ULA Annual Conference 2026

There have been many changes to higher education in Utah recently, and many directly impact our libraries. At Weber State, it has been particularly consequential for our information literacy (IL) education program: our long-standing IL General Education requirement is ending, and a new program to sustainably deliver high-quality IL education is needed. To that end, a team of librarians spent Summer 2025 working with the English department to build a pilot program, strategically mapping the curriculum and using backward design to embed IL skills and concepts into the English 2010 curriculum. During Fall 2025, the pilot team embedded in six classes, providing course content (including mini-lecture videos, learning activities, discussions, and practice assignments) and making three structured classroom visits. In Spring 2026, the pilot expanded to ten librarians embedded in 31 in-person and online classes. Assessment for both semesters will be conducted at the end of the spring semester, including data from embedded classes as well as ENGL 2010 classes with no embedded librarian or library content to allow for comparison. We will also collect feedback from students, librarians, and faculty involved in the pilot. This session will describe the curriculum mapping/design process, share lessons, course materials, and assessment mechanisms, review assessment results, and share success and lessons learned. Part of our time will be dedicated to a workshop where participants will have an opportunity to plan their own embedded programs, including curriculum mapping, IL learning activities, and assessment. Participants are invited to bring a syllabus or course outline from a class where an embedded librarian might benefit the students to use for the workshop. We will wrap up with an open discussion where participants can ask questions and share experiences with embedded programs, collaborations, partnerships, outreach, faculty and administration, roadblocks, and successes.

We’ve all had a job application rejected. But what if “no” wasn’t the end? This session will describe how one university library department, after a completed search for a faculty librarian, reached out to some of the so-called “failed” applicants to offer adjunct positions, training workshops, cohort support, and mentorship. Weber State’s Stewart Library gained four much-needed new adjuncts, and they gained skills and experience to put on their resume -- and something equally valuable, if not more so: connection and support among colleagues at a time when many of us feel vulnerable and alone. The icing on the cake is that one of those adjuncts now has a position in the same library where it all started! During this session, we will facilitate a discussion on the culture of job searching and hiring, and explore avenues for supporting applicants after the “no.” We will brainstorm potential workplace needs and projects that such applicants could work on as adjuncts or interns, explore ways to facilitate a resume-building program in your library, how to reach out to a potential cohort and approach management with proposals, and how to make it work when they don’t have lots of time and you don’t have lots of funds. Participants will help the session facilitators create an open repository of shared resources to help a new generation of librarians gain experience, develop skills, and move from the applicant pool to onboarding. By the end of the session, we’ll construct a shared understanding of how “failure” can be transformed into opportunity. Together, we can normalize creating resume-building opportunities for good candidates who are simply in the early-career phase, a little underqualified, or need a little bit more experience. Let’s turn “no” into “not yet.”

As a group of seven faculty librarians hired in the same year at a large academic library, we formed a cohort to help support one another in our new roles and navigate the oft-confusing organizational forays and multi-layered processes of our positions. As catalogers and subject specialists from across the humanities and social sciences, we have found that our group—which we have affectionately dubbed Septenarius—serves multiple functions. In this panel, we will discuss some of those purposes, which include but are not limited to, 1) building a community of support and collaboration; 2) supplementing institution-provided trainings and orientations with more local, context-specific discussions; 3) making interdisciplinary connections; and 4) sharing information and resources (e.g., information on available funding for travel, conference opportunities, clarifications on policy and procedures, technical tools and workflows, hiring and supervising student employees, etc.).

We offer our experience as an informal case study of one model of a professional development group developed and run by and for peers. We posit that teams of this kind, organized to provide a space for collaboration and support, are a powerful vehicle for inclusion, where all are strengthened by and have access to a community of professional peers, thus providing social validation, connection, and confidence. While we in Septenarius all work in different areas of the library with unique responsibilities, we have discovered a fondness and friendship in regularly convening—usually once a month—to discuss various projects, hold each other accountable for upcoming deadlines, and share casual moments of connection from our personal lives. As valuable as the support has been in our professional context of preparing for tenure and promotion, we have often commented on how meaningful it is to have a time to connect socially, to commiserate over shared struggles and celebrate individual successes. Recognizing that some of what we do in our group is specific to our own library and university situation, we believe that the principles of nurturing a collegial and collaborative work environment have far-reaching impact and application in librarianship generally and thus will be relevant to conference attendees regardless of job title or status.

What happens when two library systems become one? Intermountain Health Library Services recently completed a merger of two library systems. Join us as we reflect on our journey to become a unified library system, reshaping our foundational elements of people, collections, infrastructure, and policies. We will share key insights from this journey, and highlight the successes, challenges, and lessons learned along the way that may empower other librarians as they navigate change. Building on these insights, we will offer recommendations for cultivating a positive work culture in times of organizational change.

As the number of government mandated book removals increases, it’s essential for librarians to understand the legal and cultural landscape shaping this new censorship. This session will provide a clear overview of Utah’s current book banning laws and policies: what they say and how the state is interpreting them. Just as important is an understanding of the people and forces behind this push for removals. Attendees will come away with an understanding of who is the major source of book challenges in Utah, what are the legal definitions being used, and talking points to counter common arguments.

From 2021 to 2023, BYU Library commissioned an in-house, interdivisional task force to holistically examine the extant personnel, systems, and workflows allocated to managing our wide range of digital content types. The aim was to identify the gaps and better coordinate the future access to and care of digital content. We created a set of guiding principles for the library administration and staff that oriented planning and discussion. These helped us trace commonalities between issues or solutions. We believe they are general enough to pass on to other institutions. They guide library staff in addressing the future digital curation questions that will surely arise with increasing frequency, complexity, and diversity. In brief, they are: 1. The Expectation of Change 2. The Expectation of Rapid Growth 3. The Expectation of Digital Access 4. An Embrace of Experimentation 5. Cross-divisional Co-ownership and Collaboration 6. Resource Requirements 7. The Necessity (and Present Difficulty) of Achieving a Full Lifecycle 8. The Urgency of Resolution 9. Documentation. In this presentation, we will elaborate on these principles and describe how they informed our task force’s deliberations, how they are currently influencing our strategic directions, and how they can be practically applied elsewhere.

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Is there a superhero looking back at you? There should be! If you have any doubts, this session will help you feel the power of your profession. The first part of the session will focus on the image of the librarian in a vast array of media and over millennia. While the duties of a librarian have expanded and even altered over time, the core value of providing free and equitable access to information has remained constant. The dedication to this guiding principle sets the foundation for superhero status and needs to be celebrated!

However, burnout is a real issue among librarians and concerns for the profession have reached new levels. Tighter budgets and always being asked to do more with less can be deflating and exhausting. Not to mention the fact that it is getting more difficult than ever before to balance work and home life.

There will be a panel discussion about learning to deal with the pressures of being a librarian in today’s world, explore ways to develop a greater appreciation for the library profession, and keep a renewed interest in the job without losing yourself along the way.

This workshop will teach attendees how to be a superhero to both internal and external library patrons. We will take a closer look at how attendees can transform themselves into the librarian they want to be. And we will celebrate this unique creation, the librarian.

Libraries have always been more than books. As we move into the future it will be more important than ever that we embrace being a library of things, including modern makerspace equipment including 3D printing, Laser Cutters, Electronics Projects, Woodworking Tools, Sewing, AV equipment, and Others. Since 2018 the Libraries in Southern Utah have provided tools and training to their patrons in their makerspaces across the 8 libraries in the Southern Utah Library system. This session will describe the process of supporting maker tools and equipment across multiple libraries and how to teach patrons to run the equipment themselves.

Explore how the Pleasant Grove Library has created successful programs to meet the community's changing needs. Using three case studies we will discuss how we discovered the gap in our programming, what need the program is filling, and how it was developed and adjusted.

Social Innovation in Libraries explores how libraries harness their role as civic connectors to creatively and inclusively address community challenges. By collaborating with local organizations, entrepreneurs, and residents, libraries serve as laboratories for testing new approaches to digital equity, literacy, workforce development, and community wellbeing.

Today’s libraries are redefining innovation—not through collections alone, but through people-centered practices that foster connection, experimentation, and belonging. As welcoming “third places,” libraries offer opportunities for socializing, learning, and creativity, where librarians act as guides and facilitators of change.

This session will highlight key types of social innovation in libraries, including participation, outreach, partnership, learning, and creative making. Participants will explore foundational principles of social innovation, strategies for communicating (“selling”) the concept within their organizations, and share their own innovative practices. Together, we will celebrate the library’s evolving role as a social innovator and consider implications for future library leadership.