Libraries are much more than the books on the shelves, the displays on the tables, the technology available, and the digital resources they offer. Libraries have the unique ability to serve their communities in ways that other kinds of organizations simply can’t. A library is only as successful as its community and this relationship needs to be continually fostered and explored. This dialog between the library and the community is mutually beneficial and necessary to keep libraries as a cornerstone institution.
In my professional librarian career, I’ve only worked within one public library system. The system is a county entity and sometimes the ways that county business is conducted doesn’t really fit with the ways libraries should work. Hyperlinked libraries should inspire connections between themselves and their community members. To do this the hyperlinked library needs to foster communication with their community which can include surveys, focus groups, community analysis, etc. (Stephens, 2016, p. 43). Unfortunately, I’m not seeing that kind of communication in my system but I think that can change. It’s ok to realize our limitations due to processes and rules that we are beholden to. You may be running into the same wall that I am with your own organization. It’s difficult to sometimes look beyond the constraints, but there are ways we can make positive movements to start that kind of communication with our communities.
San Jose Public Library has a wonderful community engagement effort that places the library out in the community where they are and engages in dialog with their community. According to their website, the community engagement program meets community members where they are and asks them about their aspirations, what kind of community they want to live in, what concerns do they have, and what kind of services would be great to have at the library (San Jose Public Library, 2026). Based on the information gathered during these outreaches, the library provides a quarterly blog that reports on their findings. This dialog allows the library to make an impact and gives them an opportunity to reach out to not only their current patrons but to people who don’t go to the library. In addition to going out to community events, San Jose Public Library also provides a survey link on their website for people to complete when it’s convenient for them.
Perhaps bringing up San Jose Public Library’s community engagement program to my supervisors can help our library grow for our community. San Jose is doing a great job of reaching out and listening to their community. They are transparent with the results of this outreach and with this transparency they show that they respect and hear what their community needs. I think this kind of engagement is something my system could easily begin doing without having to go through county red tape which tends to slow things down. We already do outreach events but to be honest these outreaches seem static in that people approach our table and grab a calendar and/or an incentive and off they go. They also tend to take place at the same places repeatedly which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but just imagine who we could reach at a busy coffee house for example. Maybe changing outreach into having conversations with people could be a wonderful step forward. Maybe changing venues for outreach could connect us to other community members we may not be reaching. Maybe these kinds of suggestions would help your organization too.
The goal of changing the way we do outreaches would give us information that we wouldn’t otherwise have. This wonderful insight could then help the library to meet those needs that the community has and help the library system I work for to turn a corner. How about we make more out of the time we have in the community by asking for some input from community members that use our libraries and those who don’t? How about we use our website to post about our findings and allow comments which will allow a larger dialog? What if just a slight change could make the biggest difference? I think it’s time to try, how about you?
Works Cited
San Jose Public Library. (2026). Community engagement: Your voice matters. https://www.sjpl.org/community-engagement/
Stephens, M. (2016). The heart of librarianship: Attentive, positive, and purposeful change. ALA Editions.