[Publib] Justification for conference/professional development

[Library Lass]

I am faced with an issue here that I need the collected wisdom of everyone
out there in pub-lib land.  We are a 5 branch public library system that
comes under the goverance of a unified school district board of education.
Of course we are facing budget cuts and even had a reduction in work force
BUT our funding (yes, we do have a separate mill levy from the school
district) is not affected as drastically as the public schools as they rely
so heavily on the state for funding.  And we have cut back on conference
attendance and anyone that wished to attend the state conference this past
April paid their own way.  Now I find out from my supervisor (an assist
superintendent) that we are not allowed to travel at all to anything, even
if we pay our own way.  His justification is that it creates an 'atmosphere
of haves and have-nots' among the staff and he stated that the district
isn't doing it, which isn't true as I found out in the board agendas, but
that's a story for another day.

What I'm looking for is a list of the benefits and justifications of staff
still being allowed to attend conferences and workshops.  Yes, we are doing
online also but I believe the benefits of networking and actually seeing new
library technologies is worth a lot - now I need a list of talking points so
I can once again approach him with this subject.

Thanks to everyone in advance for your insight!

Helen
KCKPL
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