Connecting with Community: The Importance of Community Engagement in Rural Public Library Systems

Reid, Heather L.; Howard, Vivian

doi:10.1080/01616846.2016.1210443

Cited by 33 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Specific research on the role of public libraries and librarians as community agents strengthening social cohesion is still being conducted. Some authors point out that public libraries encourage social inclusion and equity by empowering the public (Reid and Howard 2016;Scott 2011). Others emphasize that "public librarians are to embrace their de facto community-anchor identity by functioning as gatekeepers to vulnerable populations, a characterization that the mission of the public library has demanded, both historically and contemporaneously" (Giesler 2019, 36).…”

Section: Public Libraries Building Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Libraries Engaging Communities through Technology and Innovation: Insights from the Library Living Lab

Hernández-Pérez

Vilariño

Domènech

2020

Public Library Quarterly

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Public libraries have proven for centuries to be infrastructures both stable enough as reference centers for access to knowledge yet plastic enough to respond to the social changes of the communities they serve. In these present times of transformation, during which digitalization and the intensive use of technologies are modifying the way in which knowledge is produced, public libraries are facing new and disruptive challenges. The emergence of certain innovation ecosystems within libraries, which place the community at the center of cocreation and codesign processes between different agents, has transformed some public libraries into encountering spaces. The Library Living Lab, in the Miquel Batllori Public Library of Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona, Spain), is an expression of this systemic change. The following paper is a case study based on that sociotechnical infrastructure and analyzes, through two singular examples, how digital technologies can be drivers of social transformation when citizen engagement is placed at the center of innovation processes. The case study also provides insights into how public libraries may become key agents in fostering and strengthening social cohesion through situated, collective, and technology-based innovation practices.

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Section: Public Libraries Building Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Libraries Engaging Communities through Technology and Innovation: Insights from the Library Living Lab

Hernández-Pérez

Vilariño

Domènech

2020

Public Library Quarterly

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“…Universities' community relations provide benefits for education to strengthen relations with the communities (Reid and Howard, 2016). Relationships assist both universities and communities to value the need of community relations; it can foster the growth of social networks that can result in increased educational achievement, increase active citizenships, as well as levels of trust and cooperation and it ensures that policies are understood and accepted as fair (Reid and Howard, 2016).…”

Section: Analysis Of South African Universitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of South African universities and communities archives

Netshakhuma

2019

GKMC

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Purpose The purpose of this study to investigate the relationships between South Africa (SA) universities and universities surrounding communities (USC) for preserving community histories and serve the universities’ mandate to support their local communities and support universities’ teaching and scholarship. Design/methodology/approach The study used a multiple case study approach through interviews. The population of the study comprised representatives from selected universities and their USC. Findings The findings revealed a lack of effective relationships between universities and USC to preserve communities’ histories. Hence, the communities’ archives are tools for teaching and scholarship. Relations between universities and USC are to be built on trust. Accountability and transparency are to be considered by both parties. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to selected SA universities, namely, University of Venda, Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Pretoria and SA and USC. The findings are applicable to all SA universities and USC. Practical implications The relationship between universities and USC has a practical impact on the National archives of South Africa (NARSSA) to collect communities archives because it is in conflict with the mandate of NARSSA. The National Archives’ Act 43 of 1996 obliged NARSSA to collect and preserve communities’ archives on behalf of societies. Social implications Lack of universities and USC can lead to the loss of communities histories or archives. Originality/value This paper appears to be the first to research the relationship between SA universities and USC.

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“…They are becoming centers of community engagement and using their resources, skills, and partnerships to cater to the needs of the local population. In an in-depth study based in Halifax rural public libraries in Canada, the researchers (Reid and Howard, 2016) found that "community engagement can not only be successful but also be of great benefit to rural public libraries." They found that the librarians are very "passionate" about the communities that they work in and are very positive about community engagement.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agriculture-based community engagement in rural libraries

Singh

Mehra

Sikes

2021

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

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Community engagement in rural libraries receives little focus and is an overlooked area of research. In this article, we report exemplars of agriculture-based community engagement in rural and Southern and Central Appalachian region of the United States. An online survey of rural library professionals demonstrates the positive impact of agriculture-based engagement activities on the overall community-engagement initiatives in this region. This article synthesizes eight distinct agriculture-based initiatives with many subprojects, lists an inventory of stakeholders involved in agriculture-based community-engagement initiatives, and highlights the challenges faced by the rural libraries. Three successful examples, namely, seed library, community gardens, and farmers’ market initiatives, are presented with details to help other libraries adopt these successful community-engagement initiatives. The results show that rural libraries are very creative with their limited resources and they hit many areas of impact in the community through their community-engagement activities.

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Connecting with Community: The Importance of Community Engagement in Rural Public Library Systems

Cited by 33 publications

References 4 publications

Public Libraries Engaging Communities through Technology and Innovation: Insights from the Library Living Lab

Public Libraries Engaging Communities through Technology and Innovation: Insights from the Library Living Lab

Analysis of South African universities and communities archives

Agriculture-based community engagement in rural libraries

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