Monthly Archives: October 2009

Association of Research Libraries Publishes SPEC Kit on Public Engagement

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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%)…..”

The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/spec-312-web.pdf.

Knight Commission calls for funding America’s libraries for civic dialogue

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The Knight Commission released its report Informing Communities:  Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age on Friday, October 2, 2009.  The Report and Discussion are available at: http://www.report.knightcomm.org/.  Knight encourages participation in the national dialogue on the Commission’s recommendations by discussing the report and joining the Healthy Community Forum.  

The Report includes three categories of findings and recommendations:

1.     Maximizing the Availability of Relevant and Credible Information
2.     Enhancing the Information Capacity of Individuals
3.     Promoting Public Engagement

According to the Commission, “The questions America faces at this point in its information history, however, go beyond questions of strategy to questions of values. The Knight Commission has recommended a series of strategies that, in various ways, exhort our major public and nonprofit institutions to give new priority to values of openness, inclusion, and engagement. The values questions posed are equally profound, however, for individual citizens and for the institutions of the media.”

The commission’s recommendation regarding libraries, include:

America’s libraries need sufficient funding to serve as centers for information, training, and civic dialogue. Public libraries are located in nearly all communities in the United States. Most of them are wired for Internet service. Nearly all offer public Internet, and almost three quarters are the only providers of free public computer and Internet access in their communities.