A Brief History of the STEM Librarians South Conference
The STEM Librarians South conference, now in its tenth year, brings together information professionals and academics from across the Southern U.S. and beyond to share their ideas, current research, best practices, and unique insights that help librarians advance the cause of STEM education and research.
The conference generally consists of a keynote address, full-length presentations and lightning talks ranging from collections, data management, digital scholarship, information and data literacy, outreach, science education and research, to the various services and programs libraries provide to support the STEM disciplines. Traditionally, the meeting is held in mid-late July.
The first Texas STEM Librarians Conference was held at UT San Antonio in 2011, organized by a group who believed that STEM librarians across the state could benefit from an opportunity to get together and discuss issues of professional mutual interest locally, rather than just meeting at national conferences.
In 2014, at the conclusion of the conference in TAMU, College Station, a group of interested members established an informal steering committee, with the goal of selecting future host sites and facilitating the transition from one meeting to the next. A member of that committee then put together a host handbook which has since been handed down to each host institution. The conference has continued annually with different universities around Texas and local committees hosting and organizing.
In 2016, recognizing that a number of attendees regularly came from areas outside of Texas, including some from outside the U.S., the name was changed to the STEM Librarians South Conference to reflect and welcome a wider audience.
Thanks to the following people who provided me with bits of information to come up with this brief history of the conference:
Nancy Linden
David Flaxbart
Jessica Simpson
Bruce Neville
And especially Sylvia Jones, the author of the content above, used with permission
July 16
July 18-19
July 19-20
July 20-21
July 21-22
July 23-24
July 17-18
July 26
July 26-28
July 14-15