GLISA helps two students experience TLA 2024

The Graduate Library and Information Studies Association (GLISA) awarded two students, Barbara Harbour and Catia Azevedo de Souza, the opportunity to attend the Texas Library Association (TLA) 2024 conference. 

Harbour grew up hearing about the best conferences and all of the library news around as her mother is a library director. But the price of the TLA conference and sometimes location was too much for Harbour to ever attend until she received the GLISA scholarship.

“When I received the email, I was completely shocked and delighted. I am very grateful.” Harbour said. “It is one of those core memories that will remain with me for years to come.”

She marveled at the breadth of panels and presentations as well as the number of incredible authors and powerhouse publishing companies at TLA, but her favorite part of the conference was meeting authors and chatting with other librarians while in line for book signings.

“It was eye-opening and granted me a special appreciation of my library that I didn’t have before,” Harbour said. 

While enamored with authors who attended, Harbour took away plenty from panels and presentations. She has already acted on direction learned from two specific presentations that have helped her at work. 

Paying the good will forward, Harbour donated at least half of the more than 40 free books she received at the conference to her local libraries. 

Azevedo de Souza, meanwhile, enjoyed the opportunity to meet and mingle face-to-face with staff and faculty from Texas Woman’s.

“Everything at the TLA conference just inspires me to keep pushing forward in my studies, and I really appreciate TWU’s support,” Azevedo de Souza said. “It meant a lot to me since it was the very first time I participated in a professional library conference after working with public libraries for almost 10 years.”

GLISA afforded Azevedo de Souza the opportunity to see her place of employment, the Houston Public Library win a recognition prize at TLA. A session that stood out to her was Pre-K Librarians in Action: The Nitty-Gritty of Story Times.

“It reminded me that storytelling goes beyond just reading books aloud,” Azevedo de Souza said. “It is about understanding different cultures and being flexible in how we share stories.”

Page last updated 4:16 PM, August 16, 2024