Community collaboration is an easy catch phrase to toss around when talking about building a strong public library. Reflecting back on my experiences growing up in Greensboro, visiting the Greensboro Public Libraries always seemed highly inclusive and rich with activity. Because Greensboro is a large,metropolitan city, it seemed as if libraries didn't have to work very hard to automatically begin attracting a highly diverse, multicultural population, serving a wide variety of ethnic groups (Asian, African-Americans, etc.) and minority populations (homeless persons, immigrants, etc.) Because of this multiculturally diverse body of library users, just walking into a Greensboro Public Library feels like it's the perfect example of community collaboration when, in fact, the library staff may be doing very little to advocate for and encourage the diversity that exists there; the library is merely a product of its environment, which unintentionally fosters a sense of community collaboration from the start that is lacking in smaller, more rural library settings.
The Ashe County Public Library where I work, is certainly one of those smaller libraries located in a much more rural and less multiculturally diverse population. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the majority of the community is Caucasian and elderly. While the migrant Hispanic population is growing, the African American population is minuscule and the homeless population is nearly nonexistent to my knowledge. So instead of building community collaboration through diverse groups, my library's focus is more on building community collaboration through a rather ethnically homogenized group, which is divided by geographic boundaries (mountains) and lack of transportation that prevent the community from collaborating at all.
Keynote speaker Miguel Figueroa, Director for the Center of the Future of Libraries, points out that "the 21st century is a terrible time not to value diversity and engagement." I completely agree with this, but within my highly conservative, homogenized community, the diversity exists within the different skill sets and talents that each member of the community could bring to the table if they were able to physically engage with one another. My community is rich with local talent, including musicians, artists, farmers, trade workers, etc. Yet the challenge is that the community is so spread out, it proves a challenge for them to recognize that they all exist and can collaborate on projects.
The lack of technology is a particular community building barrier in my community as the majority of the community does not have internet. As Mr. Figueroa points out, technology has given people a lot of new ways to talk to each other, institutions, and organizations and it gives people more ways to create and share not just things, but ideas and knowledge that could easily displace the importance of libraries. Yet in our library, the lack of technology in individual's homes is incentive for people to come to the library, but only if they can get there. If transportation is an issue, then the librarians need to be the ones to reach out to the community, tap into community skills, and build programs outside of the libraries to bring these community skills together. Mr. Figueroa states that library advocacy does not need to be one sided where the library acts as if they have all the answers, but rather, the library needs to step back and make sure that the services they're providing are relevant to the needs, concerns and conversations already happening outside in the community, not the other way around. I was particularly inspired by Mr. Figueroa's example of the Fayetteville library tapping into the community to offer an enriching makerspace; our library is trying to launch its own makerspace and it seems that the best ways to not only launch this program, but sustain it would be through partnering with community members who could spearhead certain aspects of the makerspace. For instance, the quilting community could focus on leading a sewing makerspace, the electric community (Blue Ridge Electric, etc.) could focus on leading a electronics/robotics makerspace, and so on.
Community collaboration is the primary building block for creating the libraries of the future. As Mr. Figueroa said, the best way to predict the future is to invent it. Working together as a community is a good way to help build these future libraries. The spokesperson from the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro brought up the point that college students today are being trained in fields to address needs that may not even exist yet as clearly defined jobs or careers; for instance, when she was in school the field she is currently in, philanthropy, was not even on people's radars yet. Even within Ashe County, I feel like the future community will become more and more ethnically diverse as the Hispanic population continues to grow and the more rural communities become more technologically connected. In the meantime, the library should lead the way in bridging these disparate community populations to provide one unified community voice.
The Ashe County Public Library where I work, is certainly one of those smaller libraries located in a much more rural and less multiculturally diverse population. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the majority of the community is Caucasian and elderly. While the migrant Hispanic population is growing, the African American population is minuscule and the homeless population is nearly nonexistent to my knowledge. So instead of building community collaboration through diverse groups, my library's focus is more on building community collaboration through a rather ethnically homogenized group, which is divided by geographic boundaries (mountains) and lack of transportation that prevent the community from collaborating at all.
Keynote speaker Miguel Figueroa, Director for the Center of the Future of Libraries, points out that "the 21st century is a terrible time not to value diversity and engagement." I completely agree with this, but within my highly conservative, homogenized community, the diversity exists within the different skill sets and talents that each member of the community could bring to the table if they were able to physically engage with one another. My community is rich with local talent, including musicians, artists, farmers, trade workers, etc. Yet the challenge is that the community is so spread out, it proves a challenge for them to recognize that they all exist and can collaborate on projects.
The lack of technology is a particular community building barrier in my community as the majority of the community does not have internet. As Mr. Figueroa points out, technology has given people a lot of new ways to talk to each other, institutions, and organizations and it gives people more ways to create and share not just things, but ideas and knowledge that could easily displace the importance of libraries. Yet in our library, the lack of technology in individual's homes is incentive for people to come to the library, but only if they can get there. If transportation is an issue, then the librarians need to be the ones to reach out to the community, tap into community skills, and build programs outside of the libraries to bring these community skills together. Mr. Figueroa states that library advocacy does not need to be one sided where the library acts as if they have all the answers, but rather, the library needs to step back and make sure that the services they're providing are relevant to the needs, concerns and conversations already happening outside in the community, not the other way around. I was particularly inspired by Mr. Figueroa's example of the Fayetteville library tapping into the community to offer an enriching makerspace; our library is trying to launch its own makerspace and it seems that the best ways to not only launch this program, but sustain it would be through partnering with community members who could spearhead certain aspects of the makerspace. For instance, the quilting community could focus on leading a sewing makerspace, the electric community (Blue Ridge Electric, etc.) could focus on leading a electronics/robotics makerspace, and so on.
Community collaboration is the primary building block for creating the libraries of the future. As Mr. Figueroa said, the best way to predict the future is to invent it. Working together as a community is a good way to help build these future libraries. The spokesperson from the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro brought up the point that college students today are being trained in fields to address needs that may not even exist yet as clearly defined jobs or careers; for instance, when she was in school the field she is currently in, philanthropy, was not even on people's radars yet. Even within Ashe County, I feel like the future community will become more and more ethnically diverse as the Hispanic population continues to grow and the more rural communities become more technologically connected. In the meantime, the library should lead the way in bridging these disparate community populations to provide one unified community voice.