Jess Rigollaud received the Spring 2026 Professional Development Scholarship to attend the Massachusetts School Library Association and she shares her reflection on the conference. Click here to learn more and apply for a VSLA Scholarship!

This spring brought a bevy of literature conferences, and after attending CLiF’s, then VSLA’s one-day events, I was feeling conferenced-out. But Massachusetts School Library Association put on a great conference last year, and I was also excited to attend this two-day conference in Norwood, MA, thanks to VSLA’s professional development scholarship. And it did not disappoint! The two days were full of learning about collection development, information literacy, vendors, and even good food. Camaraderie was in full swing: I satisfied my book nerd, even though our dinner table didn’t win our book trivia. If you’ve been considering some external professional development, MSLA has a lot to offer also.

Sessions

The most memorable session for me was a hands-on one at the very beginning of the conference, where a book crafter showed us how to make many types of books using copy paper. I’ve already added this to our library stations in my elementary school. These kiddos love to craft, and it gets them writing, and creating stories, or sharing information they already know. I might sneak in a couple reminders about parts of a book: “Put a title and the author on the cover…” Or, the books could be used to share what students have learned in library, or another class. The more complicated books could be started in library with information, and finished to look beautiful in art class.

I also attended sessions that included bibliotherapy; district-wide (Boston is a big district) professional development PLC for librarians; and choose-your-own games for middle schoolers to assess their media literacy learning.

Vendors

There was a full array of vendors, from graduate library programs to books to databases. 

I’ve signed up for a trial to try out Fact Cite: a low cost, responsive database created by teachers with many of the features of the larger ones, without too many bells and whistles. I learned about Gale’s educator resources: want to run an escape room in the library? Gale already has several created in there. Learning Ally is a company that provides audiobooks to students who can’t access text at their reading level. It uses human voices, and has no borrowing limits once established. Thorndike Press provides large print books. It uses the same cover and content, so other students won’t know someone needs large print. They’re available to order through Gale.

Salem State and Simmons University both offer graduate level classes online. So if you’re looking to move up on the salary scale, take a look at their offerings. You can take up to three classes from Salem State without being part of their MEd, with or without a library focus. Summer is the time for me to consider a class, and they both have a few on offer. 

I learned so much at MSLA’s annual conference, and appreciate the scholarship from VSLA so I could easily attend. Learning was done casually during meals, and formally within the sessions. Networking opportunities with librarians and presenters was invigorating.