I returned home from NELLS just a couple hours ago. We were all instructed to “take time for yourself” and stay away from our notes for a few days, so this will just be a brief post before I revisit all of the excellent materials from the past week.

On Monday, 28 participants, six mentors, and two co-chairs from Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont met at Rolling Ridge in North Andover, MA to spend a week learning about leadership in libraries.

ALA President (2012-2013) Maureen Sullivan joined us for the week to teach the symposium, and we had visitors throughout the week as well, including former Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Rob Maier, New England Library Association (NELA) President Deborah Kelsey, Maine Library Association (MLA) President Nissa Flanagan, Connecticut Library Association (CLA) Past President Carl DeMillia, New Hampshire Library Association (NHLA) President Diane Lynch, and Vermont Library Association (VLA) President Amber Billey (via a Google Hangout).

Photos from the week – of the grounds, of our brainstorming and discussion session results, and our social activities – are available on Flickr.

It was an incredible experience, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to learn so much from Maureen, as well as the mentors and all of the other participants. More on NELLS to come soon.