2026 ULC Annual Leadership Forum In Demand: The People and Power of Public Libraries Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2026 | Las Vegas, NV
Hosted in partnership with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District
Public libraries are in demand because people make them powerful: the teams who deliver the work, the communities who rely on them, the partners who strengthen them and the leaders who carry the message forward.
The 2026 ULC Annual Leadership Forum, In Demand: The People and Power of Public Libraries, brought ULC members together in Las Vegas for a high-energy, highly interactive gathering focused on relevance, leadership, communication, staff strength and community value.
BLOG | 2026 ULC Annual Leadership Forum Recap: Reflections from Las Vegas
Earlier this month, over 250 library leaders and staff from 101 library systems across two countries gathered in Las Vegas for ULC’s record-setting Annual Leadership Forum, In Demand: The People and Power of Public Libraries. Over three days, the energy in the room made the theme feel less like a title and more like a fact. Public libraries are in demand, and so are the people who lead them.
Our thanks go to Kelvin Watson and his team at the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District (LVCCLD) for hosting an experience that was “unmistakably Vegas” while lifting up the city’s underappreciated history. We’re also grateful to our sponsors, Bibliotheca, EBSCO, Hoopla, Ingram, and the Knight Foundation; to oral historian and documentarian Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz, who tied the sessions into a cohesive whole as our event facilitator for the second year in a row; and to every participant who proves that libraries are “In Demand.”
Read on to learn more about the four themes we heard most often, and what they mean for the work ahead...
Read the BlogThe 2026 ULC Annual Leadership Forum was generously sponsored by:
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