I tend to prefer conference events that provide interactive opportunities for attendees to “get work done” or to leave inspired with practical action items to bring back home. Everyone knows this happens informally in the hallways, on the exhibit floor, or over meals, but I’m very excited about tomorrow’s talk table, Latinos and Public Library Perceptions (Thursday, 4:00-5:15 pm, Oregon Convention Center – A103-104).

I’m co-facilitating the session with MaryKay Dalgreen from the Oregon State Library. After we introduce some of the published research about library use and perceptions of Latino’s nationally we’ll share some of the great Spanish language outreach that Oregon libraries have been doing. And then we’ll let the group get some work done!

Using the World Café model for discovery discussions and guided by the key findings of the research, we’ll look at ways to:

• Know your local Latino community
• Create and promote services for learning English
• Promote and provide access to computers and job related services
• Be welcoming and demonstrate respect for confidentiality

If you’re here in Portland, we hope you’ll join us tomorrow, and if you can’t make it, fear not; we’ll be posting the great ideas, stories and questions gathered back on WebJunction.

PS: Don’t miss another great session just before this one with some of  WebJunction community’s best and brightest. Power up Your Learning Organization (Thursday, 2:00-3:15 pm, Oregon Convention Center – A105-106) and checkout this list for more PLA sightings of WebJunction members and staff!