Welcoming ULC's Latest Member
King County Library System

ULC is pleased to welcome the latest member to the ULC family: King County Library System! KCLS serves 1.4 million residents of King County, Washington. In 2023, KCLS patrons checked out 8,863,118 digital titles through OverDrive, making the system the second-highest digital circulating library in the U.S. and third in the world.

Library of Congress Connecting Communities Digital Initiative Award Recipients
DC Public Library and Hoboken Public Library

This month, the Library of Congress announced the third cohort of the Connecting Communities Digital Initiative's (CCDI) Higher Education and Libraries, Archives, and Museums awardees — which includes ULC members DC Public Library and Hoboken Public Library!

The CCDI is part of the Library’s Of the People: Widening the Path program with support from the Mellon Foundation. The four-year program provides financial and technical support to individuals, institutions, and organizations to create imaginative projects using the Library’s digital collections and centering one or more of the following groups: Black, Indigenous, Hispanic or Latino, Asian American, and Pacific Islander, and other communities of color.

DCPL will collaborate with artist Tsedaye Makonnen to highlight the stories of DC’s Ethiopian residents across generations and identities, while Hoboken Public Library will explore the histories and relationships between the United States and Puerto Rico, with an emphasis on 1960s emigration from the island to Hoboken. Read more about these initiatives on the Library of Congress website.

$15M Grant for EV Chargers at All County Library Locations
Contra Costa County Library

Contra Costa County has received $15 million in funding from the US Department of Transportation to install EV Chargers at 15 Contra Costa County Library locations!

The county libraries were chosen for this grant because they are active centers of their communities often near many services including retail, recreation, and city and county government offices. The library locations will provide convenient access to EV charging for residents across the county including in several low-income and disadvantaged communities.

The county’s grant award is one of 47 in 22 states totaling $623 million announced by the Biden-Harris Administration. Read the press release.