Reflection on Hyperlinked Communities

Image by Oak Park Public Library

I strongly believe in the idea that libraries are for everyone. Putting that concept into practice feels overwhelming, however, I learned fantastic ideas to help move the idea into reality. It is an everchanging landscape given the constant technological innovations but one concept from Lorcan Dempsey remains the same, “it is important to think of the library in the life of the user and not the user in the life of the library” (Connaway, 2015). Community outreach is critical to make libraries accessible for everyone. When a patron walks into my local library they are greeted by a large and intimidating circulation desk. I would love to see a redesign where they open the space to foster more collaboration and innovation and have the library staff utilize roving carts rather than sit behind an unapproachable desk. I am happy that they put on community building events including a recent clothing swap, a new seed library which will have a community planting activity next week, and Dia de los Niños where they hosted a Bilingual Spanish Storytime, book giveaway and craft. They are actively working to attract more people to the library through interactive and fun events. I like what the Victorian public libraries are doing to combat loneliness and support health and well-being. I bookmarked both the strategic framework and the partnership toolkit in hopes to adapt them to programs locally. I think partnerships are a key ingredient to creating community hubs and are another way to bring people together.