How to Build
a Community Library
1. get to know your community
 Who will use the library?
 What are their goals?
 Why do they want a library?
 How do they see the library’s future?
 Can you think of more things it can do?
2. organize your resources
 people: Get help cleaning, sorting, organizing
 space: How will it be used? How easy is it to access?
 tools: What do you need to get started?
 books, etc.: What will people use most? How can you
show off the most appealing things? What’s missing?
Can you get donations or raise money to buy more?
 staff: Get help planning policies, figuring out finances...
3. putting it together
Build on your strengths and on others’ work to go faster...
What do you already have? What’s local? What can you get for free?
Suggested tools & websites:
 LibraryThing.com - website that helps you download information
about books from other libraries (free under 200 books, $15 per year)
 Internet Public Library - collection of free reference information online
 Library Success Wiki - learn about training, policies & more

Community Library
Quick Start Guide
Step 1: Sign Up
All you need is a unique login name
(it’s permanent, so pick a good one)
Use a permanent e-mail address so
people can find the password later
Step 2: Become an Organization
click on this link (or the “organization?” link)
to register as an organization library
(free for under 200 books, $15 a year after)
Step 3: CreateYour Profile
You don’t have to fill out anything you don’t want to, but putting in a
mission statement and describing your location will help make your
library more visible. You can also link to your organization website and
many different social websites you might have accounts with.
Step 4: Start Adding Books!
Go to the “Add Books” Tab and enter titles to start adding books
For very rare books, you may need to enter them manually
Step 5: Edit Your Records
You can add a lot of information, or just a few search tags.
Here are some questions to think about as you get started:
• How much information will people need to find your books?
• Do you need pictures of the book covers or call numbers to find them?
• Will people want to search for specific topics or browse the website?
• Do you need a list of “standard” tags before you get started?
-