The Libraries invites UNL undergraduate students to imagine and share their vision for the future of academic research libraries for a chance to win one of three visa gift cards and Libraries swag. The top prize gift card is valued at $350.
“We encourage parents, faculty, staff, and other allies of Husker students to share this information with all possible students who would be interested in entering,” said Harriet Wintermute, chair, ACME and contest lead organizer.
Imagining the Research Library of Tomorrow contest is open now and the deadline for submission is due December 4, 2025. Submission guidelines outline the prompt and other details for the contest. Entries can be created in a variety of formats including artwork, video, written, 3D models and more.
Contest participants are to address the following prompt:
Explore your hopes, dreams, and sense of possibilities for how research libraries will evolve to support discovery, knowledge, and human connection in the years to come.
“We want students to reflect on the educational journey that they are on and how the UNL Libraries have supported them on that journey,” explained Wintermute, “Then we ask them to visualize the path to the future and how they see the Libraries’ path alongside their own.”
The contest is connected to the year-long celebration of the Libraries’ significant milestones, Pages to Paths: A Celebration of Our Libraries. The Nebraska Model is how the Libraries envision our own future.
According to Liz Lorang, dean of Libraries, this contest can elicit valuable information about how students see the Libraries in the present and the possible pathways of the future.
“We are excited to see how students envision the vital work of the Libraries in the future and it could guide us toward new ways of collaborating and innovating,” said Lorang.
Submission guidelines and entry forms: https://go.unl.edu/library_contest
More details at: https://go.unl.edu/library_contest