(Antenna, 2018)
This election season has me thinking a lot about what the library’s place is in helping to promote democracy. Every library I’ve ever worked in has made voter registration forms available, and I know that libraries often host local candidate forums. However, one of the readings from our “New Models” module, “100 Great Ideas for the Future of Libraries – A New Paradigm for Civic Engagement” (Lipsey, 2017) spurred me to wonder about what we can do to help people stay engaged between elections.
When people pay more attention and know more about what’s going on in their government, they can better advocate for themselves and their neighbors. There is a space for someone in the community to step in and not only encourage people to do this, but also to facilitate it. Libraries can do this! Things like the creation of LibGuides and of programs that can provide information on how to do things like track proposed bills, and how to know who to contact when you want to speak out would be useful. Hosting city council meetings is a valuable thing that a library can do, especially because, as the “100 Great Ideas” article notes, not everyone knows where meetings in which changes to their community are planned take place. The article also talked about the benefit of having the community steer what happens to it – if folks make a regular habit of attending these meetings, they can have a hand in these things.
Another thing that I think libraries can do is to make space for community members to get to know each other and to engage with each other with civility. Everyone knows we are living in a time when people don’t always treat each other as well as they could, and they have trouble trusting people they don’t know. Our country suffers for this. I’ve looked around the web, and there are many instances where libraries are indeed taking on this challenge. This is an area that I’d love to look into further because I find it very necessary and very inspiring.
References:
Antenna. (2018, January 5). [People sitting on chair]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/people-sitting-on-chair-ohNCIiKVT1g
Lipsey, R. F. (2017, December 7). 100 Great ideas for the future of libraries: A new paradigm for civic engagement. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/100-great-ideas-for-the-for-the-future-of-libraries_b_6551440
@terribeth I think this is a fantastic idea! Things can get very heated, especially around election time, and this could help alleviate that. It is important for people to be able to have open conversation and be respectful, and it’s also super important that our communities stay educated with politics – so that they can stand firmly beside their beliefs and ideas, and feel confident in their choices. This could also help them learn about the power that they have in their communities and where there is opportunity to present change politically.
@inabookbind Thank you so much for reading, and for your very thoughtful comment.
Hi Terri,
Such a thoughtful post, thanks for sharing! For the past few weeks, we’ve been getting an influx of people coming in with so many election-related questions at my library, with some being outside of the scope of our knowledge. So it would be such a great idea for libraries to provide a space for civic engagement aside from election years!
Thanks very much, @pfulumirani
@terribeth 100% yes! Civility in conversation might lead to empathy in action.
Thank you, @michael