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Innovations Entry Submission

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2025 Innovations Submissions

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Please fill out the below form to submit an entry to ULC's 2025 Innovations Initiative. The deadline for entries is Friday, October 17, 2025 (this form will accept entries until 11:59 p.m. ET). ULC will only accept Innovations entries from libraries that are current ULC members.

Confirmation Message

Please note: If you do not see a confirmation message after submitting your entry, then your entry has not been recorded by the system. Please contact info@urbanlibraries.org for assistance with Innovations submissions.

Innovations Submissions FAQ

Click here to view answers to frequently asked questions for ULC's Innovations Initiative.

2025 Innovations Categories

Advocacy and Awareness

Share your library's innovations that help you advocate for your library, increasing the awareness of the library as a vital community resource and the importance of its many programs, such as the right to read freely, civic engagement resources, and the library’s overall role as a community hub.

Examples of library projects to highlight in an application include:

  • Storytelling and how you communicate the impact of library services and programs in the community to external audiences.

  • Strategic brand extensions and rebranding initiatives.
  • Advocacy or fundraising campaigns.

  • Initiatives that build policies and actions around democracy and intellectual freedom in our communities.

  • Civic engagement and voter education and / or services.
Education: Children and Adults

Share your library's innovations that increase access to high-quality learning opportunities for all children and adults, such as how the library advances personal and family learning goals and develops literacy in all forms, for all ages.

Examples of library projects to highlight in an application include:

  • Education and community engagement partnerships with PK-12 school leaders, school districts and community organizations.

  • Summer Learning programs, as well as youth mentorship, internship and leadership initiatives for teens and young adults.

  • Trauma-informed programming, caregiver workshops and learning circles.

  • Adult education for reading, media, digital, financial and other types of literacy.

  • Early literacy programs and partnerships that employ principles of the science of reading
Equity and Inclusion

Share your library's innovations that address systemic inequity, digital inclusion and and social justice within the library and across the community.

Examples of library projects to highlight in an application include:

  • Partnerships that enhance the library's reach to under-resourced audiences or offer much-needed resources at no cost.

  • Community engagement initiatives, partnerships and programming that lift up those in marginalized communities.

  • Organizing and strategically planning for anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion outcomes.

  • Partnerships to bring high-speed broadband directly to all households to support community-wide digital literacy and access.

  • Success stories of equitable library design.
Health and Wellness

Share your library's innovations that help library staff and customers better understand and make informed decisions about personal and public health issues. This can be accomplished through educational programs, social services/partnerships, mental health services and other holistic wellness programming.

Examples of library projects to highlight in an application include:

  • Programming and community engagement partnerships to support customer well-being.

  • Mental health resources and support for staff dealing with trauma in the library and/or through lived experience.

  • Programs and partnerships to address public health and public safety.

  • Programming that highlights the library’s sustainability efforts.

  • Initiatives that successfully couple library usage and physical activity.

  • Initiatives that reimagine approaches to library safety and security.
Library Operations and Management

Share your library's innovations that advance the operations, strategy and culture of the system. This can be accomplished through thoughtful decision-making, safety and security strategy, organizational change, leadership trainings, performance management and reporting, impact assessment and all-around process improvements.

Examples of library projects to highlight in an application include:

  • Internal/crisis communications systems and tools.

  • Staff programming for well-being and professional development.

  • Leadership and organization benchmarking and strategic planning.

  • Strategic planning informed by data collection and community engagement.

  • Data-driven evaluation and impact assessment systems.

  • Administration of business practices to create the highest level of efficiency possible within an organization.

  • Facility changes to reduce carbon emissions and enhance energy efficiency.
Workforce and Economic Development

Share your library's innovations that promote equitable economic mobility and opportunity for all local workers, jobseekers, entrepreneurs and business owners.

Examples of library projects to highlight in an application include:

  • Entrepreneurship and advanced digital skill-building.

  • Professional coaching and certification programs.

  • Business challenges and fellowships.

  • Unique applications of a library’s makerspace

  • Small business and entrepreneurship incubators

  • Career services offered to communities who may need extra support, such as people previously incarcerated or those with disabilities

  • Community job fairs and expos.

You can view more details about the submission categories in the 2025 Innovations Categories brochure here.

Official Terms and Conditions

By submitting this form, you confirm that you have read and agree to the official terms and conditions for the 2025 Innovations awards program.

Submit an Innovation

This is the name of the entry as it will appear on the ULC website and in publications. Keep titles as clear and concise as possible. You do not need to include your library’s name in the title. (50 characters maximum)
What is the “elevator pitch” for the innovations? Provide a brief, one- to three-sentence overview of the activity/strategy. Please write the description in complete sentences without abbreviations or jargon. (1,000 characters maximum)
Introduce the primary issue(s) that the Innovation is designed to address. You may use abbreviations and bulleted lists for this section. (1,000 characters maximum)
Explain the structure, implementation and goals of the Innovation. Who are key partners? What activities does it involve? What makes it unique and cutting-edge? How does this initiative innovate the library field? You may use abbreviations and bulleted lists for this section. (1,000 characters maximum)
Provide information about indicators of the Innovation’s success in addressing the targeted issue(s). All innovations must be fully executed with tangible measures of impact. What data metrics are being, or will be, used to measure success? What new partnerships were created because of the Innovation? What feedback has the library received from customers and staff about the Innovation? You may use abbreviations and bulleted lists for this section. (1,000 characters maximum)
Provide the complete URL (include “http://” or “https://”) of a publicly available web page that offers additional information about the library’s Innovation. A social media post is OK for this field. (Note: This is an optional field but encouraged for public-facing projects.)
Please supply a link to a Youtube or Vimeo video (include “http://” or “https://”)
Please supply a link to a Youtube or Vimeo video (include “http://” or “https://”)
Max file size: 2 MB (1600x1600px) | Accepted image formats: .jpg, .gif or .png
Max file size: 2 MB (1600x1600px) | Accepted image formats: .jpg, .gif or .png
Max file size: 2 MB (1600x1600px) | Accepted image formats: .jpg, .gif or .png