The Balance Point Experiencing the Electronic Resources and Libraries Conference Shantel Agnew, LaVerne Gray, LouAnn Blocker, Christine E. Ryan, and Kelly A. Smith, Contributors Kay Johnson, Column Editor Available online 1 August 2006 The Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference (ER&L), held in Atlanta, Georgia, March 23–25, 2006, brought together a community of professionals from various backgrounds to share information about the developments, advantages, and challenges of the digital library. Five attendees describe their conference experiences and share viewpoints as new librarians, an experienced librarian, a paraprofessional library school student, and a librarian who participated in the online version of the conference. Serials Review 2006; 32:195–203. D 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction The 2006 Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference stemmed from the results of a survey posted on the Electronic Resources In Libraries electronic discussion list (ERIL) in July 2005. Survey results indicated ba need to look more closely at the state of electronic resources in libraries and to create a community of professionals from various backgrounds and approaches to get a grasp of issues surrounding the changes made in libraries in the digital age.Q 1 The ER&L Conference was organized in record time and held March 23–25 at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. A major goal of the conference was to begin building a shared understanding and develop a supportive community to disseminate information about practices and developments of electronic resources in libraries. Program categories covered resources, access, licensing, technology, electronic resource management, workflow, usage data, consortia and organizational change. Sessions encouraged the audience to share experiences and explore solutions to challenges in work- ing with and implementing digital initiatives in libraries. The conference included the traditional on-site compo- nent as well as an online component for off-site attendees. The ER&L Conference brought together a diverse audience of professionals with common interests. Five conference participants describe their experiences and offer opinions and advice to future conference attendees. The contributors represent new librarians, experienced librarians, and a paraprofessional attending library school. Four of the contributors attended the on-site conference in Atlanta, and the fifth contributor reports the experiences of an online conference attendee. The New Librarians’ Viewpoints Shantel Agnew and LaVerne Gray LaVerne Gray and I were asked to write about our experience at the Electronic Resources & Libraries 0098-7913/$–see front matter D 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.serrev.2006.05.008 Agnew is Research Assistant Professor, John C. Hodges Lib- rary, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1000, USA; e-mail: sagnew1@utk.edu. Gray is Research Assistant Professor, John C. Hodges Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1000, USA; e-mail: lgray7@utk.edu. Blocker is Distance Education Assistant, John C. Hodges Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996- 1000, USA; e-mail: lblocker@utk.edu. Ryan is Electronic Resources Librarian, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN 37403, USA; e-mail: chris-ryan@utc.edu. Smith is Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian, Eastern Kentucky University Libraries, Richmond, KY 40475, USA; e-mail: kelly.smith2@eku.edu. Johnson is Coordinator, Technical Services, McConnell Library, Radford University, Radford, VA 24142-6881, USA; e-mail: kjohnson497@radford.edu. 195