Whether you're in the dreaming and planning stages or further along the design road, you'll find ideas, information, and inspiration, no matter what your budget allows!    

Hosted by Library Journal  in partnership with the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), this installment of our library building and design event will bring you the latest trends in library design. Dig deep with architects, librarians, and vendors to explore building/renovating/retrofitting spaces both large and small that will redefine the relationship with your users and engage your community.    

This full-day think tank provides expert panel discussions with architects and librarians, as well as hands-on, architect-led breakout sessions dealing with real-life design challenges submitted in advance by you and your fellow attendees.    

CML’s Main Library, built in 1907 with Carnegie funds, combines classic Beaux-Arts architecture with a contemporary interior. Fully renovated in 2016 by Schooley Caldwell in collaboration with GUND Partnership, the library centers a dramatic, light-filled atrium with two stories of windows that provide views of the adjacent 9.2-acre Topiary Park. In addition to the Grand Atrium, the building features a children's section, auditorium, meeting rooms, gift shop, café, digital lab, and the Franklin County Genealogical and Historical Society, among many other amenities. The second-floor Carnegie Gallery hosts rotating exhibits of Ohio artists, helping reinforce CML’s role as a community hub. 

Does your library have a design problem or project you'd like to tackle head on with an architect? Submit your project here by September 10th and receive free registration.

This event is open to librarians, library board or foundation members, and the library’s city planners/officials. If you are an architect or vendor and would like to sponsor one of our 2026 Design Institute events, please contact Advertising Director Roy Futterman: rfutterman@mediasourceinc.com  

By registering for this event, you are agreeing that Library Journal/School Library Journal may share your registration information with sponsors currently shown and future sponsors of this event. Click here to review our full Privacy Policy.  

Click here to see the 2026 Design Institute cancellation policy.

ARCHITECT SPONSORS

If you are an architect or vendor and would like to sponsor one of our 2026 Design Institute events, please contact Advertising Director Roy Futterman: rfutterman@mediasourceinc.com 

"This was an extremely eye-opening experience to be amongst peer library colleagues with similar interests to engage in conversations about funding, budgeting, design and what works and doesn't. The tours were fascinating and I left with a newfound eye for architectural detail."

-N. Garmer, Associate Dean of Libraries

"LJ Design Institute was very insightful in helping me appreciate the many different ways to address how to go about a redesign or remodel to try reconciling the many competing elements of a project." 

-T. Henderson, Library Director

"The Design Institute Conference was the perfect event for anyone just getting started with a redesign or new design for a library. I was inspired by all of the input from other librarians and architect professionals. It was great to hear about library design trends, the do's and don'ts, and personal experiences of others."

-B. Arriola, Associate Librarian