October 28-30, 2015
San Diego, CA
Register by 11:59 pm ET today to
save $40 on your registration!
Leaders Partnering for Success will provide library CEOs, deputy directors and community partners with the opportunity to engage in open discussions about shared visions and goals for addressing education and racial/social equity, all while helping to build a stronger framework for successful community-wide collaboration.
Join your peers and community thought leaders in San Diego this October to tackle education and racial/social equity challenges and identify innovative solutions.
Visit the ULC website to view the conference agenda, speaker bios and more!
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Edge Initiative Featured in Cover Story for ICMA's PM Magazine
 This September, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Public Management (PM) magazine's cover story, "Strengthening the Library's Strategic Role: Prepare to Focus on Public Access Technology," shines a spotlight on how libraries are using the Edge Toolkit to measure the public access technology services they provide and better serve their communities.
The article, written by Rashad Young, City Administrator for Washington, D.C., and Susan Benton, ULC President and CEO, explains how libraries are implementing action plans to remain trusted guides and technology gateways for building stronger communities. Benton and Young stress the importance of sharing outcomes and sound data on library technology services with local government to support key strategic decisions on community priorities. The article also highlights the Edge experiences of ULC members San Antonio Public Library, Greensboro Public Library and El Paso Public Library.
Click here to read the full article.
ULC Libraries Receive Funding from IMLS Sparks! Ignition Grants
The
Institute of Museum and Library Services recently announced its latest round of grant funding for FY2015. Among the list of grantees, ULC members
Hartford Public Library,
Brooklyn Public Library,
New York Public Library, and the
Free Library of Philadelphia were each awarded funding through the Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries program. These grants encourage libraries and archives to test and evaluate specific innovations in the ways they operate and the services they provide. Sparks! Ignition Grants support the deployment, testing, and evaluation of promising and groundbreaking new tools, products, services, or organizational practices.
Click
here to learn more about the programs that each library will develop with this funding.
President and CEO of Howard County Library System Advocates for Libraries as Education Institutions in PLA Magazine
 Education transforms the lives of individuals and public libraries serve as critical hubs for building sustainable communities in the knowledge economy. Valerie Gross, President and CEO of the
Howard County Library System (HCLS), recently analyzed the ways in which libraries can reframe their services and staff as providers of quality education in the July/August 2015 issue of
Public Libraries, the official magazine of the
Public Library Association (PLA).
In the article, Gross describes how this suggested framework, known as Libraries = Education, can help libraries organize and promote themselves as vital educational institutions in their communities. Gross also highlights ULC as a leader in advancing the concept of libraries as educational institutions. The article cites ULC's focus on education in our
E-rate modernization work, as well as our
Education Leaders e-discussion group and the most recent ULC Leadership Brief,
Partners for Education.
Click
here to read the full
Public Libraries article.
ULC Libraries Celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Alices Adventures in Wonderland
 Over the last 150 years, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has captured the hearts of people around the world and become a pop culture icon. Over the next two months, Kansas City Public Library and Mid-Continent Public Library will celebrate this enduring piece of literature through the libraries' first Great City | Great Read initiative.
Through this citywide collaboration, KCPL and MCPL will reintroduce Kansas City residents to the characters and themes from Alice's Adventures and explore the story's cultural significance. The initiative will engage the community through youth programs, book discussions, film screenings, an art exhibit, lectures and other special events.
Click here to learn more about this fun and creative initiative.
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New Southeast Branch Library Design
Once a windowless store in a vacant shopping mall, Nashville Public Library's (NPL) Southeast Branch is a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold facility that features sleek technology, public art, community spaces, a dedicated children's area a teen digital learning space, multilingual signage, and more --- all created with extensive community input. The community input model that shaped the Southeast Branch has become the standard for NPL's building and renovation work to ensure that all facilities meet library service goals and address specific community interests and needs.
"The Southeast Library represents NPL's focus on providing exceptional library services to our growing Nashville community," said Kent Oliver, NPL Director. "As we build new libraries and renovate existing buildings, our commitment is always to create space that sustains and engages a diverse population. We call this building the "library of the future" as we think about the physical space and the program service elements that will advance learning and create a sense of community for decades to come."
Click here to learn more about this innovative project. Visit the ULC website to view the complete list of 2015 Innovations.
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Libraries and other organizations across the United States and Canada will celebrate library innovation and creativity for Outside the Lines Week, held from September 13-19. This weeklong celebration was designed by Colorado library marketers and directors to get libraries "walking the walk" --- taking action to show communities how important libraries are and how they have changed over the years.
Click here to learn more about Outside the Lines and how your library can participate in this initiative.
Designing the Library of the Future
Innovative library design and architecture play an important role in meeting community needs and shaping a patron's experience. This November,
Library Journal will publish its 2015 Architectural feature to showcase and collect data for finished public and academic library projects
--- new builds and renovations/additions
--- completed between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, September 16.
Click
here to submit your library's architectural projects for this exciting feature.
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