Conferences and in-person events
New York:
Southeastern Library Resources Council: Southeastern regularly holds ILL days. These one day conferences generally include a combination of speakers, panels, lightning rounds, and facilitated discussions. They are geared towards ILL practitioners from a variety of backgrounds including academic, public, special, and school libraries.
SEAL User's Group: The council also holds SEAL User Group meetings. These meetings touch on topics specifically of interest to SEAL users. They usually include a combination of facilitated discussions and presentations from Southeastern staff and SEAL users.
You can be notified about all our upcoming events by subscribing to our mailing list.
ESLN Councils: Southeastern is one of nine Library Resources Councils in New York, collectively known as the Empire State Library Network. Some of the other councils also hold Resource Sharing Conferences. Every fall the Central Library Resources Council and the South Central Library Resources Council team up to host a one day ILL conference. Every other year the Capital District Library Council, based in Albany, hosts a Resource Sharing Symposium. Links to each of the individual councils can be found on the ESLN about page. There is a shared continuing education calendar for all of the councils available here.
IDS Conference: The IDS Project holds a two-day conference in New York every summer, often in Utica. This conference includes presentations on a variety of topics related to Resource Sharing, with an emphasis on developments in ILLiad. According to the IDS page, the conference is "packed with information and training regarding exciting new technologies and strategies for information access, resource sharing, and library management systems.” You do not have to be an IDS member to attend.
The 2022 archive of presentations is available on the IDS Project website. Archives from other past conferences can be found here. The in-person 2024 conference was held July 25-26 at UAlbany.
National:
OCLC Resource sharing Conference: OCLC holds a conference every year to share “the latest in resource sharing, including innovative approaches to patron services and workflows.” The conference usually runs 2 to 3 days, and includes sessions on a variety of topics relevant to ILL practitioners.The conference is typically held in the South, although the last several years have been held virtually as a series of webinars.
The archives from the conference are usually made available. The 2019 conference archives can be found here.
Northwest Interlibrary Loan & Resource Sharing Conference (NWILL): NWILL is an annual two day conference for ILL practitioners in academic, public, and special libraries, held in the Pacific Northwest. It includes content ranging from the practical to the philosophical. The conference includes speakers from across the country and is typically held in Portland, Oregon.
The 2023 conference was held in virtually in September. Past conferences, along with linked powerpoints of sessions, can be seen on the conference webpage. The hybrid 2024 conference is scheduled for September 18-20.
Colorado ILL Conference: There is an annual two day ILL conference held in Colorado. This event celebrated its 50th year in 2019. The conferences include presentations on a wide range of inter-library loan topics including best practices, customer service, workflow enhancements, marketing, and much more.
The last virtual conference was held spring 2023. Archives are available on the conference site. The virtual 2024 conference was held April 17th-18th.
Southeastern Resource Sharing Conference: This is an in-person conference held every other year in Tennessee. The conference includes presentations on topics like interlibrary loan, document delivery, copyright, open access and education, consortial borrowing, regional and institutional repositories, shared collections, and more.
The last conference was held in 2022. Powerpoints from the 2022 conference can be found on the conference site. (Just click the title of the presentation and the powerpoint will open.) The in-person 2024 conference is scheduled for October 3-4.
Access Services Conference: The Access Services conference is a 3 day conference, held annually in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference focuses on inter-library loan, as well as issues and trends in circulation, reserves, security, and student worker management.
The 2019 conference archives are available here.
International:
IFLA ILDS Conference: Every two years the Document Delivery and Resource Sharing section of IFLA holds a conference in different locations across the world. Each conference has a unique theme, and invites speakers to share their research related to resource sharing. The 2022 conference, held in Qatar, includes recordings of sessions for those unable to attend. Session videos can be found here.
Past conference records can be found here. The 2024 conference will be held October 28-30 in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
New York:
Southeastern Library Resources Council: Southeastern regularly hosts Resource Sharing Special Interest Group meetings (SIG). SIG meetings are free events, usually lasting three hours, where ILL practitioners from libraries of all types can meet to exchange ideas and stay informed. Meeting minutes are recorded and can be found on our SIG libguide.
We host other events that are useful to ILL and Resource Sharing professionals. All upcoming events and SIG meetings can be viewed on our calendar of upcoming events.
ESLN: Southeastern is one of nine Library Resources Councils in New York, collectively known as the Empire State Library Network. The other eight Library Councils in New York also host events that are relevant to inter-library loan. These events are generally open to interested members of other councils. Links to each of the individual council websites can be seen on the ESLN about page. There is also a shared continuing education calendar for all of the councils available here.
Additional Resources: There are a few other ways to hear about upcoming events in New York. The New York Library Association has a Continuing Education Calendar on their site. This calendar includes upcoming webinars and in-person events across the state. NYLA members have access to a weekly email newsletter "News You Can Use," which includes links to library news, events, and upcoming conferences.
The New York State Library hosts an open discussion list serv NYLINE, which is posted to with information on upcoming events. To subscribe to NYLINE, head here.
National:
ALA Conferences: At the ALA conferences, there are often resource sharing-specific events, sponsored by ALA's resource sharing section, STARS. At the 2019 D.C. conference, for example, STARS sponsored an ILL Discussion group and a summer social. Upcoming STARS events are usually announced on their site or on their twitter page.