Call For Participation Now Open
From Tidepools to Open Seas – growing small ideas into big, transformative practices
Collective at Sea 2024 attendees engage in a discussion about Artificial Intelligence (A.I.).
To match a year that is unlike any other The Collective at Sea 2026 will be unlike any other event!
Library workers participate in a group planning project during The Collective at Sea 2024.
Every great wave starts as a ripple. Libraries thrive on curiosity, experimentation, and the ability to adapt—and often the weird, the small, and the slightly messy become the seeds of something transformative. Like tidepools, our work begins in unexpected, sustaining spaces: pilot projects, niche collections, grassroots collaborations. These little pockets of innovation may seem modest, but they hold the power to shape the future.
At The Collective at Sea 2026, we’re diving into that mix of curiosity and practice. Together we’ll trade wild ideas, practical skills, and tested strategies—growing them from quirky beginnings into bold, future-shaping seas. Whether it’s reimagining workflows, testing new technologies, or amplifying creativity, we’ll chart new directions and develop future-ready practices that ripple outward into lasting change.
This voyage is about embracing both the curious details and the expansive horizons of library work—because the smallest experiments can lead to the biggest waves.
Bring your experiments, your lessons learned, and your strangest ideas—we’ll grow them together.
We welcome submissions in a variety of formats. We offer some provocations and suggested formats below to get you started, but you can also event your own!
If you have an idea for a session that doesn’t seem to fit into this process, please reach out to program@thelibrarycollective.org. We’re always open to radically creative ideas!
2026 Suggested Provocations
We offer these starter questions and provocations for exploration at The Collective at Sea but the vast possibilities are only limited by your imaginations:
Provocations
Small doesn’t mean insignificant. How do tiny experiments ripple into real change?
Messy is part of the process. What can failure or imperfection teach us?
Big shifts often start in overlooked corners — how are you finding them?
Weirdness can be wisdom. What “strange” practice deserves a wider stage?
Collaboration isn’t always smooth sailing — what tides are you navigating?
What happens when libraries stop waiting for permission and just try something?
Tradition anchors us, but anchors can also weigh us down. Where do you cut loose?
What do tidepools in your own work look like — and how might they scale?
The horizon is always moving. What future practices are you steering toward?
What would you do differently if risk was celebrated, not punished?
Suggested Formats
Here’s some options to get you thinking but feel free to combine, riff, reinvent, or diverge from this list!
Dork Short - A short tutorial that introduces an app or tool and walks participants through a how-to and use case(s). This can totally be a third-party product, in other words something you didn't make or invent but use in a cool way. But no sales pitches, okay?
Hands-On/Skill-Building Workshop - step-by-step tutorials or instruction whose target audience is your fellow library workers. Participants should take away a new skill. Feel free to think beyond library instruction - we welcome workshops on any topics of interest to our community.
Interactive Panel (N.B. Interactive is key--no "sage on a stage" please!) - Moderated discussions with “experts” and heavy interaction from attendees. Think more Q&A and less pontificating.
Pecha Kucha - A “grown-up” version of Show and Tell. You’ll show us something cool-using 20 slides with 20 seconds of commentary each. It could be a tour of something fabulously innovative happening at your library, a guided walk-through of a digital project, or another form of performance or sharing that you dream up.
Plenary (Large Discussion/State of Profession) - A big format for REALLY BIG ideas. This is the forum where major statements are made and broad-ranging debate may occur. If you have something everyone needs to hear then this is the format for you!
Make/Hack/Play - You’ll collaboratively build something with participants, such as a topic-specific syllabus, tool, or game. You’ll develop the instructions for participation as well as a prototype or template to get folks started. Take your inspiration wherever it may lead you and create something that makes “Library Land” a better place!
Roundtable Discussion - Organized discussion around a specific topic or group of issues. Everyone is given equal right to participate.
Some Other Awesome Thing - Don’t let us limit your imagination! Tell us your great idea that’s in a category of its own!
WE WERE ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS ON A ROLLING BASIS UNTIL DECEMBER 5, 2025.
A Collective attendee shares a sketch of what an ideal workspace looks like with fellow participants.