Analysis of Local Libraries Advancing Community Goals, 20161 ,the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) survey of local government officials’ perspectives on libraries, reveals several factors that shape respondents’ views: • The population of the respondents’ community • Whether local governments have a governing relationship with libraries • Whether the library receives a funding allocation from the general fund
Museums and libraries have long served as place-based hubs for members ofthe public to engage in informal learning, access collections for educational oraesthetic purposes, and participate in civic dialogue. Across the country, changingcommunity needs and priorities along with new modes of engagement have createdan imperative to connect with and serve the public in ways that extend beyondtraditional institutional formats and settings. Museums and libraries have begun torespond to this imperative.
The concepts “smart city” and “anchor institution”—both popular in policy circles—intersect at broadband infrastructure in ways that highlight the importance of civil society institutions to digital networks. Given the close alignment of broadband and smart city policy goals, the centrality of connectivity to the smart city vision, and the importance of anchor institutions to broadband, it is surprising that the smart cities discourse does not engage more directly with the role of anchor institutions.
The smell of new and older books, the joy of browsing row upon row of titles and the excitement of connecting with people who share our literary preferences: whether we’re young or old, the library is a place where we come together to lose ourselves in good literature. But how can a library make itself even better for everyone? How can a library become more diverse and inclusive? Let’s share three examples of good practice that have already been adopted by some libraries.
All students, including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ), benefit from quality library books that reflect their experiences. This mixed-method research project examines whether public high school library professionals self-censor their library collections when it comes to materials with LGBTQ themes. Quantitative data were collected from 120 Ohio public high school libraries and 12 school librarians were interviewed.
Effective social justice movements, including those at the level of children's literature, address the ways different forms of oppression intersect and affect the experiences of diverse queer identities. Children's literature can help combat heteronormative discourse by instilling at a young age the inherent value of all people. Inclusive children's literature can help combat socialized aspects of heteronormativity and other forms of oppression.
While the initiative to create programming oriented toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirited, and queer or questioning youth (LGBT2Q+) is forward-thinking and a much-needed development for schools and public libraries to undertake, there is still a lot of foundational work that needs to take place first that examines and fosters LGBT2Q + friendly spaces, collections, information access, and community partnerships.
Advice For LibrariesThe example commitments have been written to work across the children's book industry. Below are some suggestions for how you could apply them within the library sector.
This guide creates activities that librarians and their parent institutions can complete in order to create a more inclusive environment for trans students, employees, and patrons
