#RLUK26 Virtual Conference :: 25-27 March 2026

Stewardship in challenging times:
the role of libraries in supporting civic society

In an era increasingly defined by social and geo-political polarisation, financial instabilities, and shifting cultural policies, the responsibilities of library leaders have become both more visible and more challenging.

Libraries need to navigate the increasingly complex intersections of academic freedom, freedom of speech, censorship, and the management of contested spaces and collections. These complexities call for vision and clarity to restate and communicate the values of research libraries.   

RLUK26 will explore how libraries can adopt dynamic, inclusive, empathetic, and strategic approaches to successfully manage the myriad human challenges they face, embrace the contested nature of library spaces, and support world-class research.

‘We must empower, support and celebrate the role of libraries and librarians as defenders of an open, pluralist society – the hidden but essential infrastructure of democracy itself.’ – Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian

About the conference

RLUK26 will be a virtual conference held on 25-27 March 2026.

The conference is open to all, and is an excellent opportunity for professionals to connect, discuss and debate together in order to help shape the research library of the 21st century.

The Call for Papers for RLUK26 is now open – see further details below – and the deadline for submissions is midnight (GMT) on Friday 14 November 2025. Any submissions received after this date will not be accepted.

Why virtual?
The RLUK Conference is a space where we wish to bring all colleagues together, regardless of their geography or career level. The virtual space has allowed us to open up our conference in a very positive and inclusive way.

Our online conferences have heard from colleagues from across the research and academic library community, here in the UK and Ireland and much further afield, and our accessible online pricing has allowed us to welcome a much wider audience to join us in rich and invigorating conference discussions.

Call for papers

 

RLUK26 is an open, international conference. We welcome submissions from all colleagues who share our commitment to reshape scholarship and the role of the research library, and we look forward to hearing from a range of voices that will challenge, disrupt and inspire us.

The main conference themes will include, but are not limited to, the following: 

Resilience and vision: How can library leaders move beyond traditional management models toward roles that emphasise agility, innovation, empathy, and strategic vision to navigate ongoing and future technological, social, political, and organisational changes? How can we create a culture of inclusive leadership, encouraging leaders to the sector that reflect a range of perspectives and experiences?

Integrity and inclusion: The library’s role as a nexus for civic engagement and critical inquiry is more vital than ever. What are the challenges for libraries when balancing external regulation and internal tensions whilst remaining as independent, pluralistic spaces for knowledge creation and debate? How can the integrity of librarianship hold fast against restrictive political and social policies or influence?

Democratic and free: Academic libraries sit at the intersection of intellectual freedom (the right to access information) and academic freedom (the right to express and teach ideas), freedoms that underpin democratic societies. How can libraries support robust research, resist censorship, and nurture research excellence by ensuring access to a broad range of ideas and perspectives? What will be the impact on libraries worldwide as legislative and regulatory environments change?

Contested spaces and collections: Libraries embody diverse and sometimes competing cultural and social values through their physical and virtual spaces and holdings. We will examine the ways in which they can foster inclusivity and openness through collection development and programming, and their role in facilitating open dialogue, constructive debate, critical reflection, and collaboration.

AI and copyright: Generative AI is transforming the services in libraries, however, there are many complex legal and ethical challenges, including: the presence of biases reflecting limitations in the range of training materials; the suppression of ‘controversial’ topics; and the use of copyrighted materials. How can libraries navigate the issues that arise from Gen AI use in research? How can libraries co-exist and collaborate in a Gen AI world?

Collaboration and partnerships: Libraries are increasingly leveraging collaboration and partnerships to achieve shared goals, increase capacity and knowledge sharing, whilst mitigating against financial pressures. In a time when libraries are being asked to do more with less, we want to explore the key areas for collaboration that can help the sector to thrive and achieve research excellence.

Submission formats


Papers will be up to 15 minute presentations, with or without accompanying slides. Proposals may have multiple authors, but should have a maximum of two speakers. Papers may be pre-recorded, but authors should be available during the session for questions and answers. Where possible, papers should relate to the conference sub-themes listed above, but can also relate to other topics pertinent to the conference theme.

Interactive workshops are up to 1.5 hour practical sessions focused on the themes of the conference. All workshop proposals should clearly demonstrate a high level of interactivity and audience participation. Workshops may utilise virtual networking spaces, online collaborative tools and may also include breakout groups.


Roundtables are discussions engineered for smaller groups that may focus on a specific theme, offer opportunities for networking, and facilitate peer-to-peer experience sharing. Submissions should include details of a moderator and up to four speakers. Roundtables will be 1 hour in length.

Provocations have a moderator and up to four ‘provocateurs’ to deliver short (no more than 5 minutes) verbal presentations on a single theme, and then discussions will open up to members of the audience in a 1 hour session. This format is a way to interrogate an issue from different perspectives, and as the title suggests, these perspectives should offer an intellectual challenge to assumed or accepted norms.

Hackathons/solution rooms are up to 1.5 hour sessions that may or may not have a technological focus, however, the crux of this format is to bring people together for creative problem solving of a particular topic or issue. Proposals should articulate clear objectives for the session and an idea of desirable solutions or outcomes.

Submission guidelines

The RLUK26 call for papers is now closed.

The conference organisers welcome submissions from all colleagues with a professional interest in the issues affecting research libraries, and we look forward to hearing from a range of voices that will challenge, disrupt and inspire us, including those from underrepresented groups. 

Those unfamiliar with the RLUK Conference can view previous presentations by clicking on ‘previous events’ in the top navigation bar. If you are new to the RLUK Conference and would like to have an informal chat about submitting a proposal, please do get in touch with one of our conference mentors, who can offer general advice only about the conference and submissions:

 All RLUK26 submissions should include:

  • Name, job title and organisation of all speakers 
  • Submission title
  • The theme that your paper/workshop/session applies to. We welcome themes that are not listed above but that are related to our overall theme
  • A short summary of no more than 100 words. If your submission is selected for the conference, this summary will be published in the conference programme
  • An abstract of no more than 500 words
  • Any scheduling conflicts for speakers

Successful submissions will be eligible for complimentary conference tickets (up to two speakers for papers, up to four speakers for workshops and hackathons; up to five places for roundtables and provocations). RLUK will not be able to cover any other incidental costs for speakers.

Please note: the information submitted via the RLUK26 call for papers submission form will be held by RLUK in accordance with its data privacy policy. Further details of this policy can be found here: https://www.rluk.ac.uk/privacy-notice/.

Occasionally the RLUK Conference organisers may suggest a submission is delivered in a different format than that initially proposed. Authors will be fully consulted in this instance.

Submissions will be reviewed by the RLUK Conference Committee, and will be judged on the following criteria:

Relevance: submissions should address the topics and challenges highlighted in the conference theme, or others that will be of relevance and interest to our audience.

Approach: for workshops and interactive sessions we are looking for submissions that demonstrate a high level of interaction, and are clear on the benefits and value they will bring to the conference and delegates

Innovative thinking: we are keen to receive submissions that break new ground or tackle new perspectives on the conference themes