I just want to comment on the quality of Jessica Mlotkowski’s heartwarming conference report (https://mwartlibraries.wordpress.com/category/chapter-news/) just posted on the Mountain West blog.  What a good writer she is!  She described the many highlights of her conference experience with clarity and enthusiasm.  Reading her report reminded me of my own early conference history, combining a workshop with sessions and even a committee meeting and, perhaps most important of all, meeting and sharing information and experiences with a wide range of art librarians and mixing social occasions into the evening with formal meetings.  Inotherwords, going for it full steam, and bringing home an enormous amount of information and contacts that will benefit her institution as well as herself professionally.  This is why we provide the Winberta Yao travel award.  And hopefully, Jessica will be bitten by the ARLIS virus and have had such a memorable experience that she will want to figure out how to attend the conference every year, no matter the hardship! 

Joan Benedetti