Gardening for Kids Programs Grow Community Connections
Meredith McGovern is a librarian at the Free Library of Philadelphia's Falls of Schuylkill Library and a participant in Cohort 3 of the Skills for Community-Centered Libraries trainings.
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community engagement
Engaging Community Partners in Program Planning
Claire L. Hand is an adult/teen librarian at the Free Library of Philadelphia's Wynnefield Library and a participant in Cohort 2 of the Skills for Community-Centered Libraries trainings.
The Power of Community Conversations: Denver Public Library and the Harwood Institute
Denver Public Library has undertaken wide-ranging community engagement efforts, reaching out to the greater Denver community to discover its aspirations, concerns and needs. The library uses this information to guide its strategic work and to be responsive to the needs of its communities and customers.
Here, Erika R. Martinez, the library's director of communications and community engagement, shares how Denver Public learned about, and worked to overcome, their customers' feelings of disconnect in a fast-changing city.
Community Conversations: Lessons Learned at NYPL's Mid-Manhattan Library
The model for New York Public Library's Community Conversations series, as presented by Everyday Democracy and ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities initiative, provides staff with valuable experience in community-mapping, partnership-building and the practice of facilitating public discussions.
Bringing 'American Creed' to Your Library
'In turbulent times, what do we share in common? That’s the main question asked in one of the most widely carried PBS documentaries of the past year, "American Creed," which profiles citizen-activists around the country who are grappling with their communities’ deepest divides.
At this year’s ALA Annual Conference, filmmaker Sam Ball, director of the nonprofit Citizen Film, presented clips from "American Creed."
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Community Engagement
Chera Kowalski is the assistant to the chief of staff at the Free Library of Philadelphia and a participant in Cohort 1 of the Skills for Community-Centered Libraries trainings.
Community Conversations: Failing Forward
I've heard it said that if you're not failing, you're not trying. Well, when it came to our Community Conversations program, we certainly tried.
Luckily, I’ve also been reading a lot about Failing Forward, a theory that encourages you to make the most of your mistakes by learning from them.
Implementing Community Change: Positive and Productive Partnerships
In this 60-minute webinar, representatives of the Zion-Benton Township High School Library and Zion Township supervisor’s office will share how they worked together to initiate a unique reading and discussion program to tackle issues of equity, diversity and inclusion among teens in their community. Learn how aligning library goals to wider community concerns can create positive partnerships that reap benefits for all stakeholders.
Participants of this session will:
The Journey to Understanding Libraries: A Library Assistant’s Story
Sa-de Brown is a library assistant at Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library and a participant in Cohort 2 of the Skills for Community-Centered Libraries trainings.
"Life is a journey, not a destination." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Reaching Out to People with Disabilities: Sacramento Public Library and the Harwood Institute
In 2016, Sacramento Public Library Deputy Director Kathy Middleton took part in a three-day workshop with The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, a nonprofit organization that helps people and organizations solve pressing problems and change how communities work together.
Middleton hoped to use the Harwood Institute’s approach, called “Turning Outward,” to learn how the library could better serve people with disabilities. Here, she shares how what she learned in the workshop led to concrete changes at her library.
Call for Contributors: 'Empowering Communities: The Library and Community Engagement'
The ALA Public Programs Office is seeking contributing authors for an upcoming book, "Empowering Communities: The Library and Community Engagement" (working title), edited by Mary Davis Fournier and Sarah Ostman, to be published by ALA Editions.
Connecting Special Collections and Philadelphia’s Islamic Populations: Starting the Dialogue
Joe Shemtov is a special collections coordinator and primary source specialist and a participant in Cohort 1 of the Skills for Community-Centered Libraries trainings.Â
A Tale of Two Organizations: Talking about Affordable Housing on the Lower East Side
A brief look at the history of New York City’s Lower East Side (LES) reveals that this little patch of land has always been an area ripe for intense debate. The portrayal of the neighborhood in books, film and other media is constant — the romance, horrors and bitter struggles. The LES is a place of rare historical significance, a community that has inspired generations of activists, radicals, advocates and new Americans to envision a better future.
Panel Discussion: How to Start a Community Garden
This panel discussion about community gardens increased awareness for High Point Library's seed-sharing program, its gardening classes and the local farmers' market, which is held on library grounds.Â
Community Conversations: Engagement through Local History
The Upper West Side of Manhattan has been one of New York’s most recognizable neighborhoods, featured in dozens of films and television shows; our cultural landmarks run the gamut from Lincoln Center to Zabar’s food emporium. However, visitors and even residents of the Upper West Side might not be aware that the neighborhood has a rich activist history.Â
The Leaders We Have Been Waiting For
“We are the leaders we have been waiting for." -Grace Lee Boggs, philosopher and activist
The Free Library of Philadelphia is full of leaders, and so are the neighborhoods in which we are located. To foster collaboration with community members and organizations, we are building staff capacity in two ways:
From Community Conferences to Current Events Café: How an NYPL Branch Implemented Dialogue-Based Programming
The New York Public Library’s (NYPL) Jefferson Market branch, a historic building located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, enjoys a close, long-standing and reciprocal relationship with the local community.
Skills for Community-Centered Libraries: Learning through Experience
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” — Xun Kuang, philosopher
Imagine trying to learn to knit. Would you learn best by reading a book about knitting? Hearing a friend talk about knitting? Watching an expert knitter? Or learning the basic steps and actually trying to knit?
NYPL's Community Conversations: Dialogue-Driven Programming
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a system of four research libraries and 88 circulating branch libraries that serves the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. The library’s Adult Programming and Outreach Services office works with staff across the circulating branch system to provide centralized resources that support the diverse needs of patrons from all walks of life.
Community Conversations Across Neighborhoods: Dialogue-Driven Programming
In February 2017, the New York Public Library (NYPL) launched a Community Conversations pilot with the goal of further establishing branch libraries as key civic convening centers, providing space, information and quality discussion for communities to better understand and problem-solve around local issues.
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