2016 Theme:

What We Talk About When We Talk About Value: Valuing Academic Libraries in a New Era.

In 2010, ACRL launched its Value of Academic Libraries initiative, the purpose of which is primarily to advance a “research agenda” that encourages the library profession to answer the question, “How does the library advance the missions of the institution?” Methods used by academic libraries to demonstrate value within and without their institutions have included assessment, metrics, user experience studies, citation studies, and other data-driven methods.  Concurrently academic librarians have been concerned with articulating and demonstrating the less-quantifiable values of the profession such as diversity and inclusion, love of learning, serving the public good, social responsibility, and preserving confidentiality and privacy.  Programs will focus on how we are:

♦ demonstrating the value of your library to your institution and communities;

♦ cultivating the value of your library and/or values of librarianship;

♦ putting the values of librarianship into practice in your library, your institution, your community;

♦ reframing the focus on value (as in return on investment) to one of valuing (people, social justice, democratic spaces, etc.).​

The 2016 Conference will feature a keynote address from Dr. Safiya Noble, and invited talks from Cynthia Mari Orozco and William Breitbach. See our Speakers page to learn more.