At the end of each year, the Rural Library eSummit brings together more than 500 rural library practitioners and friends from across rural America to celebrate their role in building strong communities. At the eSummit, practitioners learn more about using cradle-to-career strategies to address educational and health disparities as well as having the chance to access resources needed to do this work. During the eSummit, incentives will be shared, and networking opportunities will abound!
Rural libraries are at the forefront of community change—fueling literacy, economic mobility, and local innovation. The Rural Library Network eSummit will showcase the power of rural libraries to lead movements, activate partnerships, strengthen systems, and serve as “bright spots” across the country.
We invite breakout session proposals that highlight real-world strategies, bold ideas, and replicable (scalable) models. Whether you are leading change in a single community or building statewide momentum, we want to hear from you.
Breakout Session Focus Areas
Proposals should align with one or more of the conference themes as outlined below:
Movement: Building a national movement of rural leaders committed to moving outcomes for all rural young people.
How are you positioning your library as part of a broader rural movement for equity, opportunity, or literacy?
Activate: Influence and activate places, organizations, and people to invest in and support leaders in moving outcomes for rural youth. How has your library activated partners, community members, or systems (policies) to expand your impact or move cradle to career educational outcomes?
Strengthen: Strengthen the capacity within rural places to adopt and implement what works, and the capacity of those outside of rural places to understand, align, and connect with rural places. What systems has your library helped to build, align, or reinforce (e.g., education, workforce, broadband, early learning)?
Bright Spots: Identify and amplify programs and practices that work in rural areas. What’s working in your library that others should know about—and possibly replicate? What library collaborative models are working (e.g., libraries and schools, libraries and health departments, family and community outreach/engagement)?
Breakout Session Types
Live Breakout (60 mins) – Interactive session with at least 10-minute discussion or Q&A
Collaborative Panel – Joint presentation by two or more libraries or partners
Selection Criteria
Sessions will be selected based on:
Submit Your Proposal
Submit your session proposal by October 22, 2025.
For questions, contact Dr. Regina Washington at [email protected].
Below: Click the “Submit Session Info” button below to start. You’ll be directed to a page where you can create an account. After setting up your account, you’ll be able to begin the submission process. Once your submission is complete, you can log back into your account at any time to make updates or changes.
The 2023 eSummit was a two-half-day event that took place virtually December 6-7. Participants networked and attended both keynote and breakout presentations.
The 2022 eSummit was a two-half-day event that took place virtually December 7-8. Participants networked and attended both keynote and breakout presentations.
Check out this playlist from all the sessions during the 2021 eSummit.
If you missed the breakout sessions during the Rural Library eSummit, you can now view each session below:
