The deadline for ACRL 2027 contributed paper, panel session, and workshop proposals is coming up June 5, 2026. The ACRL 2027 Conference to be held April 7-10, 2027, in Portland, Oregon, and online, recognizes the changes shaping our communities and embraces the opportunities they bring. More than just a chance to tackle the important work ahead, ACRL 2027 is an opportunity to connect with colleagues, build new relationships, and expand the skills that support your work.

ACRL 2027 will offer a platform to engage in critical conversations and explore solutions-centered approaches to the challenges facing our profession. The conference will focus on themes such as building coalitions and mutual-support networks, creating effective professional development opportunities for library workers in all stages of their careers, and living out our shared values in difficult times. For this conference, we are focusing on themes such as building coalitions and mutual-support networks, creating effective professional development opportunities for library workers in all stages of their careers, and living out our shared values in difficult times. Whether you join us in person or virtually, we invite you to be a part of this important conversation. In these turbulent times, our sense of community grounds us and reminds us that we are not facing these challenges alone.

We welcome you to share your academic research and innovative projects at ACRL 2027. The conference offers eight unique session formats designed to accommodate a variety of presentation and learning styles. Whether you’re a first-time presenter or an experienced expert, there’s a format that’s perfect for showcasing your ideas. The complete Call for Proposals is available on the conference website.

Deadlines
June 5, 2026: Contributed paper, panel session, and workshop proposals

October 16, 2026: Community chat, lightning talks, poster session, roundtable discussion, and virtual presentation proposals

View the full position description and submit a CV, brief cover letter addressing qualifications, and names of three references via email to C&RL News Editor-in-Chief David Free at dfree@ala.org. Please send questions about the application process to search committee chair Michelle Demeter at med15@nyu.edu.

The deadline for receipt of applications is May 31, 2026. Finalists will be interviewed virtually throughout Summer 2026.

Join us from 2:30 – 3:30 PM Central on Thursday, June 11, 2026, for an online feedback session on the new plan. In this stakeholder and constituent session, the ACRL Board seeks general feedback on the draft plan and specific input on the new vision statement.

Please join this session to ensure your voice is heard.

– Brad L. Warren, ACRL President, 2025-2026

ACRL announces the publication of Integrating Academic Libraries When Institutions Merge edited by Scott R. DiMarco, Lisandra R. Carmichael, and Courtney Heatley, offering ways to turn an independent organization steeped in its own procedures and mission into a merged library that is effective, cohesive, and student-centered.

University and college mergers are increasingly common, and merging institutions have consequences for and demand new skills from their academic libraries. In three sections, Integrating Academic Libraries When Institutions Merge provides strategies for integrating collections, systems, and teams while maintaining critical library operations from authors who have undergone a merger.

• Preparing to Merge
• The New Integrated Culture
• Managing Change

The key to every merger is almost always the same: People and culture working together to get the job done and, in the process, creating a new culture. Integrating Academic Libraries When Institutions Merge can help you confront the past, adapt to the present, and strategize for a sustainable future.

Integrating Academic Libraries When Institutions Merge is available for purchase in print through the ALA Online Store and Amazon.com; as an ebook through the ALA Online Store; via EBSCO, ProQuest, and other ebook vendors; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the U.S. or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.

Describe yourself in three words: Persistent, introspective, loyal.

What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? I just taught Ronit Stahl’s Enlisting Faith, so that’s the book that I read most recently. I’m currently slowly reading Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation for fun.

Describe ACRL in three words: Advocate, essential, community.

What do you value about ACRL? ACRL (and other professional organizations) help us escape our institutional silos. In addition to fostering greater collaboration, often leading to friendship, these communities provide us with some much needed perspective. It makes us better at our jobs and, at least for me, it provides a lot of comfort.

What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? I hope that students, faculty, and outside researchers see me as a partner who will help connect them with the resources they need to achieve their research goals. That could be through collection development, information literacy instruction, reference work, (re)description, or any number of other things. I think I have achieved that objective to some degree but it’s a never ending and always evolving goal.

In your own words: I am exceedingly grateful for the informal mentors I have had over the years. They have helped me find jobs and do those jobs better. I try to pay it forward, but the broader takeaway is the incredible community we have in academic librarianship. 

Editor’s Note: Would you like to be featured as ACRL Member of the Week? Nominate a colleague? Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch!