by Lara Epstein, Director of Community Outreach & Engagement
 

As the Director of PJ Library in Rockland County, I had the privilege of attending my first PJ Library Conference from April 26-28 at the Pearlstone Conference Center outside of Baltimore, Maryland. I attended the conference with Bethel Marcus, a current PJ Library lay leader and Leadership Development Institute participant. We were both very proud to represent Rockland County!

This conference was outstanding in a multitude of ways. Since it was my first year attending the conference, I was able to network and make new friends and connections that can only strengthen my current and future PJ Library endeavors. I also had the honor of not only hearing the beautiful music and talent of musicians Rick Recht and Shira Klein, but having the opportunity to speak to them one on one. One of the biggest highlights was meeting Harold Grinspoon himself and taking a selfie together!  

I attended various workshops whose subject matter ranged from social media to community connectors to customer service to creative programming. Every session was beneficial and opened my eyes to new strategies and better ways of doing things. I learned a few new techniques that I'm so excited to employ going forward. I'm not going to share the specifics in this article, but please attend my upcoming PJ programs, read my PJ Library e-newsletter and check out the PJ Library of Rockland Facebook page to see what fun surprises lie ahead... 

Best,
Lara