More than 160 Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) employees joined their peers from around the state this week as part of the 2023 Virginia Library Association’s (VLA) Annual Conference. Held at the Westfields Marriot in Chantilly, the conference provided attendees the opportunity to participate in educational presentations, make connections and celebrate the achievements of the past year.  

The conference began on Sunday, Oct. 22 with the annual awards banquet where two of FCPL’s own staff members were among the honorees. Gary Goodson and Atnaf Ameha won the Public Library Innovator Award, which “recognizes public librarians or public library project teams who have made an outstanding contribution to advance the mission of a public library in Virginia through an innovative project, program or service during the nomination period.” Goodson and Ameha received the award for their development of various Microsoft Power applications used by library staff. 

Sunday also featured the conference’s poster exhibition, where an FCPL staff member was among the exhibitors. Dianne Coan, FCPL’s Division Director of Technical Operations, presented “Set Overdrive on Cruise Control: More Circulation, Same Holds."

The remaining two days of the conference were dedicated to informational presentations and panel discussions on industry-related topics. Of the 70 different programs offered to attendees, FCPL staff led, co-led or participated in eight presentations and discussions. These included:

• “Be Brave: Create Safe Spaces and Build Inclusivity” co-led by Elizabeth Bass, Burke Centre Library Branch Manager 

• “Library Security: Best Practices to Keep Staff and Customers Safe” led by Kevin Osborne, FCPL Deputy Director, and Mike Siriwardena, Reston Regional Library Branch Manager 

• “Collection Maintenance Reports Made Easy” led by James Cullen of FCPL Technical Operations and Gary Goodson of the FCPL IT Team 

• “NARCAN in the Library: How to Get Overdose Reversal Training and Medicine into your Library” led by Kevin Osborne 

• “Both Sides Now: Changing from Academic to Public Libraries” co-led by Mike Siriwardena and Hall Baldwin, Dolley Madison Library Branch Manager 

• “Neurodiversity 101: An Insider’s Perspective” led by Kerri Zuiker, Youth Services Information Assistant at Centreville Regional Library, and Kelly Gilbert, Adult Services Librarian at Chantilly Regional Library 

• “Building and Sustaining a Makerspace: Come Together & Create” led by Emily Swain, Assistant Branch Manager at Kings Park Library, and Sahadev Poudel, Library Information Assistant at Herndon Fortnightly Library 

• “Desegregation of Libraries in Virginia” led by Suzanna S. LaPierre, Virginiana Specialist Librarian at the Virginia Room 

Check out our gallery of photos from the conference here.