For the second year in a row, UCSB Library received major library association awards in recognition of its outstanding communications:
ARL 2026 ARLIES Award
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) awarded a 2026 ARLIES Award, People's Choice category, to UCSB Library for its "Research Consultation: KPop Demon Hunters AI Controversy" video at the ARL Spring Association Meeting in April 2026. The video leans into the recent controversy over AI-generated music in the popular, award-winning animated film KPop Demon Hunters to highlight to an undergraduate student audience UCSB Library’s reference support and research consultation services, as well as strategies for finding and evaluating sources and for identifying misinformation.
ARL is a nonprofit membership organization of research libraries and archives in major public and private universities, federal government agencies, and large public institutions in Canada and the U.S. The ARLIES Film Festival highlights and shares videos developed by member institutions to increase knowledge and use of libraries, their spaces, services, collections, and expertise.
Last year, UCSB Library was awarded the 2025 ARLIES Award, Best Publicity/Marketing Film category, for its "Gen Z-Scripted Tour of UCSB Library" video.
ALA 2026 PR Xchange Award
The American Library Association (ALA) awarded a 2026 PR Xchange Award, Advocacy, Fundraising, Annual Reports, and Strategic Plans category (print), to UCSB Library for its 2024-2025 Impact Report at the ALA 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in June 2026.
ALA is a nonprofit organization based in the U.S. that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest library association in the world and with more than 47,000 members also the largest library association in the world. The annual PR Xchange Awards Competition recognizes the very best public relations materials produced by libraries in the past year.
In 2025, UCSB Library was awarded three PR Xchange Awards, including an award in the Advocacy, Fundraising, Annual Reports, and Strategic Plans category for its 2023-2024 Impact Report.
