2026 Reaching Forward South Conference

Reaching Forward South is an annual professional development conference for library support staff in central and southern Illinois. It is committed to providing quality training and information, striving to be the premier professional development opportunity in the downstate area. The 2026 theme is 'Revolutionary Service: Preserving the Past, Empowering the Future', focusing on how libraries fulfill a revolutionary purpose by making materials and resources widely accessible, providing welcoming spaces, and evolving their services to meet community needs, especially amid a heightened need for library advocacy. The conference invites proposals on revolutionary library work serving the community, and programming is organized into tracks such as Advocacy and Funding, Collections and Technical Services, Community Engagement and Customer Service, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Human Resources, Leadership and Management, Marketing and Outreach, Personal and Professional Development, Programming, Reference and Readers Advisory, Technology, Wellness, and Youth and Young Adult Services.