographic User Research,” alongside others in the Outreach and Engagement poster session. I was busy the entire session talking with various people and groups – so much so that there was a constant overlap of people listening to my research, asking me questions, and engaging in passionate conversations! This was the largest conference I have presented at, which was very nerve-wracking, but all of the other conference-goers were warm, welcoming, and interested in my research.

I would not have been able to attend ALA without the help of CLRC and the Professional Development Award. I had an amazing experience, both as a conference attendant and a presenter, and I look forward to continuing my research and growing as a library science professional.