Ask, Listen, Empower: Grounding Your Library Work in Community Engagement

Community engagement isn't simply an important component of a successful library-it's the foundation upon which every service, offering, and initiative rests. Working collaboratively with community members-be they library customers, residents, faculty, students or partner organizations- ensures that the library works, period. This important resource from ALA's Public Programs Office (PPO) provides targeted guidance on how libraries can effectively engage with the public to address a range of issues for the betterment of their community, whether it is a city, neighborhood, campus, or something else. Featuring contributions by leaders active in library-led community engagement, it's designed to be equally useful as a teaching text for LIS students and a go-to handbook for current programming, adult services, and outreach library staff. Balancing practical tools with case studies and stories from field, this collection explores such key topics as

• why libraries belong in the community engagement realm
  
• getting the support of board and staff
  
• how to understand your community
  
• the ethics and challenges of engaging often unreached segments of the community
  
• identifying and building engaged partnerships
  
• collections and community engagement
  
• engaged programming
  and
• outcome measurement.

Sharing numerous examples of successful change, dialogue and deliberation, and collaborative efforts, this book offers a comprehensive look at community engagement work that can help all libraries reinforce their roles as champions of lifelong learning.