COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS: THE KEY TO PROVIDING PROGRAMS IN A RECESSION
Ashanti White
Libraries, like businesses, are affected by the recession, but as we have witnessed in prior recessions individuals rely on institutions to maintain cultural development, conduct career and educational services, and form social bonds. During the Great Depression, library use burgeoned. A study conducted by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners titled “What Happened to Public Libraries during the Great Depression?” found that the use of public libraries grew in unprecedented numbers from 1930 to 1931, with a majority of libraries reporting from a 10 to 40 percent increase in circulation for 1932, several reporting a 60–80 percent increase, and a few 100 percent and more. A librarian interviewed at the time commented: “Reading rooms have been crowded. The number of books borrowed in 1932 exceeded 31 million volumes, nearly 8.5 million more than in 1930.”1
The current recession is no different. From 2008, when the current recession began, to 2009, checkouts of books, CDs, and DVDs increased 15 percent at the main library in Modesto, California. In Boulder, Colorado, circulation of job-hunting materials was up 14 percent, and usage of the Newark Public Library in New Jersey was up 17 percent during the same period. Library card requests increased 27 percent in the last half of 2008 in San Francisco.2 In a survey conducted for the 2010 State of the Library Report, ALA found that 43 percent of respondents ages 18–24 and 32 percent of those ages 35–44 increased their use of the public library in the second half of 2009. Furthermore, 34 percent of those who were employed and 24 percent of the unemployed reported increasing overall use of the public library.3
Such accelerated usage would normally motivate libraries to increase their efforts and resources for summer reading programs, computer training, and language classes that support the literary, educational, and recreational needs of customers, but the recession has negatively impacted libraries as well, and these programs are among the first cut during financially challenging times. Still, budget cuts do not necessarily imply that customers have to do without these services. Library administrators simply have to develop creative methods of tackling these issues. One tactic that has proved successful is the formulation of community partnerships. By continuing with and seeking to form partnerships with schools, government agencies, and other organizations, libraries can ensure that helpful programs are still provided.
MORE THAN OUTREACH
Collaborations are as rooted in library history as lending practices. For years, librarians have been involved in working with community agencies to deliver service primarily through traditional outreach programs. However, librarians must understand that community partnerships are more encompassing than outreach. Outreach occurs when libraries present their programs and materials in locations other than their branches. Outreach services also provide information and deliver materials to participating homeless facilities, nursing homes, and individuals who are permanently or temporarily unable to get to a library. Conversely, community partnership involves a formal agreement between two or more agencies to provide mutual support in attaining a common goal.4 Additionally, outreach relies heavily on the resources of the library; often, the other organization simply acts as publicity or provides the venue.
Let us compare models of the two. Outreach may involve a few librarians going to a high school to sign kids up for library cards; little collaboration is involved. Community partnership requires cooperation.5 A successful example would be the library planning programs, such as book discussions, around the ninth-grade English curriculum. The school could assist by providing relevant study guides and a teacher or school librarian as moderator. The activity engages students, who can gain insight into their readings, and the school and library promote interest in literacy. The most important aspect in partnerships is sustainability; long-term partnerships should be the goal, since this allows the library to improve its services while establishing credibility as a community institution.
REEVALUATING NEEDS
Times of financial hardship also allow libraries to reevaluate the nature of their programs, perhaps exposing superfluous or frivolous programs that were established when times were better. Although no customer group is more or less important than another, libraries have to target the demographics of their customers, determining what programs they need and what goals they would like to achieve in providing these programs. Furthermore, they must determine their largest customer groups, which groups regularly support library events, and the staff time and resources needed to provide programs for those groups. It would be nonsensical for a system with few teenage customers and a large Hispanic base to use partner volunteers for teen events with lackluster results when those volunteers could teach conversational English sessions that many Spanish speakers would consistently attend.
LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES
One of the greatest aspects of community partnerships is that organizations and agencies are so vast that libraries are largely unlimited in the types of programs they can provide. Recessions mark an increase in citizens conducting job searches, updating their resumes, or transitioning into new careers. This is an optimal opportunity for libraries to build relationships with nonprofit business centers. A professional from the center can lead sessions on resume building or interviewing. The center can provide helpful handouts, and library workers can direct individuals who require additional information to the center. Studies have proved that children’s programs develop literacy skills that are pertinent to academic success. Moreover, those programs are among the most popular of public library events. Public librarians can seek to establish a partnership with the elementary education department of the local college to develop children’s programs. Not only does the library benefit, the customers and students, who by state laws must have a specific number of hours in their fields, benefit.
Libraries can even partner with other libraries. Greensboro Public Library has partnered with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Jackson Library for “One City One Book.” Hosted biannually, the citywide reading project provides a host of events, including discussions and Friends of the Library readings that focus on a particular title and its themes. With possibilities to collaborate with churches, mentoring groups, schools, volunteer organizations, and government agencies, the library can fulfill the informational and practical needs of the community.
Although outreach is entrenched in many library policies, libraries have to go a step further to form community partnerships that are mutually beneficial to the partner organizations as well as the customers. The current recession makes collaboration with other organizations a near necessity for libraries that hope to continue providing programs to their customers despite dwindling resources. By identifying the needs of the library, thinking creatively, and remaining dedicated to the goal of satisfying customers and partners, libraries will not only maintain their relevance but firmly establish their standing in the community.
1. “What Happened to Public Libraries during the Great Depression?” Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, 2009, http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/state_aid/blog/statistics/what-happened-to-public-libraries-during-the-great-depression.
2. “The State of American Libraries,” American Library Association, 2009, www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/presskits/2009stateofamericaslibraries/2009statehome.cfm.
3. “The State of American Libraries,” American Library Association, 2010, www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries/ALA_Report_2010-ATI001-NEW1.pdf.
4. Carolyn Bourke, “Public Libraries: Partnerships, Funding, and Relevance,” Aplis, September 2007, 137–38.
5. “Information Literacy Community Partnerships Toolkit.” ALA Special Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, 2001, http://library.austincc.edu/presentations/CommunityPartnerships.