It Takes a Library to Raise a Community

Marjatta Asu & Leanne Clendening

Ontario Library Service-North

OLA SuperConference 2007

2

Welcome

OLS-North & community

development

The library board &

community development

It Takes a Library to Raise a

Community

3

Challenges

4

Municipal Cultural Planning Forums

• “…asset-based community development… mapping broadly defined local cultural resources … leverages these resources for economic development and community building.”

Provincial policy makers

Municipal staff/ associations

Cultural sector

Creative City Network of

Canada

5

Terminology

CapacityCommunity

development

Community or social

sustainability

Human capital Social capital Social inclusion

Community asset

mapping

Community engagement

Community of interest

6

“Only when all of the capacities of local individuals, associations and institutions have been inventoried thoroughly; only when these local assets have begun to look first to their relationships with each other for solving problems;... only then should the community begin to consider leveraging resources from the outside.” Kretzmann and McKnight (1993), 353

Asset-based Internally focused

Relationship driven

Community asset mapping

7

Neighbourhood needs map

Crime

Child abuse

Sub-standard housing

Illiteracy

Drug abuse

Mental illness

Broken families

Teenage pregnancy

Pollution

Unemployment

Welfare dependency

Domestic violence

Dropouts

Gangs

AIDS

Alcoholism

Homelessness

AbandonmentCapacity building

McKnight & Kretzman, Module 3:Community&Economic Development, Chapter 2: Mapping Community Capacity

8

Community asset mapping

“Communities have never been built upon their deficiencies. Building community has always depended upon mobilizing the capacities and assets of a people and place. That is why a map of neighbourhood assets is necessary if local people are to find the way toward empowerment and renewal.”

McKnight and Kretzman

9

Individual capacities

Individualbusinesses

Personalincome

Religious organizations

Cultural organizations

Hospitals

Neighbourhood asset map

Firedepts.

Associations

Energy/ Waste resources

Social service

agencies

Business associations

Home-based enterprise

Police

Parks

Highereducationinstitutions

Welfare expenditures

Vacant land,

buildings,etc.

Publicschools

Libraries

Public information

Capital improvementexpendituresGifts of

labeledpeople

McKnight & Kretzman, Module 3:Community&Economic Development, Chapter 2: Mapping Community Capacity

10

Mapping community capacity

Your community asset map (Worksheet 4)

• Capacity inventory of individuals (Adapted from Kretzmann & McKnight; Beaulieu)

IndividualsCitizen

associationsLocal

institutions

11

A Place at the Table: Participating in Community Building

“… “Connecting libraries to community organizations is the way to multiply the effectiveness of libraries in community building…. the work librarians do on a daily basis clearly fits into community

building activities.” McCook (2000) 40

http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/a-librarian-at-

every-table/index.html

12

Shared values of community builders

Community involvement

Awareness of community

issues

Connection as a responsibility

Integration of service

Community building as

a value

The library can make a

difference

McCook, 2000

“…there should be a librarian at every table”

13

A voice at the table …

Communities of interest

Community issues/ goals

Community assets

Library/ community connections

Library capacity

Library goals

Worksheets & Checklists

14

The Community

Table

Environment

Resource Sector

UnemployedChildren & Youth

Labour

Health

Public Library

Other Stakeholders

Businesses

Leisure

Sports & Recreation

SeniorCitizens

Literacy

Education Municipal

Government

The community table (Worksheet 1) Matrix of library-community connections (Worksheet 2)

15

At the community table

“As the library’s presence in the community decreases, so does its value and visibility to the community.”

Penny S. Markey, 1977

• The library in the community (Worksheet 3)

16

Libraries and community capacity

• Key support to economic development

– Job creation

– Education, training, skills development

– Cultural development

– Social capital

17

Library capacity

Capacity Inventory of Individuals

“Capacity Building for Libraries”

Skills, culture, attitude Commitment to

training

Identify opportunities &

strengths

Leadership, planning

Belief

“… mix of skills, people, plans, and commitment to do what needs to be done.” Frank and Smith, 10

18

Define library assets (capacities)

Centre of neighbourhood’s

flow of information

Computers & the Internet

Critical information

Community meeting space

Cultural projects

Public libraries are public institutions with community-building potential

19

How will you recognize capacity?

Frank & Smith (1999)

• People are active, interested, participating

• Questioning, challenging,

debating NOT complaining

• More people are involved

• Results are becoming obvious

Partners in capacity building

21

Partners in capacity building

Checklist #1: The library’s role as a community partner Checklist #2: Community

access to government

Skill builder

Community connector

Information provider

22

Libraries & the local economy

Checklist #3: The library’s role in local economic development

Checklist #4: Employment and financial resources

Capacity building

BR+EAccess to services & resources

Cultural & community

centre

23

Libraries & lifelong learning

Checklist #5: Lifelong learning and information literacy

Lifelong learning Capacity building

Information literacy skills

24

Libraries & community culture

Culture “…is the glue that holds communities together and makes them last over generations…. Culture is the soul and life force of a community…”

Nozick (1992),181

Checklist #6: The library’s role in the community’s cultural and social development

25

Libraries & social development

• “…there has to be continuing, meaningful human interaction in order to create the social bonding which is a prerequisite to building community culture.”

Nozick (1992),196-197

Checklist #6: The library’s role in the community’s cultural and social development

26

Libraries & social inclusion

• “Those who are socially excluded have nowhere else to go. The library could become an important resource in their life.”

Brian Campbell, National Director of the Working Together: Library –

Community Connections Project, 2005

Checklist #6: The library’s role in the community’s cultural and social development

27

Libraries & the digital divide

Checklist #7: The library’s role in bridging the digital divide

Digital divide

Capacity building

Community prosperity

E-government initiatives

New technologies

28

Next steps

Worksheet 1: The community

table

Worksheet 2: Matrix of library –

community connections

Worksheet 4: Your community asset

map

Worksheet 3: The library in the community

Library goals for community building

29

The Engaged Library

• Get outside the doors• Find the leaders • Be creative about what the library can contribute• Discover and contribute to the unique capacities

and conditions of the community• Support local businesses and institutions• Make the library building a community centre• Create a community-minded culture among

library staff and volunteers• Support library investments that jump start

community redevelopment effortsThe Engaged Library:

Chicago Stories of Community Building (2005)