SIOBHAN REARDON

MIKE DEWINE

JOHN SCALZI

OPENING SESSION | Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Library Futures: Balancing the Importance of Change With Traditional Preferences
There are many exciting changes occurring in the library space across the country and internationally. These changes are occurring rapid-fire and against a backdrop of a desire to maintain traditional library services that meet the needs of the community. Siobhan Reardon, President and Director, Free Library of Philadelphia, will take a look at how libraries are handling this change, how diminishing budgets have played a role, and today’s best examples of how to handle this balancing act. Reardon was Library Journal’s 2015 Librarian of the Year.

GENERAL SESSION | Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017 | 1:15 – 2:15 p.m.

Your Library’s Role in Addressing Ohio’s Opioid Crisis
As the nation’s deadly opioid crisis spirals out of control, health experts say Ohio is the epicenter of the problem, with more overdose deaths than any other state. Ohio’s public libraries are seeing evidence of this crisis first-hand with drug dealing and overdoses happening in and around their facilities. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine will talk about the impact of addiction on communities, what his office is doing to combat the drug and heroin problem in Ohio, and how public libraries can be part of the solution.

DeWine is serving his second term as Ohio Attorney General. Earlier this summer, his office filed a lawsuit against five of the leading prescription opioid manufacturers alleging that the companies overstated the benefits of prescription opioids and understated the risks. DeWine has also devoted significant resources to fighting Ohio’s drug abuse problems establishing the Heroin Unit which targets opiate traffickers and works with communities affected by the opiate epidemic. DeWine has a long career in public service serving in the Ohio State Senate, in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, and as Ohio Lieutenant Governor.

CLOSING SESSION | Friday, Oct. 6, 2017 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Living in Two Americas
John Scalzi is rapidly becoming one of the most highly regarded science fiction authors in the country. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Redshirts, an intergalactic sci-fi adventure that won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel. He sometimes gets labeled as a “coastal elite” for his political views, but fans are often surprised to learn that he lives in Bradford, Ohio (population: 1,850). He’ll talk about what it’s like to spin between two Americas: his liberal world community of writers and creative people that he sees every day online and at professional gatherings versus his physical world, a conservative community of friends and neighbors and the place he calls home. Explore how we all find ourselves living simultaneously in two separate worlds and how we balance this reality. Scalzi is the former president of The Science Fiction and served as a creative consultant for the television series Stargate Universe. His other works include the popular Old Man’s War series, The Android’s Dream, Agent to the Stars and Lock In.  Scalzi will be signing copies of his books after the presentation.