This document discusses community engagement strategies for libraries. It defines community engagement as building ongoing relationships between libraries and communities to apply a collective vision for community benefit. The document outlines different philosophies for community engagement, including creating the future, ALA's Libraries Transforming Communities approach, and a WebJunction course. It provides tips for effective community engagement through meetings, social media, interviews, focus groups and surveys. Challenges include costs and skills required, while rewards include making a difference and gaining support.

1. Community
Engagement
Stephanie Zimmerman
Training & Development/HR Coordinator
Library System of Lancaster County, PA
ILEAD USA March 2015

2. 2

3. What is Community Engagement?
• Community engagement refers to the process by which
community benefit organizations (in our case libraries) and
individuals build ongoing, permanent relationships for the
purpose of applying a collective vision for the benefit of a
community.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_engagement
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4. What is ILEAD USA?
• Innovative Librarians Explore, Apply and Discover is a
continuing education library immersion program that
cultivates both participatory technology skills building and
leadership training, in order to increase exposure of services,
engage libraries’ constituents, and provide
opportunities for collaborating on innovative projects.
https://ileadusa.wordpress.com/about/
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5. 5
ILEAD USA IS Community Engagement

6. What does one do in Community
Engagement?
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• We connect
• We interact
• We build
relationships

7. You ALL have experience in Community
Engagement
• The Bookends
• Techni-gals
• ALT
• Job Squad
• Memory Masters
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8. The Summerville Public Library Story
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9. But, we’re already doing this…
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Stop and contemplate

10. The Edge Initiative
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http://www.libraryedge.org

11. Edge Benchmarks
• Community Value (1-3)
• Engaging the Community (4-6)
• Organizational Management (7-11)
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12. Edge Benchmarks in PA (Aug 2014)
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16. How do we do this?
Exploring Community Engagement
Philosophies

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http://creatingthefuture.org/
Philosophy 1: Creating the Future

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http://www.help4nonprofits.com/Engagement-
AK/CommunityEngagement-ACTION_KIT.htm

19. Hildy Gottlieb’s 8-Step Guideline
1. Determine the goals of the plan
2. Plan out who to engage
3. Develop engagement strategies for those individuals you already know
4. Develop engagement strategies of those individuals you do not already
know
5. Prioritize those activities
6. Create an implementation plan
7. Monitor your progress
8. Maintain those relationships
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20. 20
http://ephratapubliclibrary.libguides.com/jobcomputerskills

21. 3 Effective Tools
1. Writing
2. Speaking
3. One-on-one Coversations
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22. MORE Fun, LESS Costly, MORE Effective
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23. 23
http://www.ala.org/transforminglibraries/libraries-transforming-communities
Philosophy 2:
ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities

24. Harwood Institute for Public Innovation
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http://www.theharwoodinstitute.org/

25. LTC consists of three areas of concentration
1. LTC Public Innovators Cohort
2. Knowledge-sharing
3. ALA staff training
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26. LTC’s Knowledge-sharing
1. Resources for Libraries
2. Public Innovators Lab Workbook
3. Step-by-Step Guide to ‘Turning Outward’ to Your
Community
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27. Resources for Libraries
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28. Public
Innovator’s
Lab
Workbook
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29. Step-by-Step Guide to ‘Turning Outward’ to
Your Community
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30. 30
http://learn.webjunction.org/course/view.php?id=77
Philosophy 3: WebJunction Course
Tell Me Something I Don't Know - Meaningful
Community Engagement (Infopeople webinar)

31. Key Takeaways from Course
• Properly directed questions
• Can’t afford to guess
• Demographics are not enough
• Satisfaction surveys are not enough
• Talk to the movers and shakers
• Unearth what the community values
• Don’t ask people to commit in advance to non-existent services
• Listen, don’t explain
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32. 32
It’s not about THEM learning about
(what) the library (does),
it’s about US learning about (what they
do) THEM. You do that by listening
NOT by talking

33. How to Connect Effectively
• Effective community meetings
• Effective social media
• Effective interviews
• Effective Focus Groups
• Effective Surveys
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34. A few more tips…
• Don’t thank them for their time, thank them for their
SERVICE
• DO NOT ask the civilians to design the service. All they get
to talk about is outcomes. It’s up to the staff to decide HOW
to do it.
• Repeat; this process is ongoing
• CONSTANT ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COMMUNITY NEEDS TO BE
THE RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION
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35. Other Philosophies…
• “The Engaged Library: Chicago Stories of Community Building” -
http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/ULCReport.pdf
• Blog post titled “Libraries and community engagement” at the
blog “Sustaining Community”
https://sustainingcommunity.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/librari
es-and-community-engagement/
• WebJunction’s Betha Gutsche’s post “The Engaged and Embedded
Library: Moving from talk to action” at
http://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/Engaged_Embedd
ed_Library.html which includes many resources and case studies
• ARSL (Association for Rural & Small Libraries) – “Community
Engagement: Small Libraries Go Big” -
http://arsl.info/2013/03/community-engagement-small-
libraries-go-big/
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36. Examples of Community
Engagement in Action

37. Cumberland County Library System Consensus
Building Process
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http://www.cumberlandcountylibraries.org/?q=Building_consensus

38. PA Forward
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http://www.paforward.org/

39. Geek the Library
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http://get.geekthelibrary.org/

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http://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/community-
engagement-and-staff-development-at-all-levels.html
WebJunction

41. TEDx Event
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https://www.ted.com/about/programs-initiatives/tedx-program

42. Houston Public Library Mobile Express
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http://houstonlibrary.org/our-partners/community-engagement

43. Ephrata Public Library, PA
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http://www.ephratapubliclibrary.org/

44. More Examples on WebJunction
• “Great Ideas for Innovative Community Engagement” -
http://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/great-ideas-for-
innovative-community-engagement.html
• Mentions a Facebook experiment that spawned over 150 community-
generated ideas on the future of Miami’s libraries -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-fishman-lipsey/100-great-
ideas-for-the-for-the-future-of-libraries_b_6551440.html
• “Transforming Library Space for Community Engagement” -
http://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/transforming-
library-space-for-community-engagement.html
• “Teaching Tech to Patrons”Webinar -
http://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/learn-by-doing-
teaching-tech-to-patrons.html44

45. Challenges vs. Rewards

46. 46http://www.slideshare.net/jonbward/community-engagement?qid=57375ec7-00ec-
48ee-b5f0-e4e40207985d&v=default&b=&from_search=5

47. What are the challenges of Community
Engagment?
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• Community Engagement has a cost
• Staff may not have the skills or confidence to do community
engagement work
• Community may have unrealistic views or a range of
opposing views

48. What are the rewards of Community
Engagment?
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• Making a difference
• Steering the service/program/project
• Garners political involvement and support
• Can bring in new funders
• Protects the service
• Brings new ideas and inspiration – invigorates!

49. Main Points
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• There isn’t a right way…
• The only way to learn how is to go ahead and do it…
• we’re not all good at it - those of us who aren’t should do
everything we can to support those who are…

50. Your Future Position?

51. 51
Community
Engagement
Administrator

52. Your Charge

53. R. David Lankes,
"The Community Is Your Collection."
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https://youtu.be/8AzGUfpT7Jc?list=PLX5frlby3mLpdnC_oJWlyYWmf5-4Se0G2

54. • szimmerman@lancasterlibraries.org
• http://www.facebook.com/Slzimm1
• http://www.google.com/+Slzimm1
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/slzimm1
• http://twitter.com/Slzimm1
• http://del.icio.us/Slzimm1
• http://lslctraining.blogspot.com
• http://www.youtube.com/lslctrainer
Engage with me!
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55. Image Credits
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• Linking Arms -
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7223/7155861446_031d28e6f8_b.jpg
• MozFest Community - http://creativecommons.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/11/mozfest.jpg
• PeopleConnect -
http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7396/8718123610_09e70f6d90.jpg
• Albert Einstein -
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8408/8882601625_aa8046b387_b.jpg
• Stop&Contemplate -
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2775/4443143080_30650552fd_o.jpg
• MoreFunStormtroopersYMCA - https://flic.kr/p/6sfakm