"ULC has played an important role in my leadership development [...] most recently with the Joey Rodger Leadership Award, which allowed me to attend the Strategic Foresight Course at the University of Houston. This course enabled me to consider how to prepare for the future. Change is not about knowing what things will happen but rather about knowing the possibilities and anticipating when and how change will happen. In today's world, waiting for change is risky; we must instead sense change and respond."

- Lisa Wells, 2014 Joey Rodger Leadership Award Winner

ULC is now accepting nominations for the Urban Leader Award and applications for the Joey Rodger Leadership Award. Both awards recognize transformative leadership that advances the impact and strategic role of public libraries in communities across North America.

The deadline for both awards is Friday, September 4, 2015. Winners will be notified in mid-September and the awards will be presented at a special Awards Celebration during ULC's 2015 Leaders Partnering for Success ---  Social Innovation: Raising the Bar, October 28-30, in San Diego, California. 

 

Visit the ULC website to view the award guidelines, past winners and apply today! 

 

Over the course of the summer, ULC and our partners from the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) explored the innovative and exciting ways that libraries across the country are engaging youth and families in summer learning. Through the Accelerate Summer initiative supported by funding from the Institute of Museum Library Services (IMLS) and in partnership with NSLA, ULC has been able to collect a significant amount of information about the ways in which public libraries are developing creative summer learning activities and partnerships in the community; contributing to closing the achievement gap and working to reduce summer slide.

Earlier this summer, ULC's 2015 Summer Learning Survey, indicated that ULC member programs were serving over 1.8 million children this summer. In addition to informative phone interviews and meetings with our members, ULC also conducted site visits across the United States to meet with community partners, observe programs in action and engage with youth and families.

Compiling the information gathered from these libraries and numerous others, ULC will now work with our partners to organize all of the great details and identify key themes and results of the research project later this month.

Read the summary of our Accelerate Summer progress here.

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On Monday, August 31, ULC filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in support of Lifeline Reform. The proposed reform will expand the federal low-income discount paid for telecommunication services to cover broadband services. In the letter, ULC commends the FCC for: 1) recognizing how broadband services and technologies can transform the lives of community members and 2) launching this proceeding to reorient the Lifeline program for the 21st century. In addition, 29 libraries (nearly all ULC members) from 18 states submitted a letter in support of the proposed reform. ULC is closely following the ongoing reform process. Continue to check e-News Weekly and the ULC website for updates.

View the FCC filings here.

Points of Light, a nonprofit dedicated to solving serious social issues through voluntary service, recently named ULC Executive Board Member Mary Blankenship Pointer as a Daily Points of Light Award recipient. Originating out of the White House during George H.W. Bush's presidency, the Daily Points of Light Award celebrates the power of volunteers to spark change and improve the world through community service. Serving on more than two dozen local, state, national and international boards, Pointer was recognized as a "network maven" who "has forged relationships and used her connections to better her community." She is the Chair of the Pioneer Library System Board of Trustees (OK).

Learn more about Pointer's work and the Daily Points of Light award here.