Outreach
Outreach meets community needs with both traditional and new services, in dynamic and changing environments. Whether providing services to those who can't come to the library, or reaching out to those who are underserved, library outreach and community engagement ensures equitable delivery of library services to all people.
Self-paced courses and webinar recordings on this topic are freely available in the WebJunction Course Catalog.
Photo: Bart Heird, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Most Recently Added
October 22, One Step at a Time: How Libraries Can Promote Healthy, Thriving, and Livable Communities
Publish Date: News / 22 October 2020
This webinar will highlight the multiple benefits of walking and walkable communities and how libraries can help lead community efforts.
Think Outside the Library with a Sidewalk Obstacle Course
Publish Date: News / 11 June 2020
Noah Lenstra (Let's Move in Libraries) looks at how libraries can engage communities safely by taking programs and services outside, including creating obstacle courses.
In just one month, this idea of a sidewalk obstacle course has s....
Public and School Libraries: Creative Ways to Build Successful Partnerships
Publish Date: Webinar / 8 April 2020
In this webinar, explore how public and school libraries can initiate and sustain collaborative relationships.
Small and Rural Libraries in Tourism Economies: Part 2
Publish Date: News / 25 March 2020
In part 2 of the series, Audrey Dingler, from Cape May County Library, and Noah Lenstra, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, explore how libraries assess community needs in relation to outdoor tourism and recreation economies, and ex...
Small and Rural Libraries in Tourism Economies: Part 1
Publish Date: News / 11 March 2020
Audrey Dingler, from Cape May County Library, and Noah Lenstra, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, reflect on preliminary research into how rural counties with outdoor tourism and recreation economies benefit from population sta...
Cultivating Protective Factors for Safe Libraries and Resilient Communities
Publish Date: Webinar / 5 March 2020
Join this webinar to explore the ways the library functions as a "protective factor" and how to build community resilience through more compassionate and inclusive policies and practices.
Library as a Social Assistance Office
Publish Date: News / 20 February 2020
With a determined stride and a big smile, Ida Abolins walks over to the writing desk at the window of the library in San Francisco and asks a young man bending over a pile of paper, "How are you doing?"
Overlooking the lavish City...
Librarian as Verb: Activate Your Rural Community
Publish Date: Webinar / 5 February 2020
In this webinar, hosted in collaboration with ARSL, learn how to make "librarian" a verb, actively connecting with your whole community.
Outreach Programming: Serving Hidden Patrons
Publish Date: News / 23 January 2020
Perry Memorial Library in Henderson, NC is a rural library serving Vance County where approximately two-thirds of the county's population is either under the age of 18 or over the age of 60. Yet mobility issues and lack of transportation meant these ...
Public Libraries and the 2020 Census
Publish Date: News / 2 January 2020
Federal funding for public libraries will be determined by the 2020 U.S. Census results, with ALA reporting that "more than $1 billion in federal funding for libraries will be allocated to states based on the 2020 Census." In addition to fe...
