Here is a template you can use to help plan out a project. You may find this helpful when working with a partner. Feel free to adapt for your own use.
Librarians As Community Partners by
Including 64 focused snapshots of outreach in action, this resource reflects the creative solutions of librarians searching for new and innovative ways to build programs that meet customer needs while expanding the librarys scope into the community.
The Library Innovation Toolkit by
Progress for the sake of progress is all too often a drain on precious time and resources. The communities and users that libraries serve are always changing; true innovation helps libraries adapt to meet their needs and aspirations both now and in the future. This stimulating collection offers numerous snapshots of innovation in action at a range of libraries, showcasing ideas and initiatives that will inspire librarians at their own institutions.
Progressive Community Action by
Social justice in library and information science (LIS) seeks to achieve action-oriented, socially relevant impacts through information work. This edited volume includes papers that explore intersections between critical theory and social justice in LIS while focusing on social relevance and community involvement to promote progressive community-wide changes. Contributors include LIS researchers, practitioners, educators, social justice advocates, and community leaders who identify theories, methods, approaches, strategies, and case studies that apply these intersections in mobilizing community action to deliver tangible community building and development outcomes. The frame of study is inclusive of (though not limited to) academic, public, school, and special libraries, museums, archives, and other information-related settings. An international context of analysis is included along with a focus on social impact and community involvement in LIS practice and research, education, policy development, service design, and program implementation.
Start a Revolution by
"But this is how we've always done it " Objections to taking a fresh tack are about as common as budget shortfalls, and the two are more closely related than you might think. At the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library in Arkansas, Bizzle and his colleagues defied common practices by using creative risk-taking in marketing and outreach to transform their library into a dynamic institution that continues to grow and thrive. Here they recount their story, sharing techniques for success alongside a provocative marketing philosophy that will spur libraries to move beyond their comfort zone.
Teaching for Justice by
Borne of a professional development workshop, Teaching for Justice highlights the commitment and efforts of LIS faculty and instructors who feature social justice theory and strategies in their courses and classroom practices. This book is geared towards LIS instructors who have begun to incorporate social justice into their course content, as well as those who are interested in learning more about how to address social justice in their classrooms. Chapters provide a pedagogical foundation and motivation for teaching social justice in LIS as a stand alone course or as a theme integrated within topical courses that seemingly "have no relationship" to such issues. The experiences and reflections of chapter contributors will prepare readers with strong arguments for the inclusion of social justice in their LIS classroom, curriculum, and school policies, provide an array of practical techniques intended to secure such inclusion, and a instill a sense of confidence for advocating for the incorporation of social justice as a mainstay of LIS education.
The Democratic Knowledge Project (DKP) at Harvard University (Principal Investigator: Danielle Allen) seeks support to develop and pilot, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), professional development programs to equip public and school librarians to succeed as providers of out-of-school civic education and connected learning. The DKP is a distributed research and action lab at Harvard that seeks to identify, strengthen, and disseminate the bodies of knowledge, skills, and capacities that democratic citizens need in order to succeed at operating their democracy. The MLS serves more than 1,700 libraries of all types and sizes throughout the state, including 373 public libraries and over 700 school libraries.
We plan to develop and pilot, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Library System, professional development resources that build on existing Ten Question materials. We seek to modify and repurpose existing classroom oriented materials for use by librarians in the library context and to train school and public youth librarians in the use of the Ten Questions materials in the context of their existing programs.
Running from Oct 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019, our project seeks (a) to prepare library professionals to help youth develop into equitable, effective, and self-protective civic agents in a digital age; (b) to support libraries working for/with underserved youth in urban and rural areas to create positive civic learning experiences; and (c) to equip librarians with assessment tools to track the impact of their work on youth civic learning.
To ensure that the goal is accomplished effectively and equitably, we will select eight to ten local partner libraries––a minimum of four school and four public libraries––based on geographic location (both rural and urban), social-economic conditions (under-resourced communities), and racial-cultural diversity, in consultation with MLS. This project is funded by a Laura Bush 21st Century Library Program Award (“Young Changemakers in the 21st-Century Library.”)
