In this messy, fun, hands-on program, tweens and teens dare to design and devour delicious doughnut dioramas alongside local police officers.Â
Using doughnuts, candy decorations and basic supplies, teams create freestanding structures that are judged in categories like creativity and engineering.Â
The event was designed to ease relations between local teens and police with humor and treats.Â
Blog post author Allison Wysong is a children's librarian at Tacony Library and a participant in Cohort 6 of the Skills for Community-Centered Libraries trainings.
Although we're headlong into the winter holidays, today we want to discuss a different community celebration that took place this autumn.
Blog post author Nina Coffin is a librarian in the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Social Science & History Department at Parkway Central Library and a participant in Cohort 6 of the Skills for Community-Centered Libraries trainings.
Recently, the New York Public Library launched a new pilot series in select library branches across three boroughs. Community Conversations encourages open dialogue where everyone’s voice can be heard.Â
When you, as a resident, participate in Community Conversations, you can expect to:
Accessible community pantries are popping up everywhere. From the Love Fridges in Chicago to the Little Free Pantry Movement, these crowdsourced spaces are commonly stocked with everything from nonperishables to fresh vegetables to hygiene products.
In previous posts, we shared information about a recent survey that asked libraries to talk about one partnership that worked well for them. So far, we’ve discussed responses to two of our survey’s key questions: Who do you consider your public?
As part of our research in this phase of the National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment (NILPPA), we developed and administered a survey designed to give library workers an opportunity to talk about their experiences in partnering with community organizations.
The opening chapter of author Renée Watson’s young adult novel “Piecing Me Together” is two simple lines: I am learning to speak. / To give myself a way out. A way in.
At its heart, the National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment (NILPPA) explores the impact of public programs on the people served by libraries.
The Madison Public Library Naturalist-in-Residence encouraged our community to explore, learn and reflect upon the natural world through accessible nature-based experiences guided by a local naturalist.
Libraries of all types are taking on new roles and responsibilities. Through robust programming agendas, they’re at the center of community-building efforts all across the US. As they do this important work, libraries are increasingly forging partnerships with different groups and institutions within the communities they serve. Working with schools, churches, healthcare providers, and a variety of other organizations, they’re creating joint programming to directly address people’s needs.
The term “community conversation” refers to a mediated discussion among the members of a community. They have been used for a variety of purposes, and research shows that they can be incredibly beneficial.
This program is run once a month by a local cook and educator. She teaches children in grades second through sixth how to cook using our new mobile kitchen cart (Charlie Cart) here at the library. Participants gain culinary skills and use creativity and math skills to bake, cook and create.
Tulsa City-County Library has had a seed library at some locations since 2014 but the pandemic hit just as Tulsa’s spring planting season began. We were completely closed until mid-May 2020. Meanwhile, everybody and their brother had taken up gardening. How could we get as many seeds as possible in Tulsa gardens while offering only curbside service?
ALA invites library workers to apply for the Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant, an annual award supporting innovative and meaningful community engagement efforts in libraries.
Small and rural libraries that received funding from ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Focus on Small and Rural Libraries initiative often developed conversation series that built on previously established partnerships and existing programming.
Community engagement is a key component to the work of all library types. In fact, knowledge of the community is one of the 9 Core Library Programming Competencies as identified by NILPPA (the National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment).
Small and rural libraries face a variety of unique challenges. The problem of misinformation is one of them.
Mackenzee Grzesiak, reference librarian at Alpha Park Public Library in Illinois, was watching HBO’s "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" when she connected her work on the library’s podcast to the episode’s coverage of America’s current mental health crisis.
