IUG 2026 Annual Conference

Accessibility isn't just about compliance -- it's about designing every library experience so all patrons can fully participate, both in person and online. As new ADA Title II requirements take effect in April 2026, this learning lab provides practical strategies on how to further accessibility throughout library programs, services, and digital offerings.

Drawing on real-world examples, guided discussions, and focused training, participants will learn practical strategies for building organizational capacity and integrating inclusive practices into everyday workflows. This session will highlight how meaningful progress can be achieved through collaboration and planning -- often without significant new costs.

Attendees will leave with actionable tools and skills to further accessibility across their organizations.

This workshop is suitable for all library types and staff roles, whether you are just beginning your accessibility journey or seeking to advance an existing program.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

Understand the standards
Evaluate your current accessibility
Implement practical solutions
Measure your accessibility impact

Have you seen weird strings of characters in your records like ?????? or Ã?©? I had them spread randomly around my database. I developed a process to find and replace these with correct characters in Sierra. There are still some functions in Sierra that you can only access with PuTTY, but PuTTY is a real pain to use because things are buried in menus, and there is no documentation on where to find things. It can't be documented because every server can be set up differently. I made a map of my own PuTTY setup so I can find things.

Hey! Congratulations on your (possibly surprising) promotion! Whether you intentionally moved up to Polaris ILS administration or you were chosen because "you're good with computers," you may be just a little overwhelmed when you first log in and need to dig through SA to find out how to do something. I mean, first thing's first, what's SA? But it's okay! You are among friends and, you know what? We were all new to this at one point. So are you a newbie in the world of Polaris? Great! Bring your questions and your commiserations and we'll do our best to provide answers and tactics to make your Polaris workday a little bit easier. Or, if you're an experienced Polaris admin, bring your knowledge and wisdom! After all, we're librarians. Answering questions is kind of our thing.

Springfield-Greene County Library launched Vega Discover in late 2024, after using Encore for over fifteen years. Join ILS Administrator (Sierra) Stephanie Ruhe for a recap of the go-live experience and first year (or so) live on Discover. We'll discuss successes, challenges, and lessons learned through each stage of the process, then wrap it up with a little show-and-tell and discussion of our hopes for the future.

Come and learn more about the MEEP process. We will discuss the life of an idea and how it gets submitted to then get voted on for enhancement. We will also cover how to get involved as any questions you have about the process.

Lightning Rounds are short (approximately 10-minute) talks that briefly highlight a project or topic. This session includes (not necessarily in order): 

- Getting Involved with IUG (Jeff Campbell):
Learn more about how to get involved with IUG!

- From Door to Desktop - Identity Provider Integration in Action (Derek Brown)
Join us for a practical look at how Rochester Hills Public Library implemented identity provider integration across our library system following Clarivate's OAuth support announcement. This brief session demonstrates our real-world integration of Google Workspace authentication with Polaris LEAP, showcasing how staff seamlessly move from physical building access (using YubiKeys with OpenPath) to authenticated Polaris sessions (both on-site and remotely). Through sped-up demonstration footage and mobile device examples, we'll illustrate the tangible benefits of identity federation in a library environment. We'll also share insights from our journey toward passwordless authentication, YubiKey implementation, and experiments with Google Chrome OS Flex. This lightning round is ideal for libraries considering OAuth implementation or exploring how identity providers can unify security across digital and physical systems.

- Databrae - Inexpensive, direct, high speed item access without RFID (Daniel Messer)
One of the dreams of the Circulation Librarian is the ability to access and evaluate the items on the shelves without touching every single item. If you're running an inventory, or checking last circ dates for a weeding project, or checking for errant item statuses, the process is the same: Scan the item into your ILS and move on from there. RFID promised a solution for this, with handheld wands that are supposed to read the tags and you never have to touch the items. Except for two problems: One, everything about RFID is expensive and two, wands don't always work. Sooner or later, you'll run into an issue where you cannot scan an RFID tag and need to pull the item off the shelf. And for some libraries, the expensive nature of RFID, from the price of tags to the price of equipment, hampers their ability to improve their workflows and make their jobs easier. I have an idea. I admit, it's a crazy idea, but it's everything RFID isn't. It's inexpensive, the software is free and open source, your library won't need to buy a lot of special equipment, the price of conversion is pennies on the dollar compared to RFID, it doesn't matter what ILS you're running, and there's a good chance you already have everything you need. Let me tell you about Databrae.

- AI-Assisted Code: Automating Merge Record Cleanup as a Non-Programmer (Amanda Raver)
In this lightning talk, I will describe how I used AI tools to help me streamline a time-consuming process. Every week, Gleeson Library downloads weekly merged records from OCLC WorldShare Collection Manager. The merge files are created when two or more existing records are merged with a new OCLC control number. The problem is that when loading the merged records into Sierra, Sierra cannot match them to more than one existing record at a time. This left our catalog littered with old records that should have been overlaid by the merge records, but were not. These had to be tracked down individually and deleted. To solve the problem, I used Claude to help me write a Python script that would pull the merged OCLC control numbers from the merge file and plug them into a SQL query so that I could quickly pull all the old records to be deleted rather than searching for them one by one. The original task that took hours of staff time now only takes a few minutes to complete. This presentation will discuss my process for writing and testing the script as a Python beginner and share tips and tricks for using AI to assist in streamlining workflows.

The direct sequel to Polaris SQL for the Absolute Beginner (IUG 2023) , this presentation builds upon the foundations and covers more advanced (and sometimes scary) topics like updates, deletes, the different types of joins, and more. We'll also cover some best practices and strategies for managing complex queries.

PIAC (Polaris ILS Advisory Committee) is a group of individuals who help facilitate issues between Polaris libraries and Clarivate. Come learn more about us: what PIAC does, who we are, why we exist and more!

It can be a taboo topic, but let's talk about weeding. We weed for a variety of reasons, sometimes we're running out of space, sometimes we need to move collections, sometimes it's just because we haven't weeded in 50+ years (do you really need that Windows 95 instruction book??), or there was a major roof leak and water went everywhere. But what happens afterwards, how do you maintain your updated and beautiful collection (and not wait another 50 years to weed.) In this session we'll look at managing a whole library weeding project and then delve into ideas for maintaining that beautiful collection.