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Innovations

The 2025 ULC Innovations application cycle has now closed.

The directors of award-winning libraries and submitters will be notified in early December, prior to the public announcement of the award win. Top Innovators and Honorable Mentions will be recognized in ULC programming throughout 2026.

If you have any questions about the Innovations Initiative, please contact info@urbanlibraries.org.


About the Innovations Initiative

For nearly 15 years, ULC's awards program has recognized and raised the visibility of cutting-edge programs, strategies, tools, techniques and ideas from ULC’s entire membership.

ULC's annual Innovations Initiative showcases out-of-the-box thinking and successful library programs that revolutionize the field. Through each year’s submissions, ULC members share groundbreaking projects that build awareness of the library, further education for people of all ages, address inclusion and digital equity, prioritize health and wellness, enhance strategic internal operations and staff management, and champion the importance of workforce and economic development.

Search Our Database of Innovations Using These Filters:

Pro tip: Use "title:keyword" or "library:keyword" to limit to that specific field

Learn More About our 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.

Thank You to Our 2025 Innovations Judges

Ron Gonzales

Ron Gonzales

President & CEO, Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley, Board Member, ULC Board of Directors

Ron Gonzales is the President and CEO of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. The Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life for Silicon Valley Latinos. Gonzales has over 50 years of technology and public policy experience. Prior to leading the Hispanic Foundation, Gonzales was the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Presencia, LLC, which provided marketing and sales consulting services. He also served as Mayor of San José, the Capital of Silicon Valley and the nation’s 10th-largest city from 1999-2006. Mayor Gonzales may be best known for championing the extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to San Jose and Silicon Valley. So much so that former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown nicknamed him “Mayor BART.” Before he was elected Mayor, Gonzales worked as an executive with the Hewlett-Packard Company in marketing, human resources, and corporate philanthropy. Gonzales served for eight years (1989-1996) on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. As a two-time mayor and member of the Sunnyvale City Council (1979-87). Gonzales has received many honors, including Silicon Valley’s Top 100 Top Influencers (Silicon Valley Business Journal), Wall of Fame (Silicon Valley Capital Club), and Character Award (Boy Scout Council of Santa Clara County).

Headshot 58Kb

Andrew Harbison

Director, OCLC's WebJunction

Andrew joined OCLC in 2023 to lead the strategy and team that designs, builds, and maintains the WebJunction online learning network for public library staff. In this role, he also serves on the leadership team for the Research and Programming team, supports and leads cross-division activities, and ensures WebJunction's alignment with OCLC strategic priorities. Andrew was most recently a division director at The Seattle Public Library where he oversaw system-wide public services, programming and outreach, collections and access, library operations, and information technology. While there, he contributed to a wide range of transformative work, including strategic planning and partnerships, pandemic response, collection enhancements, fine elimination, digital equity, operational efficiencies, well as a number of other access, intellectual freedom, and equity initiatives. Andrew has been in library leadership for over fifteen years and is dedicated to improving and advancing the work of public libraries.

Ambika Kapur Headshot Copy

Ambika Kapur

Program Director, Education, Carnegie Corporation of New York

Ambika Kapur is a program director in the Corporation’s Education program. Her work emphasizes the role of trusted public institutions, such as libraries, as essential civic hubs within communities. Previously, Kapur led grantmaking efforts aimed at engaging parents, communities, educators, and policymakers to better understand and advocate for improvements in education that ensure all students acquire the knowledge, skills, and mindsets necessary for future success. Before that, Kapur served as Officer of Special Projects in the National Program, where she oversaw the program budget, coordinated grantmaking strategies, and supported the vice president on strategic priorities.nEarlier in her tenure, Kapur served as Program Manager in the Dissemination Program, a catalytic fund created to amplify and reinforce major Corporation-wide initiatives. Prior to joining the Corporation, Kapur worked at the Women’s Educational Equity Act Resource Center at the Education Development Center in Boston where she did quantitative and qualitative research on educational equity issues within the U.S. and internationally. Kapur was born in Calcutta. She has a BA in international relations from Wellesley College and an MA in international education development from Teachers College at Columbia University.

2024 Top Innovators

Calling All Musicians: Bay Beats | San Francisco Public Library

Advocacy and Awareness | 2024 | Top Innovator | View Entry

Environmental STEM: Play and Learn | Virginia Beach Public Library

Education - Children and Adults | 2024 | Top Innovator | View Entry

Creating Autism-Friendly Spaces at the Library | Miami-Dade Public Library System

Equity and Inclusion | 2024 | Top Innovator | View Entry

Enhancing Food Access with Strategic Partnerships | Denver Public Library

Health and Wellness | 2024 | Top Innovator | View Entry

Cybersecurity Response and Business Continuity | Toronto Public Library

Library Operations and Management | 2024 | Top Innovator | View Entry

New Start Entrepreneurship Incubator | Gwinnett County Public Library

Workforce and Economic Development | 2024 | Top Innovator | View Entry

2024 Honorable Mentions

Advocacy and Awareness

Education - Children and Adults

Equity and Inclusion

Health and Wellness

Library Operations and Management

Workforce and Economic Development

Rewatch the 2024 ULC Innovations Winners Showcase

2024 ULC Innovations Winners Showcase