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The conference is scheduled for June 2, 2026.
The Council of Library Deans (COLD) invites you to submit proposals for the CSU Libraries Conference! This is a fantastic opportunity to share your expertise, projects, and ideas with colleagues from across the CSU system. The conference will be hosted in-person at CSU East Bay and CSU Fullerton with additional sessions hosted virtually.
Conference Theme: Building Community
The submission form can be found here.
Submission deadline: March 30, 2026
Presentations
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Original research and new topics
- Project updates and briefs
- Discussion sessions on relevant issues, such as collaborative initiatives across the libraries, community-building partnerships, co-creation with student groups, etc.
We seek proposals that reflect all areas of work within the CSU Libraries.
Formats:
We are seeking proposals for in-person and virtual presentations, project briefs, and other sessions in the following/ formats:
- 45-minute slots (standard session length)
- 7-10 minute lightning talks (3-4 talks will be combined for each session)
Format Definitions
Presentations:
Presentations sessions are 45 minutes, including time for Q&A. Presentations may be in person or virtual. Shorter, dual presentations with co-presenters are encouraged as long as the total session lasts no longer than 45 minutes.
Discussion Sessions:
Discussions will engage the audience in lively discourse, preferably on a topic related to the conference theme. The facilitators may spend up to 10 minutes laying the groundwork for the discussion, but the remaining time should be dedicated to group discussion. The facilitators’ task is to encourage maximum audience participation on the chosen topic. Prospective facilitators interested in submitting a discussion proposal should provide an abstract covering the topic and the direction they hope the conversation will take, as well as five possible questions they could ask to guide the discussion.
Panel:
Each panel will typically include three presenters on a cohesive topic, with a moderator (who may also be a presenter). All presenters must be either in person or virtual; mixed panels of in-person and virtual presenters will not be considered.
Lightning Talk:
A lightning talk consists of four to five “lightning round” talks (7-10 minutes each, depending on the number of participants). We encourage proposals that relate to the conference theme. This format is open to anyone and, as a shorter-form category, is intended to welcome case studies, works-in-progress, and timely reports. Applicants can submit one application for a team of up to four lightning talks. Solo submissions will be scheduled by the committee.
Rubric for selection:
Session proposals will be scored according to the conference 2026 Rubric for Submissions. Scores are
3 – Excellent, 2 – Good, 1 – Fair, and 0 – Poor
on the following criteria:
- Applicability and timeliness
- Clarity, organization, and outcomes
- Educational value and suitability for session format
- Point of view and creativity
- Relevance to conference theme
The full rubric is available here.
Virtual Posters
Additionally, we’re seeking poster presentations for a virtual poster session in PDF format.
As in traditional poster sessions, virtual presenters will create short, asynchronous presentations of their work and be available to answer questions. —Please refer to last year’s posters to get a sense of the type of layout and content covered. Poster guidelines include the following:
The goal is to help your audience understand your topic. Using high-quality graphics, including photographs, illustrations, charts, graphs, maps, videos, etc. will make it easier to share your content. Arrange the information in bullet points when appropriate, put lists of statistics in tables, and highlight, bold, and/or italicize responsibly. Colors: Ensure sufficient contrast between the text and the background, possibly using a tool such as Colour Contrast Analyser or WebAIM Contrast Checker. Fonts: Recommended: Sans-serif fonts such as Arial, Gill Sans, Helvetica, and Verdana Alternative: Slab serif fonts such as Rockwell and Courier can be used for headings. Avoid serif fonts such as Times New Roman and Garamond, which are less legible. There are several tools available to help with poster design:
- Canva: Offers thousands of templates and a drag-and-drop interface for easy poster creation.
- PosterMyWall: Provides a wide range of customizable poster templates and is user-friendly for various purposes.
- Venngage: Features a library of easy-to-edit poster templates and allows for branding customization.
- Adobe Express: A simple tool for creating interactive posters with a variety of templates and design options.
- Piktochart: Offers professionally-designed templates and a drag-and-drop feature for easy poster creation.
Who should submit proposals?
We’re looking for a broad range of presentation and poster submissions from all who are invited to the conference. Faculty may submit new presentations or may consider presenting talks from ALA, ACRL, or other conferences. Submitting previously unselected proposals is also encouraged.
Staff are highly encouraged to share their work, initiatives, and expertise. Administrators and departments heads are asked to actively support participation across their library units by encouraging proposal submissions and allowing time for presentation development.
Submission Form:
Please submit your proposals here.
Submission deadline:
March 30, 2026
For questions, please contact your library dean or the conference team. We look forward to seeing your proposals!