When I think about library communities (public libraries, specifically, but all libraries, generally), I think of two main groups:
- the community of existing library users & the community of non-library users
And then I think about the library’s role in expanding and building community. Because I am always thinking about how to reach more, serve more.
![Learn the Pareto Principle (The 80/20 Rule) [2024] • Asana](https://assets.asana.biz/transform/aa4ae547-d8a5-430a-a87d-8c8124360fdf/article-productivity-pareto-principle-80-20-rule-2x)
What of the community that hasn’t been reached? What of your potentially most valuable patrons? The folks that live in the community, but don’t think to visit the library (because they’re too busy? because it’s too far? because the hours don’t work for them? because they ‘aren’t book people’? because the library doesn’t seem welcoming? because…)? How do you draw in community members when you don’t know what’s keeping them from coming, or what it takes to bring them in? If you’re mainly obsessed about serving the patrons you’re already serving, who is being ongoingly excluded? And are you okay with that??
No. It is not enough to satisfy the 20%. Libraries are not built and funded to serve just a small portion of the community. It is meant for the entire community.
OH, BUT HOW?
How, indeed. Limited staff! Limited time! Limited resources!
It would be impractical to suggest sending teams of staff out into the community to personally hand-survey residents to identify how the library could meet their needs.
Fortunately, we’re in the business of sharing information.
FIND YOUR KEY CONNECTORS
Community partners and networks exist everywhere, and their reach is vast and varied. A little promotion, some word of mouth, and activity or two. Those partners have their existing communities – why not band together?
- Bring public school groups in for library card sign-ups, storytimes, research workshops.
- Partner with the local food bank to offer food distribution or pantry services.
- Partner with local parks and recreation organizations to offer parks passes, class spaces, education nights.
- Tap into local sports teams to bring in their mascot, show the game, host fan activities, share athletes’ favorite books or library service.
- Offer display areas for local crafting communities to exhibit and talk about their creations and opportunities.
- Share widely online so entrepreneurs know about your meeting spaces and technology services.
- Feature local businesses, restaurants, shops and their offerings – let them share their stories.
- Involve the senior centers, the youth centers, and the children’s centers and build activities that connect them with each other or with the library community at large (borrow a grandparent, play together, read-to-me).
- Bring local health care providers in to offer basic services, or share health education information.
- Offer a guest storytime reader opportunity.
Tapping into existing communities can bring people into the library who might not otherwise consider visiting, and getting them in the door is the first essential step to welcoming them into the library community so they, too, can become our most valuable patrons.
PUBLIC HAPPINESS
In her TEDx talk, Pam Sandlian (2014) quoted John Cotton Dana, saying “The public library is a center of public happiness first, public education second.”
I’m not saying that the public library can (or should, or could) be everything to everyone. What I am saying, though, is that it’s well worth striving to offer some piece of joy that allows all in the community to know that the public library could very well be a place where they, too, can find happiness, even if they are not in the 20%.
REFERENCES
Lauersen, C. (2018, June 7). Do you want to dance? Inclusion and belonging in libraries and beyond. The Library Lab. https://christianlauersen.net/2018/06/07/inclusion-and-belonging-in-libraries-and-beyond/
Pewhiarangi, S. (2014). A beautiful obsession. WEVE.
Sandlian-Smith, P. (2014). What to expect from libraries in the 21st century. TEDxMile High. https://youtu.be/fa6ERdxyYdo?feature=shared
@Caroline This is so grounded and pragmatic. I love your suggestions for making connections and bringing people in. Sharing stories too!
Thank you so much, @michael. I was thinking about this further, and realized that utilizing partnerships to reach the 80% actually also follows the 20/80 rule, in that, as far as the library is concerned, the partners would be doing 80% of the work in bringing their communities into the library, only requiring 20% effort on the part of the library to facilitate the partnership. I am a huge proponent of making connections and making good use of partnership opportunities in general, and I wish they were better utilized in libraries.
Hi Caroline,
When I read about the 80/20 rule, I agreed with it. I guess mostly because it was in the reading and it sounded authoritarian but you have swayed my thinking. How can libraries who are entities designed to serve all people only focus on a percentage of the people. I get it — cost and effort blah blah but really! Excuses like those and the 80/20 philosophy simply cut libraries short and place limits on possibilities.
The reality is as you pointed out we cannot be everything to everyone but we can certainly attempt to be more things to more than just 20% of the population.
Thank you so much for your reply @carlys! Focusing on just 20% of existing library patrons felt so exclusionary to me, and I’m glad you saw my point 🙂
Hi @caroline! I just wanted to jump in and say how much I appreciate your comment about libraries not necessarily feeling welcoming to everyone. We often pride ourselves on making “everyone welcome” and usually get a lot of positive feedback from our regular patrons about this. But, a lot of times we forget the people who aren’t coming through our doors at all. Clearly, they don’t feel welcome (or relevant) in our spaces in some way; otherwise, they’d be here!
I did want to also mention that my public library does send staff out into the community every year to survey non-users. We do this as a collaborative effort across our departments. We survey people from different “stakeholder” groups every year. So, for example, last year we surveyed Spanish-speakers, families with young children, and emerging adults. Our staff use tools we established a few years ago to survey non-patrons about their lives/interests/hopes/fears (not about their library use). Then, we use this insight to try to change/expand our programs, services, and spaces.
It’s not a perfect system, since we are only focusing on feedback from a few demographic groups each year, but it definitely provides us with usable insight. I hope this type of on-the-ground research opens more doors for new folks to join our library community.
Hi @rcsyme – thank you so much for your reply and for sharing about the outreach your library does to connect with and learn about community needs – I imagine every venture out gives you new and valuable insights on how to better meet the needs of more members of your community. And something is absolutely better than nothing! Little by little, I am sure it’s making a difference.