This Week at ULC
Newsletter | January 12, 2022
ULC INNOVATIONS CELEBRATION JANUARY 21
Friday, January 21 | 2 p.m. ET

On Friday, January 21 at 2 p.m. ET, come cheer on your peers and pals during the annual ULC Innovations Celebration! This year’s virtual program will showcase the year’s Top Innovators and Honorable Mentions with special video highlights, we will walk down memory lane to look at past winners and celebrations, and we will hear from the Innovations Celebration supporter, Pamela Smith, of Ingram Content Group along with ULC’s President and CEO, Susan Benton.

Join us as we recognize and support the best and brightest library Innovations of 2021! Register for your seat today!

This live virtual event is FREE to attend. Registration is required.
We give a special thanks to Ingram Content Group for sponsoring the 2021 ULC Innovations Celebration and providing ULC members with new and useful tools for the field.
Learn more about two amazing benefits that will be extended to this year's Top Innovators!
iCurate® Coming Soon
Easily Manage New, Forthcoming & Trending Titles

Remove the guesswork from new title selection with iCurate® Coming Soon, a cost-effective annual subscription that delivers hand-selected lists of prepublication titles monthly within ipage®. 

iCurate® inClusive
Effortless, Effective Diversity Audit

Save staff time and tedious effort with iCurate® inClusive, a one-time diversity audit comparing your English regular print collection to the average public library to measure, track and improve the diversity of your collection.
UPCOMING ULC WEBINAR:
BUSINESS VALUE CALCULATOR LAUNCH
Tuesday, January 18 | 2 p.m. ET

Join us on Tuesday, January 18, for the launch of a new ULC tool — the Business Value Calculator — which will provide libraries with jet fuel for showcasing their value to the local economy. Libraries will be able to accurately measure the impact of their business services and learn new ways to communicate their economic value to city/county leaders, community partners and other local stakeholders.

Developed by ULC’s Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Action Team and inspired by St. Louis County Library’s Small Business Value Calculator, this new tool helps libraries concretely estimate the value they provide to their local business community. Using this calculator can help libraries of all sizes power-up their “elevator pitch” to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
BUILDING EQUITY: AMPLIFY SUMMER LEARNING COHORT | LIBRARIES ANNOUNCED
Congratulations to the 22 libraries who have been selected as members of ULC’s new Building Equity: Amplify Summer Learning cohort! The new ULC initiative kicks off later this month to support engaging learning opportunities for middle school youth in summertime who have historically been excluded from STEM opportunities (e.g., based on race, income, gender, ability). Building on the success of ULC’s Partners for Middle School STEM initiative and the hard work of our first learning cohort libraries, the goal of Building Equity: Amplify Summer Learning is to position libraries as critical community anchors for learning, accelerate the public library’s role in summer and reinforce the library as a place in the community for equity and inclusion.
 
Funded in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and with the support of our partners, the National Summer Learning Association and the National Recreation and Park Association, ULC and its strategic partners will work with the learning cohort to design and implement quality STEM summer programming. 

The following libraries will be part of the cohort:

  • Algona Public Library, Algona, Iowa
  • Boise Public Library, Boise, Idaho
  • Boston Public Library, Boston, Mass.
  • Cedar Rapids Public Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
  • Central Arkansas Library System, Little Rock, Ark
  • Cincinnati & Hamilton Public Library, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Edmonton Public Library, Edmonton, Atla.
  • Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Md.
  • Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, Evansville, Ill.
  • Halifax Public Libraries, Dartmouth, N.S.
  • Harris County Public Library, Houston, Texas
  • Jersey City Free Public Library, Jersey City, N.J.
  • La Porte County Public Library, La Porte, Ind.
  • Lexington Public Library, Lexington, Ky.
  • Milton Public Library, Milton, Ont.
  • Orange County Library System, Orlando, Fla.
  • Pima County Public Library, Tucson, Ariz.
  • Portland Public Library, Portland, Maine
  • Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Youngstown, Ohio
  • San Mateo County Libraries, San Mateo, Calif.
  • Schaumburg Township District Library, Schaumburg, Ill.
  • Scottsdale Public Library, Scottsdale, Ariz.
MEMBER NEWS ROUNDUP
Athens Debuts New Mobile Printing for Patrons
Athens Regional Library System

Patrons can now print documents at any Athens Regional Library System library from anywhere thanks to the library’s new wireless printing system. Mobile printing is now available at all branches of the system, with the option for patrons to send a request via email, through a link on the library’s website or from a smartphone app.
Offering Free Tax Help to Seniors in Jefferson County
Jefferson County Public Library

This upcoming tax season, Jefferson County Public Library is partnering with AARP to provide free assistance to elderly and low-to-moderate income taxpayers. IRS-certified volunteers will be available for individual sessions at five library locations during the week starting February 1.
Making Food and Culture Accessible in Kitchener
Kitchener Public Library

Last year, a unique partnership between Kitchener Public Library and the restaurant Underground Flavour Group introduced patrons to different cultures through food. Launched last June, the virtual cooking series featured a different local chef each month who would introduce a recipe and talk about how food and culture intersected.
UPCOMING MEMBER EVENTS
Business Value Calculator Launch
Webinar
January 18 | 2-3 p.m. ET
ULC Communications and Marketing Leaders
Member Group Call
January 19 | Noon-1 p.m. ET
ULC Innovations Celebration
Webinar
January 21 | 2-3 p.m. ET
ULC EDI Officers
Member Group Call
January 27 | 2-3 p.m. ET
ULC HR Professionals
Member Group Call
February 7 | 3-4 p.m. ET
NEW RESOURCES ON ULC'S MEMBER KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
Job Description: Librarian IV
New Haven Free Public Library

Gender-Inclusive Language Style Guide
Madison Public Library

Event Style Guide
Dakota County Library

NOW TRENDING ON SOCIAL
Sunnyvale Public Library

Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Officer Othon showed off his reading skills and Officer Laveroni had fun showing these kiddos our truck. Pretty sure we had some future DPS officers in the crowd. Thanks for the #FridayFun, everyone. We’ve really missed these kinds of things. #FridayVibes #Community
JOIN OUR ULC TEAM
We are looking for talented professionals to join our ULC team!

ULC’s Communications Manager will help our team implement communications and outreach efforts with internal and external stakeholders. The communications manager will work closely with ULC’s senior leadership team to raise the profile of how public libraries are addressing critical issues in local communities. Click here to apply >.

ULC’s National Program Manager will help collaborate on initiatives across ULC’s strategic focus areas to help public libraries lead education, strengthen digital equity and build healthy, sustainable communities through innovation. Click here to apply >.
Questions?

Contact ULC's Director of Communications Paul Negron at pnegron@urbanlibraries.org.