PLA welcomes Dr. Ruha Benjamin to Big Ideas stage April 2

CHICAGO —The Public Library Association (PLA) is pleased to announce that Ruha Benjamin, founding director of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab and award-winning author, will deliver the Big Ideas keynote at the PLA 2026 Conference. Big Ideas, exclusively sponsored by The John A. Hartford Foundation, will take place Thursday, April 2, 2026, at 8:00 a.m. Central at the Minneapolis Convention Center. It also will be live-streamed for PLA Virtual Conference attendees.

Dr. Benjamin’s work investigates the social dimensions of science, medicine, and technology with a focus on the relationship between innovation and inequity, health and justice, and knowledge and power. She is Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and award-winning author of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code and Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want.

She recently released her fourth book, Imagination: A Manifesto. At the center of all Dr. Benjamin’s work is the invitation to “imagine and craft the worlds we cannot live without, just as we dismantle the ones we cannot live within.” She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Marguerite Casey Foundation Freedom Scholar Award, the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton, and in 2024 she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowship. ​

The PLA 2026 Conference is a three-day event offering over 100 thoughtfully curated educational sessions, awe-inspiring speakers, bestselling authors, networking opportunities, and an exhibits hall with vendors offering the best library products and solutions. The in-person and virtual conference will run from April 1-3, 2026.

​Personal members of PLA and the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) save $250 on in-person registration with advance registration through February 20, 2026. Virtual conference attendees receive access to live-streamed speaker sessions, author events, and programs, and the chance to save over $70 with Advance registration. See the full schedule of rates.

About the Public Library Association 
The Public Library Association (PLA) is the largest association dedicated to supporting the unique and evolving needs of public library professionals. Founded in 1944, PLA serves nearly 9,000 members in public libraries large and small in communities across the United States and Canada, with a growing presence around the world. PLA strives to help its members shape the essential institution of public libraries by serving as an indispensable ally for public library leaders. For more information about PLA, contact the PLA office at 1 (800) 545-2433, ext. 5PLA, or pla@ala.org.