PICTURED RIGHT: Director of Library Services Ms. Linda Simmons-Henry at the 2025 Texas Library Association Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas
This April, Ms. Linda Simmons-Henry, Director of Library Services, traveled to Dallas, Texas, for the 2025 Texas Library Association (TLA) Annual Conference. With over 4,000 attendees, including librarians, exhibitors, and authors, the four-day event serves as the premiere professional development conference for Texas librarians. The 2025 conference theme was "Library Renaissance, Our Quest for Renewal," which focused on embracing the current library renaissance for growth, renewal, and innovation.
With innovation as a main focal point of the conference, the TLA called on Ms. Simmons-Henry to serve as a presenter and panelist for one of the leading sessions titled “Innovation Inspiration: Cool Technology from Texas Libraries.” The presentation served as a platform for academic, public, and school experts within the realm of innovative and cool technology to discuss their respective entity’s forward thinking implementations and new services to inspire librarians throughout the state to innovate. As one of seven expert panelists, Ms. Simmons-Henry discussed Texas College’s D.R. Glass Library and the technological innovations that the library continues to implement and explore to support student academic success. Of the various strategies she discussed, Ms. Simmons-Henry highlighted the library’s esports initiative, of which the lab is physically housed within the library, as well as other innovative integrations.
Director of Library Services Ms. Linda Simmons-Henry (left) poses for a photograph alongside other panelists at the 2025 Texas Library Association Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas
“My invitation to participate and serve on the panel for ‘Innovation Inspiration: Cool Technology from Texas Libraries’ with other academic librarians was a wholehearted pleasure,” said Ms. Simmons-Henry. “To be able to share with and learn alongside library colleagues, to engage in meaningful dialogue, to exchange strategies, it was a true delight.”
Ms. Simmons-Henry continued her sentiment, noting that the future of libraries is undoubtedly one that is digital. In this regard, she emphasized the need for libraries to embrace innovation, as well as continue to explore and recognize the dynamic roles that they serve in the ever-evolving digital landscape. To do so, Ms. Simmons-Henry asserted that expanding partnerships, implementing the latest technological initiatives, increasing access to digital collections, and staying current with the latest academic trends are essential to maintaining a library’s functionality in the modern era and futuristically.
“This is all imperative to fostering academic excellence, professional development, enhanced digital resources, and collaboration across the state,” noted Ms. Simmons-Henry. “The future of libraries are far beyond traditional knowledge curation. Libraries now serve as vibrant spaces for community engagement, digital literacy, and social inclusion. This conference was of great benefit and instrumental to empowering our library staff, enhancing our resources, creating new initiatives, and ultimately supporting the academic success of our Texas College students. The networking and knowledge exchanged at this conference served as a significant milestone that I am confident will continue to further strengthen the capacities of the D.R. Glass Library at Texas College and reinforce our collective commitment to excellence now, as well as in the future.”
