Topic: Collaboration around community engagement\/how the library can be a catalyst for civic engagement
\nConveners: Joy Mayer and Tina Stewart
\n(Joy and Tina\u2019s topics seemed to have a similar focus so they decided to combine the session.)<\/p>\n
Participants:
\nLauren Britten Smedley
\nChelsea Gunn
\nSaul Tannebaum
\nAndrew Ott
\nM Thomason
\nAmy Penwell
\nMike Kittross
\nSannon Crawford Barniskis
\nCatherine Odson
\nIrene Van
\nJamie HelgrenTome
\nTom Stites
\nJeanine Finn
\nMary Chute
\nSusan DiMattia
\nCeleste Bruno
\nNancy Picchi<\/p>\n
Shannon Barniskis shared how her library filled a gap in an information need in the community. During road repair work, residents did not know what streets where closed. Shannon created a blog on the library\u2019s web site and kept people informed about any road closures. <\/p>\n
Another participant indicated that a high school student was given his own page in a local newspaper in which he could report community news.<\/p>\n
Comments like the above led to the question: \u201cHow do we identify what information the community needs? The appetite or the need for particular information ebbs and flows depending on the problem.<\/p>\n
Joy asked: How do we identify a community problem? One suggestion was to put a survey on line and ask residents what issues were most important to them. <\/p>\n
Good quote, in reference to the See Click Fix project: \u201c Potholes are the gateway to civic engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another comment: Both librarians and journalists should need to become more involved in the community. <\/p>\n
People want to feel that what they do or say has an impact on their government.<\/p>\n
What about the good things happening in a community? Are these underreported? Journalists should not always follow the \u201cif it bleeds, it leads.\u201d Journalists can contribute to residents having a positive feel about their community. One suggestion: Have a \u201cthank you column\u201d in the newspaper.<\/p>\n
One participant indicated that he thought that newspapers and libraries are in competition with each other. At his library, people come to read the daily newspaper instead of buying it. <\/p>\n
An editor from Patch explained the format of this online community newspaper, Participants who were familiar with Patch noted this online newspaper was making a positive contribution to getting out community news. More and more people were signing on. Was it increasing civic engagement? Too early to tell. <\/p>\n
Patch has also reached out to public libraries promoting their programs and services. <\/p>\n
How can libraries be a catalyst for community engagement?
\nNancy Picchi suggested that libraries can adopt \u201cone book, one course\u201d model similar to the one book, one community model. There are classes available from universities that public libraries can use. <\/p>\n
Tina noted that public libraries can also adopt the public forum concept mentioned by Laurie Moffat from the Norman Rockwell Museum. These can be used to address local issues or more national or global issues that are important to all. <\/p>\n
Another participant pointed out that the conversations that are begun at the library should be continued in the public space? Is this the collaborative role of journalism?<\/p>\n
The need for librarians and journalists getting out in the community seemed to be a common thread in the conversation. <\/p>\n
One participant is part of Radical Reference Librarians, a service that began at the 2008 Democratic convention. Could this model work for public librarians?
\nThe following explains statement was taken from their web site:
\nWe designed this site to answer questions from activists and independent journalists on topics related to those activities. This is not a general reference site. For that, we recommend ASK NYPL, your local public library, the Internet Public Library, or Ask MetaFilter.<\/p>\n
Although this was not included in the discussion at the confab, I wanted to point out that September is Civic Awareness Month: The following link was emailed to me by Wilmington Memorial Library\u2019s Reference Librarian. It answers ome ways libraries can be a catalyst for civic engagement.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.programminglibrarian.org\/library\/planning\/events-and-celebrations\/civic-awareness-month.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topic: Collaboration around community engagement\/how the library can be a catalyst for civic engagement Conveners: Joy Mayer and Tina Stewart (Joy and Tina\u2019s topics seemed to have a similar focus so they decided to combine the session.) Participants: Lauren Britten … Continue reading