THE INSIDER - SPRING 2025

LIBRARY INNOVATION THROUGH COOL TECHNOLOGY

DIRECTOR OF LIBRARY SERVICES MS. LINDA SIMMONS-HENRY (LEFT) POSES FOR A PHOTOGRAPH ALONGSIDE OTHER PANELISTS AT THE 2025 TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN DALLAS, TEXAS

This April, Ms. Linda Simmons-Henry, Director of Library Services, traveled to Dallas, Texas, for the 2025 Texas Library Association (TLA) Annual Conference. With over 4,000 attendees, including librarians, exhibitors, and authors, the four-day event serves as the premiere professional development conference for Texas librarians. The 2025 conference theme was "Library Renaissance, Our Quest for Renewal," which focused on embracing the current library renaissance for growth, renewal, and innovation. With innovation as a main focal point of the conference, the TLA called on Ms. Simmons Henry to serve as a presenter and panelist for one of the leading sessions titled “Innovation Inspiration: Cool Technology from Texas Libraries.” The presentation served as a platform for academic, public, and school experts within the realm of innovative and cool technology to discuss their respective entity’s forward thinking implementations and new services to inspire librarians throughout the state to innovate. As one of seven expert panelists, Ms. Simmons-Henry discussed Texas College’s D.R. Glass Library and the technological innovations that the library continues to implement and explore to support student academic success. Of the various strategies she discussed, Ms. Simmons-Henry highlighted the library’s esports initiative, of which the lab is physically housed within the library, as well as other innovative integrations.

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