Ask, Listen, Empower: Grounding Your Library Work in Community Engagement (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780838947401)

Foreword by Tracie D. Hall

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.