There was a lot of meaty material in our Hyperlinked Communities module about building connections through conversation and engagement. I’ve found myself very interested in the role that libraries play in upholding democracies—a fitting subject as we approach the 4th of July and the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. The resources in this module drove home for me one of the ways that libraries do this: by facilitating discourse among people in a community. In her 2001 book Libraries and democracy: The cornerstones of liberty, Nancy Kranich wrote that
An informed public constitutes the very foundation of a democracy; after all, democracies are about discourse—discourse among the people. If a free society is to survive, … It must allow unfettered dialogue and guarantee freedom of expression. Libraries deepen the foundation of democracy in our communities. (p. v)
This kind of “unfettered dialogue” is also promoted by Casey and Savastinuk (2007) in their Library 2.0 approach to participatory library services:
As librarians, we know that a give-and-take conversation is critical to being understood. We work with the reference interview every day; the give and take of a dialogue can make conversations clearer and more easily understood. (p. 84)
In 2025, my library hosted a book club in conjunction with the local police department that was facilitated by a library staff member and the relatively new chief of police. The book club, which included a discussion of the novel Widows of Malabar Hill featuring a character based on the first woman to become a lawyer in India in the 1920s, was an effort to strengthen ties between the community and the police after a tumultuous few years. It was attended by about 60 people and brought a diverse group together to have a dialogue about relevant, and somewhat controversial, issues but through the lens of historical fiction. It was a wild success, in my opinion. I would love to see more events like this at my library.
So I was thrilled to read Dixon’s “Convening community conversations” article about different ways that libraries are facilitating these conversations, sometimes around shared local history or by way of a film screening. Patrons participate in these dialogues with each other, but they also steer future library services. As Dixon notes, “group discussions can flourish when the patrons develop programs with local staff and feel empowered, coming up with ideas that matter to them” (p. 44).
This is democracy in action. As Ciara Eastell put it in her 2019 TEDx talk,
it’s the combination of the different activities and different people that give the library its life, its energy, its vitality…. libraries are the very definition of heterotopias, places of transformation, places of multiplicitous possibility, places that are inherently inclusive.
References
Casey, M. E., & Savastinuk, L. C. (2007). Library 2.0: A guide to participatory library service. Information Today. Inc. https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Library2.0Text.pdf
Dixon, J. A. (2017, October 15). Convening community conversations. Library Journal, 41–44. https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CONVENING_COMMUNITY_CONVERSATI.pdf
TEDx Talks. (2019, June 13). Ciara Eastell: How libraries change lives [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvt-lHZBUwU&t=3s
Kranich, N. C, ed. (2001). Libraries and democracy: The cornerstones of liberty. American Library Association. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sjsu/detail.action?docID=3001592
Hi Laura – I enjoyed reading your thoughtful post! I agree that libraries can be a great space to host discussions among community members. I enjoyed reading examples you provided from your own experience. I hope going forward, communities can continue to engage in these types of discussions in a thoughtful and respectful way, but I anticipate we as future librarians will have to work through how to keep libraries an open and safe space.
Hi Gemma! I definitely agree. As an introvert, I have some anxiety about being the one to facilitate these kinds of discussions. But I think with some appropriate training (I actually just attended a workshop on facilitating meetings sponsored by my town) and guardrails, it’s probably worth the effort! The Dixon article touches on the challenges, but also indicates that most people are respectful and interested in having good-faith discussions.
@lauraskor I absolutely love the idea of the book club in partnership with the police department. This is brilliant. And what a turnout you had. I I would agree that there should be more partnerships and focus on books for the community, just like this example that you shared.