2023 Tennessee Library Association (TNLA) Conference

Call me crazy but for some reason I went through the July 2022 - June 2023 fiscal year not president of one all-volunteer, membership-based, advocacy association.

No, I was president of two!

In hindsight, I should have stood down from the president-elect TNLA election the year before.  It was too much, way too much, for one person to handle and to process and to lead. But this was an opportunity to lead an association that was tied to my long-time professional career. Libraries needed advocacy more than ever with the constant attack on the profession from all corners. I thought it was a chance to use my advocacy knowledge and skill set to help out the association but it did not happen as I envisioned it would until the very last board meeting I chaired.

Major accomplishments included completing the logo and branding changes from TLA to TNLA, a statement about protecting librarians from censorship, approving two future advocacy events, and a very well-attended TNLA annual conference!

I got back from the Knoxville weekend on Sunday the 9th and was gone to Memphis on Monday the 10th. I stayed at the beautiful tower known as the Memphis Hilton. I had been here a few times before for past TNLA conferences and past TNPTA conventions. As an elite Hilton member, I was able to choose the option of being placed in the highest floor available. There is a beautiful moat surrounding the hotel tower.

I had my conference theme in mind way back in April of 2021 at my president-elect election and had my conference committee appointed and ready to go by May 2021. TNLA requires the president-elect to get the conference committee working two years in advance of the president's annual conference. I think that is just excellent structure to provide maximum planning.

My conference theme and my delegate card for my lanyard. The green square on my card meant that I was ok with hugs, talking/conversing, and not wearing a mask.

This conference had over 50 workshops! 50! And they were well-attended. The complete opposite of the Tennessee PTA annual convention that would be held the following week. We had almost 300 people attending the annual business meeting!  We had exhibitors hanging out in three merged ballrooms because there were so many. We had a huge turnout for the board meeting. Here is the 2022-2023 board of directors pictured below.

And pictures from the business meeting that was held the following day.

The TNLA Conference was awesome! It was so much fun, having a large conference committee planning to make things go so much better. It was a pleasure to serve this association to celebrate the stars at every library in Tennessee!

April 7 to 9 Trip to Knoxville

We made a weekend trip to Knoxville just a few days before I left for Memphis for the TNLA annual conference. This is a blended blog - I have it categorized as a PTA Trip because that's why we came but we packaged it with personal stuff as well.

We brought the office computer up for our new office administrator. This also meant that I no longer had to use my personal publisher on my work computer to create PTA certificates. Woo! We also brought up more office and PTA stuff that had been housed in my extra bedroom as temporary storage during the sale of the Nashville office building.

I sat in the president's office and in the president's chair, got to see the new arrangement of furniture. It was a good visit to the new Tennessee PTA office in Knoxville. Being a blended trip meant that PTA got this trip for free -- no reimbursements for travel, meals, or lodging! 

So we finished moving the stuff in and got myself acquainted with the office and with the potential storage unit.  That was it for the PTA side of things!

We checked into our hotel - the Crowne Plaza Knoxville Downtown. What a beautiful hotel!  And what did PTA care - they weren't paying for it! We were able to walk across the street and enjoy Market Square. We found some delicious food on the square at Myrtle's Chicken. If you are ever at the Square, check their chicken meals out!

When we got back, I worked on my laptop writing the podium book for two conventions. Can you believe I was state president for both the Tennessee Library Association and for the Tennessee Parent Teacher Association? And yes, both conventions were in April. I was busy preparing. Both nights, Friday and Saturday turned into long hours of preparing documents, speeches, and much more. The TNLA convention started on the next Tuesday.

The next day, Saturday, we stopped by the office again just to get really acquainted and to put my stamp on the office as president. Even though, I really would not use the office as president that much in person.

We left the office and drove around aimlessly. First through Oak Ridge. Then back to Knox County and went east. We eventually ended up at Norris Lake. 

We enjoyed visiting this beautiful TVA lake that was so close to the new Tennessee PTA office! A great visit to Knoxville, to the Tennessee PTA office, and the beauty of east Tennessee.

Building Sold - April 4, 2023

Downtown Nashville and I am trying to find the attorney's office. I made the trip up to Nashville and plan to return back to Chattanooga all in the same day.  I was briefly the only Tennessee PTA president with two offices at the same time -- one starting up in Knoxville and one being sold in Nashville. 

Finding the attorney's office, I parked in the underground garage, riding the elevator up, wrapped inside a beautiful building.

As I wait I reminded myself that I made my last visit to the office at 1905 Acklen Avenue this morning. I picked up the equipment for our closed out Comcast account to be returned. Took a few pictures. Called the utilities to make a transition to a new building owner.

The only thing we had to leave -- the building plaque by the front door.

The building was completely emptied. But there was a full storage unit just a few minutes away that needed the contents moved to Knoxville. That comes in the month of May.

At the attorney's office, I met the realtor and the attorney. We signed a lot of papers! The building is sold! All the hard work  paid off with only one more big thing left to do -- moving from one storage unit in Nashville to another storage unit in Knoxville.

Special edition of our Tennessee PTA newsletter announcing the sale of the building.

But our announcement was preempted by the Nashville media the day before we announced to the membership.

A goodbye video