Attending conferences outside of librarianship

Most librarians can easily come up with a list of benefits from attending library-related conferences such as ALA, SLA, ACRL, or AASL. Some common items on a list would be professional development, skill building, networking, and exposure to new ideas. However, those of us responsible for supporting the research and teaching goals of practitioners of a specific discipline may be unaware of the benefits derived from attending conferences outside of librarianship. This article discusses those benefits as they pertain to librarians, libraries, the profession, and patrons.