Association of Research Libraries. Public Engagement, SPEC Kit 312, Published by ARL http://www.arl.org/news/pr/speckit312.shtml
by Scott Walter and Lori Goetsch • September 2009 • ISBN 1-59407-824-6 • 126 pp. • $45 ($35 ARL members)
Here’s text from ARL’s August 31, 2009 press release…
“The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published Public Engagement, SPEC Kit 312, which explores the ways in which traditional “outreach” programs in academic libraries are evolving to address the emergent concept of “public engagement” at the institutional level and the degree to which the library is integrated into campus-level efforts to promote public engagement.
By the March deadline, responses had been submitted by 56 of 123 ARL member libraries for a response rate of 46%. For the purposes of this survey, respondents were asked to report on “public engagement programs” that met the definition of those that demonstrate the library’s “commitment to community partnerships, service to professional communities outside [your] primary user groups … . [and that] go beyond the ‘provision of institutional resources for community use,’ and are aimed at bringing the professional expertise of the library to members of the public.” Of the 56 responding libraries, 49 (88%) reported providing such programs as part of their service profile.
Respondents identified a wide variety of programs that they characterize as “public engagement.” The top four areas of library activity reported were programs in the areas of K-12 education (80%), cultural engagement (75%), government information/e-government (68%), and lifelong learning (66%)…..”
ALA and the library community have encouraged citizen participation in the political process for many years. Here’s a great article by Jean Preer talking about the role of libraries in the 1952 Presidential election.
Preer, Jean L ,
“Promoting Citizenship: How Librarians Helped Get Out the Vote in the 1952 Presidential Election,”
Libraries & the Cultural Record 43 no1 1-28 2008
Abstract:
In 1952 the American Library Association joined an array of nonprofit organizations, corporations, and the media in the National Non-Partisan Register and Vote Campaign to increase citizen participation in the electoral process. With ALA providing technical support and encouragement, librarians all over the country promoted reading, organized discussion groups, mounted exhibits, and sponsored programs to draw informed voters to the polls. ALA’s participation in the Register and Vote Campaign highlighted the role of the public library in providing quality information on candidates and issues. Librarians demonstrated that libraries could serve as local information centers, working with nonprofit organizations, the commercial sector, and the broadcast media to reach out to the whole community to create an informed citizenry.
Political Engagement: Facilitating Greater Participation in Civil Society
2009 ALA Annual Conference Program
Saturday, July 11, 1:30 – 3:00 PM
Democracy requires a well-informed citizenry willing to participate in political activities such as voting, campaign work, contacting officials and community work. Recognizing dropping rates of participation in civic life, higher education organizations have begun programs to encourage greater political engagement by today’s students. Find out more about these efforts and discover how libraries can facilitate development of lifelong critical thinking and research skills needed for citizenship.
Nancy Kranich, Lecturer and Librarian, Rutgers University, and former President of the American Library Association
Joanne Griffin, Business Reference Librarian, and Holly Sorensen, Assistant Director, work at Des Plaines Public Library – the site of the FY 2006 LSTA-funded Building Community through Creative Conversations program.
Richard Fitzsimmons from Penn State Worthington/Scranton has produced this useful annotated bibliography of monographs, government documents, and websites, focused on strengthening the cultural will towards democracy and interdependence in today’s global society. He has assembled these resources that have the potential to expand one’s ideas of citizenship not only to our local communities and our nations, but also to our world.
Additions/questions may be submitted to Richard Fitzsimmons, rxf7@psu.edu.
Here are some interesting web 2.0 resources for civic engagement that I’ve run across this spring. The idea behind all three is to lure young people into civic engagement through Web2.0 tools.
Unrelated, except in spirit is this “Serious Game for the Public Good” where players are invited to imagine we are running out of oil and to contribute words and images to the collective discussion using 2.0 media. http://www.worldwithoutoil.org/
