Something for Everyone? A Content Analysis of Provincial Library Association Conference Sessions

Abstract

Objective – To determine the breakdown of provincial library association conference sessions by the following categories: library sector, library group, and topic. Methods – A content analysis of five years worth of conference sessions from British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, using an evidence based library and information practice framework. Results – 287 out of the 551 total sessions over the five years analyzed targeted all library sectors. 194 sessions targeted public libraries, 66 were for academic libraries, 70 focused on school libraries, and only 7 specifically targeted special libraries. 201 out of the 551 total sessions could be of interest to all groups; 334 were of particular interest to librarians; 122 were targeted towards library technicians, 54 sessions targeted library workers; and 89 sessions were specifically for trustees. Management was the most popular session topic, followed by Culture, Information Access and Retrieval, Collections, Professional Issues, Programming, Reference, and Education Conclusions - While public library sessions did indeed dominate all of the conference sessions when individual sectors were examined, sessions appropriate for every library sector outnumbered everything else. The majority of sessions were of particular interest to librarians, and Management was the most popular session topic.