Growing Your Business Services to Improve Your Local Economy

Baltimore | September 21-23

ULC is headed to Baltimore next month! Registration is now open for our upcoming Lessons from the Field in-person conference. Library staff members at all levels are encouraged to RSVP to attend this unique conference. Don't miss out on this prime opportunity to connect and network with peer library leaders from across North America.

During this conference, you will learn how to:

• Develop key techniques to push your business services to the next level
• Tell your library's business story local leaders key decision 
• Measure the value of your library’s business resources and impact on your community

Participants will have a chance to hear success stories from ULC's Entrepreneurship cohort at interactive sessions held at Baltimore County Public Library and Enoch Pratt Free Library. We thank Gale Cengage for sponsoring this in-person event.

ULC Joins Engage Every Student Initiative

U.S. Department of Education

ULC is pleased to announce that we are signing on as an ally to the U.S. Department of Education Engage Every Student Initiative. Through this new collaboration with the National Summer Learning Association and other partners, ULC is committing to helping libraries engage all children, including youth who have been historically excluded, in high-quality summer learning. This partnership will also help to give libraries a voice in a large federal effort to prioritize afterschool and summer learning.

Building a Better Toledo

Toledo Lucas County Public Library

In our latest ULC blog post, discover how Toledo Lucas County Public Library's "Better Toledo: A Series" commits itself to the betterment of their community. The series offers patrons personal and professional developmental courses twice a month on topics ranging from allyship to emotional intelligence. "We began to wonder, and ask ourselves as library staff, what our role could and should be in the greater well-being of the county residents we serve," said Toledo Lucas County Public Library Adult Services Coordinator Allison Fiscus.

Mentoring Aspiring Business Owners in Boston

Boston Public Library

A new entrepreneur-in-residence program will bring two local entrepreneurs to Boston Public Library to help patrons with questions ranging from obtaining funding or developing detailed business plans. “What we see in the city of Boston is a lot of disparities," Boston Public Library Fund Executive Director Paula Sakey said. "While it's an incredible center for innovation and entrepreneurship, if you're not part of that ecosystem, you're not part of that ecosystem.”

Hosting Conversations on Civil Society in Toronto

Toronto Public Library

Toronto Public Library's “On Civil Society” series pushes boundaries, explores differences and takes people deeper into the issues affecting our world today. This season, conversations will focus on critical local, national and international issues and will be presented on the TPL Culture channel on Crowdcast. Tune in to the next episode on August 22.

Making Library Resources More Accessible in Barrie

Barrie Public Library

Opening earlier this month, Barrie Public Library’s new Holly Branch makes the library resources accessible to more residents. “We don’t have encyclopedias and such … we don’t keep that stuff anymore. But what we do have is popular materials, research materials, things that are in pop culture that people are wanting to learn about and know about. And, you know, a large focus on indigenous authors and making sure that people have access to those resources to educate themselves,” said CEO Lauren Jessop.

Connect with ULC CEOs/Directors

Thursdays via Zoom

We invite ULC Directors and CEOs to join our first CEO call this fall with ULC President and CEO Brooks Rainwater on Thursday, September 8. These calls will run weekly every Thursday thereafter from 4-5 p.m. ET. Zoom details will be shared soon!