Thank you for attending the 2026 CLA Conference!

We hope you had a great time.

Thank you for attending the conference! We truly hope it exceeded your expectations and that you were able to take away valuable information for yourselves, your libraries and your daily lives.

Presentation Materials

As promised, speakers who chose to offer their presentations/notes/slides have uploaded them to the CLA 2026 MediaFire Drive website (email claconevents@gmail.com with your name and email if you did not receive this and we will check to ensure you were a registrant and forward it over). By going to this link, you will have access to these as well and be able to download them for future reference. While not every session/speaker was able to upload their sessions, we hope this resource is helpful for all.

Conference Website

Our conference website for the CLA 2026 Conference will stay up until June 1. If you need any information from that website, please be sure to get what you need before then.

Post-Conference Survey

While we hope you had an amazing time at this conference, we are always looking at more ways to improve. As such, we ask that you take a few minutes to take our CLA 2026 Post-Conference Survey. This survey will close on May 15, 2026.

Conference Photos 

Congratulations once again to our Award Winners! We are happy to share the photos we took at this special event, along with any other photos our committee was able to snap pics of. Access 2026 CLA Conference Pictures here. If you have any photos you took that you would like to share, please send them to claconevents@gmail.com. We will add to this folder as we receive more photos.

CLA Merch

If you didn't get a chance to purchase CLA merch while at the conference, don't fret! Our apparel is always available on our Connecticut Library Association Bonfire Store. Here you will find our special edition and section apparel, including options we only have online, such as longsleeves, sweatshirts, and tank tops!

Save the Date

Be sure to SAVE THE DATE for the CLA 2027 conference that will be held April 25-27, 2027 at the Mystic Marriott Hotel and Spa.

Vendors and Sponsors

We like to remind you that when you register for the conference we inform upfront that by registering you are agreeing to the following as shown on the registration information for the event, on the registration pages on our website, and emails promoting registration for the event:

Notice: By registering for any portion of the CLA Conference, you are agreeing to follow our Event Code of Conduct and agree to our Privacy Policy. As noted by our privacy policy, at this time, CLA retains the right to share your information (Name and email) with our business partners. We do not currently have an option to opt-out. By registering for the conference, your name and email will be shared with our conference sponsors and vendors.

At this time your name and email has been shared with only our sponsors and vendors of the 2026 CLA Conference that are listed on our Conference Website Here. At no time do we sell your information to other companies. When you register for the conference, you are agreeing to these terms as outlined above.

Questions

If you have any questions or concerns, please email Event Coordinator, Alessandra Casiello at claconevents@gmail.com.

Thanks for another great year at the CLA Conference!

Sincerely,

The 2026 CLA Conference Committee

WELCOME TO THE CLA 2026 CONFERENCE!

PRE-CONFERENCE: PRESIDENT'S RECEPTION

It is finally here! The 2026 CLA Conference will begin in just a few days on Sunday, April 26th at 5 PM with our Pre-Conference President's Reception. We invite anyone who is joining us for the conference to come to this Meet-and-Greet with our President, Erin Dummeyer and Vice-President, Brenda McKinley, enjoy some appetizers and drinks. This is a FREE event to welcome you to our conference, appetizers and drinks (soft drinks, seltzers, and waters) are on us (anything harder there will be a cash bar open). This event will take place in the Mystic Ballroom of the Mystic Marriott Hotel and Spa. Following this event at 5:30 PM will be a Documentary Screening of "The Librarians." If you haven't purchased your ticket yet, you can do so at the door for $10. Finally to end Sunday's events we will wrap up with a CLA FUNdraiser: BookBAG Craft. For $30 you can learn how to make a bookbag or purse out of real books. Materials will be provided along with 1 drink ticket and hors d'oeuvres.

CONFERENCE

We are excited to have you join us for our 2-day conference April 27-28. We wanted to give you some information beforehand in case you had any lingering questions.

• For those that chose the virtual option for our program booklet, or anyone who would rather use their phones to navigate the conference, our Conference Website is LIVE and ready to use, with all the information you need regarding Daily Schedules, the Exhibit Hall, Featured Speakers, Announcements, and Venue Maps, plus much more. You can access this at www.claconference.info. Bookmark this for all your conference needs. Our website is mobile-friendly so you won't have to worry about missing anything!

• Our Full Conference Booklet is also available on the website, or you can download our 2026 Conference Booklet PDF here.

• Parking is free at our venue. Unless you are staying over at the hotel, please be sure to use the conference parking lot (this is to the left when you enter). You will then enter through the doors on that side of the building. We will have signs, but we want you to be prepared if our signs aren't strong enough. Here is the conference center map. Enter where indicated "Conference Entrance.

• All attendees and speakers will check in at the Mystic Foyer (located directly inside the doors on the conference side of the building). Check-in on Monday and Tuesday begin at 7:30 AM. Again, our full schedule is available at www.claconference.info. Signage will indicate where to check in based on your last name or if you are a speaker/guest.

• Vendors can check in on Sunday night from 8-10 PM in the Marriott Ballroom, or from 7-8AM on Monday.

• A reminder that if you have an unpaid registration, you will be asked to pay it in full at check-in. We only accept Credit Cards or Cash for this payment and you would have received an invoice from us this week to remind you of the payment.

• We will not be able to accept walk-in registrations for anything other than our special Sunday and Monday night events, so if you have a colleague that did not pre-register, they will not be able to register to join us on site due to capacity limits.

• Lanyards will be given out at registration, but as always you are welcome to bring your own from home. However, Badges must be worn throughout the conference.

• Printed Program Booklets were an add-on during event registration. If you added this onto your registration, you will receive the printed program booklet when you check in and receive your badge. If you did not add this on, we will have very limited number of these available for purchase at Registration for $3. 

• Your full registration includes: buffet breakfast, morning snack, lunch buffet, afternoon snack, all day water, soft drinks, tea and coffee.

• CLA Members are invited to join us at 8:30 AM on Monday Morning for our Annual Meeting in the Mystic Ballroom. There will be a vote needed by the membership so if you are onsite, please be sure to get a seat.

• Our conference is at FULL Capacity on Monday. If you want a seat up front at an event or in a session, please be sure to arrive early at the start of that set time. We ask that all conference attendees help to accommodate those with any accessibility impairments. How can you help? Some of our recommendations: Try to leave front row seating open if you are not vision or hearing impaired for those that may be. Do not block doorways or aisles for those that have differing mobility and need extra and/or different space.

• For those that need a break, please take use of our Sensory/Relaxation Corner (X Marks the Spot on the Venue Map) that will be open throughout the entirety of the conference. If you go to this space, please use it as it is intended as a quiet space/break from the crowd.

• This year speakers have been given access to upload their presentations to our MediaFire meeting module. Attendees will get access to this when we send our post-conference email the week AFTER conference. If a session speaker lets you know their presentation will be available here, don't worry- you will get access to it soon!

After-Hours Events!

You still have the option to join us for After-Hours events on Monday, April 27th. You are welcome to bring guests to these events as well (some are ticketed) so if they aren't registered for the Conference on Monday, that is okay!

4:50-5:15 PM: Cocktails with Vendors- Come and mingle with our vendors and feel free to purchase a drink from the cash bar. You do not need a ticket for this event.

5:30-7:30 PM: CLA FUNdraiser: Grown-Up Nostalgic Book Fair (Ticketed- Cost is $10-, tickets can be purchased at the door) Cost of attendance includes a light refreshments and entrance to browse our bookseller, crafters and artisan vendors. More information about this special event can be found on our featured events page of the conference website.

STILL NEED HELP OR HAVE QUESTIONS?

Our Conference Committee, Executive Board Members and CLA Staff will be on-site to help you! Don't know who to look for? Find them here. Or contact Alessandra Casiello, Event Coordinator at claconevents@gmail.com.

ENJOY THE CONFERENCE!

If a program has had to be moved or cancelled, find out here: Check back often!