Learn how to get started with a Youth Poet Laureate program and why you should consider implementing one in your library.

Learn how Benchmark can support your library in everyday decision-making, and get a behind-the-scenes look at Benchmark’s interactive and user-friendly data dashboards and reporting tools.

This is a 3-week virtual workshop that combines self-paced work with optional live interaction. Each week includes: assignment activities to complete on your own, plus, one live Zoom group discussion (recommended but not mandatory).Tired of “one-and-done” trainings that fizzle out the moment everyone logs off? You know the scene: staff leave a workshop buzzing with great ideas…and then nothing changes back at the desk. Strengthen your training skills through this three-week virtual class and discover principles and strategies to make learning actually stick and get used on the job. Our team of experienced instructors will playfully guide you to design a training you can use to boost skill development and ROI without needing extra budget, staff, or magic.

A facilitated review of the results from the Public Library Association’s (PLA) 2025 Public Library Services for Strong Communities survey.

Grab a drink, get comfy, and join book lovers from around the country as we chat with amazing authors featuring Claire Boyles, Lisa Kleypas, Elizabeth Letts, and Eli McCann.

Explore a new, research-based outcomes framework you can use to strengthen your libraries’ offerings by providing responsive, inclusive, maker-centered services for adults in your community.

Anti-transgender rhetoric has been spreading for many years, but the inauguration on January 20, 2025 marked a sea-change in the sociopolitical situation and information ecosystem around trans Americans. This session will offer a comprehensive rundown of our new federal paradigm and discuss its impacts on trans people as well as on libraries, library workers, patrons, services, and librarianship as a profession.

A lack of access, confidence, and skills keeps many older adults from connecting digitally. This webinar focuses on how public libraries—while offering approaches that are also adaptable to academic and other institutional settings—can strengthen community impact and library operations with digital literacy programs using a combination of instruction, outreach, and volunteer engagement. The session highlights how these programs can also serve as a vehicle for developing staff leadership and management skills through program design, coordination, and evaluation.

The Dyslexic Positive Libraries Initiative shows how to transform your library into a literacy hub where kids learn to read.

Teams are an increasingly important workplace construct, allowing libraries to tap into staff potential to tackle complex work in our current, dynamic library environment.

A three-week Core Classroom, each weekly Zoom session lasting 60 minutes (recommended but not mandatory) combined with 3 - 4 hours coursework each week. Tired of “one-and-done” trainings that fizzle out the moment everyone logs off? You know the scene: staff leave a workshop buzzing with great ideas…and then nothing changes back at the desk.

This webinar focuses on how public libraries—while offering approaches that are also adaptable to academic and other institutional settings—can strengthen community impact and library operations with digital literacy programs using a combination of instruction, outreach, and volunteer engagement. The session highlights how these programs can also serve as a vehicle for developing staff leadership and management skills through program design, coordination, and evaluation.

For most libraries, door counts have reached or surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Demand for quiet study spaces has increased significantly, with people seeking cozy nooks that shield them from distractions.

Celebrate Your Friends Group Oct. 18-24, 2026, during the 21st annual National Friends of Libraries Week!

Learn about best practices delivering sensory storytimes and marketing to ensure autistic children and families feel invited.

Join PLA at the ALA 2026 Annual Conference & Exhibition, June 25–June 29 in Chicago.

Explore why boundaries matter in public service and how they contribute to a safer, more sustainable work environment.

Learn how to implement in-depth, equitable community engagement to inform capital bond-funded work.

Explore the process of developing DeKalb County Public Library's SPARK program for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals.

Available free to PLA individual members! Captain Nia Gilliam shares her journey of fulfilling a lifelong dream to fly—how she rediscovered her passion in the face of tragedy and adversity.