ACRL announces the opening of registration for the ACRL 2027 Conference, to be held April 7-10, 2027, in Portland, Oregon, and online.

ACRL 2027 recognizes the changes shaping our communities and embraces the opportunities they bring. More than just a chance to tackle the important work ahead, and drawing on the theme “Rooted in Community,” ACRL 2027 is an opportunity to connect with colleagues, build new relationships, and expand the skills that support your work. Together, we have can forge new paths that strengthen our connections, expand access to information, and support the dynamic students we serve. ACRL 2027 is a chance to come together, share ideas, and build networks that will shape the future of higher education.

“Our community is the heart of ACRL 2027,” ACRL 2027 Conference Chair Mark Puente, Principal of Mark A. Puente & Associates LLC, noted. “Our theme Rooted in Community reflects the networks of mutual support that carry us through change, and ACRL 2027 is where we strengthen them. Whether you join us in Portland or online, you’ll find colleagues, new ideas, and meaningful professional development for wherever you are in your career.”

At ACRL 2027, we’ll come together as a vibrant community to explore complex topics and engage in meaningful conversations. Through these connections, we’ll highlight how academic libraries remain committed to inclusive excellence, supporting one another as we navigate the evolving landscape of higher education and the communities we serve.

The conference kicks off with the opening keynote session on Wednesday, April 7, featuring poet Ada Limón. The 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, Limón is the author of seven books of poetry, including Startlement: New & Selected Poems; The Hurting Kind, which was a finalist for the Griffin Prize; The Carrying, which won the National Books Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award; and Bright Dead Things, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award.

Limón is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was named a 2024 Time Magazine Woman of the Year. She is the author of two picture books, In Praise of Mystery as well as And, Too, The Fox, and was the editor of the anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World. Limón’s short-form non-fiction book Against Breaking: On The Power of Poetry was released in 2026.

In addition, ACRL 2027 features more than 500 live educational programs including keynote and invited presentations, panel sessions, contributed papers, workshops, lightning talks, community chats, roundtable discussions, and poster sessions offering insights and inspiration to enhance your library’s programs and services. Virtual registration includes live streams of the opening and closing keynotes; live stream programs, including webinars and programs with live chat; virtual-only presentations; and networking opportunities. All registrants also receive free virtual conference access for six months following the end of the conference.

Register by the February 5, 2027, early bird deadline and save. Group discounts are also available. Complete details on ACRL 2027, including registration information, are available on the conference website.

Describe yourself in three words: Creative, energetic, funny.

What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? I just finished Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth for my book club and I am starting The Letter Carrier by Francesca Giannone. 

Describe ACRL in three words: Community, growth, support.

What do you value about ACRL? ACRL brings together three things I care deeply about: service, learning, and community. Some of the most rewarding parts of my career have come from working with colleagues through professional organizations, and ACRL has been an important part of that. Service is something I care about deeply—I recently co-wrote Service Work for Tenure and Promotion (coming soon!)—and ACRL gives me an opportunity to put that commitment into practice.

Through ACRL, I have had the opportunity to contribute to the Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity Framework, represent ACRL as an external liaison at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute, attend the ACRL conference, and, perhaps most importantly, meet and learn from so many colleagues. These experiences have allowed me to connect with librarians from different institutions and backgrounds, learn from their experiences, and contribute to the conversations and initiatives that help our profession grow. Most of all, I value the sense of community ACRL fosters and the reminder that none of us does this work alone.

What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? I have two roles. As the liaison librarian for our Department of Hispanic Studies and School of Information Studies, I support students and faculty through workshops, collection development, and research support. Additionally, as part of this work, I organize library-wide activities, such as the upcoming Behind the Books panel for Canadian Libraries Month, as well as book displays where I have had the opportunity to discover and highlight primary sources.

My second role is as coordinator of our Digital Scholarship Hub, where we offer workshops and support to students and researchers interested in engaging with digital methods. In this role, I get to organize fun, week-long events such as Love Data Week in February and Media Literacy Week in October. During these events, I always try to explore the intersection between research and everyday life, which has led to some very fun sessions on topics like Eras Tour statistics (“Swiftatistics”) and our upcoming talk on Heated Rivalry and representation. I really enjoy this combination of research support, teaching, programming, and creative opportunities to connect people with the library.

In your own words: I consider myself very lucky to do this work, where I get to explore my interests and connect with the academic community. I also believe that being part of this community comes with a responsibility to look out for one another, stay attentive to the challenges facing our profession, and help create a supportive environment for our colleagues.

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!

• What does equity mean to you or your library?
• What is the status of DEI programs and initiatives at your institution?

Based on your anonymous responses, we identified a few trends and common challenges, which are summarized below. We hope that by presenting you with these commonalities, we as an organization can continue to strengthen our unity towards addressing these challenges regardless of the type of institution we are at, and form a stronger community of practice that remains committed to values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We received 22 responses to our first-ever anonymous DEI Spotlight 2.0 series (thank you!). The response demographics are as follows:

What does equity mean to you or your library?

Three trends we identified from your responses:

Equity means providing access and having accessible resources. A cornerstone of librarianship is providing access to resources throughout our communities. For academic, research, and special collections libraries, this may mean a specific community we serve that is not necessarily the larger public, but providing access and reducing barriers remains a pillar of all libraries’ values.

Equity means addressing systemic barriers to access. We not only provide access, but also identify gaps in accessibility and challenge systemic blind spots and barriers to create new avenues for access. We seek to serve everyone in our community regardless of the barriers they face.

Equity for our libraries refers to services pertaining to students and patrons, but equally considers barriers and fairness within our profession. We also seek to be equitable in the field of librarianship in terms of who has access to education and professional development, employment and research opportunities, and recognition. We serve our patrons but most also look inward to ensure equity starts with us at the root of service.

What is the status of DEI programs and initiatives at your institution?

A lot of respondents mention continuing efforts at your institutions, but under new names – or “quieter” initiatives. We’ve seen that semantics matter here, and we’ve done the work to rebrand and repackage our initiatives to fit the box they must fit into now. This does not mean that the program itself is diminished, but that branding and outreach may have required some creative solutions.

Many mention that these types of programs are already embedded in other programs and initiatives, thus similarly becoming “quiet” initiatives and not explicitly marketed as DEI or DEI-related topics. It is good to see this work continue even amid pushback. As librarians, we hope to live in a world where DEI is embedded into our every day work. Again, this may involve creative problem-solving to make sure our programs are reaching underserved communities and equitable access is achieved.

Some of you said that programs are nonexistent or superficial, or not in tune with what patrons want/need. Librarians are struggling to garner support and resources for these initiatives for a variety of reasons, but the dismantling of DEI initiatives at the institutional level has heightened tensions and made serving patrons of underrepresented and marginalized groups even more challenging.

Despite these challenges, we know that this work is worth doing. By summarizing common thoughts across responses from various institutions, we aim to highlight that none of us are alone in these challenges, and many of us continue to value these initiatives and push for equity in our institutions and communities.

We hope to dive deeper into these topics and provide a place for productive reflection and call to action moving forward.

RBMS 2027: Special Collections for All – Access, Equity, and the Reach Beyond the Academy aims to reflect the diversity of where special collections work happens. In addition to academic libraries, our field includes museums, historical societies, public libraries, corporate archives, independent libraries, and more. RBMS 2027 encourages special collections librarians and archivists to consider how we can better engage and serve our communities when we take an expansive view of the field and aim to democratize access for all.

The Call for Proposals is now available. The RBMS 2027 Conference Program Planning Committee enthusiastically invites proposals from practitioners in a wide variety of roles across the full range of special collections settings for in-person or virtual sessions. Discussion Groups, Panels, Papers, Power of New Voices, and Workshop proposals are due December 18, 2026.

RBMS anticipates offering $20,000 of scholarships to subsidize attendance at this conference. The section is committed to increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion in membership and the special collections and archives profession. Visit for Scholarship page on the conference website for more information. Scholarship applications are due December 11, 2026.

Special collections are for all, and so is RBMS 2027! Join us in Reno and online, June 8-11, 2027, as we celebrate special collections work in museums, historical societies, public libraries, and beyond, and explore how to democratize access for all. Registration opens in March 2027.

ACRL announces the publication of Open Movements: Recognizing Challenges and Building Connections, edited by Abbey K. Elder, Shannon M. Smith, and Bryan Ricupero. This collection surfaces the work taking place across open movements and highlights how practitioners and advocates can effectively collaborate for sustainable change.

Open movements all center public access and broad representation, and work to prevent the concentration of power governing information and its monetization. As general discussion of openness has narrowed to focus on areas like open science, data, access, and education, these individual communities have grown distanced from each other and, occasionally, their shared values.

In five sections, Open Movements: Recognizing Challenges and Building Connections explores different perspectives on open and how the values that guide open systems and practices will remain relevant well into the future.

• Forging and Maintaining Open Communities
• Exploring the Structures that Support Open
• Improving Access Points for Open
• Navigating Choice and Engagement in Open
• Reflecting on Our Past to Build an Open Future

Open Movements helps practitioners engage more thoughtfully in work that supports not just broad access to information, but also public empowerment.

Open Movements: Recognizing Challenges and Building Connections is available for purchase in print through the ALA Online Store and Amazon.com and as an ebook via EBSCO and other institutional ebook vendors. Order by telephone at (866) 746-7252 in the U.S. or (770) 442-8633 for international customers. This book is also available in an open access edition.