Community building for libraries – the players

I knew when I started this blog that I was treading in some familiar, and well-written waters. Kathleen de la Pena McCook, Chrystie Hill, Librarian (whoever he/she is), and the many, many others who tackle libraries as institutions that build communities are already leading the way. I hope I can contribute some small [...]

Preserving the past to give cities a second chance

Preserving history has a role in empowering present communities. This story about preserving the intellectual history of ancient black Africa in Timbuktu illustrates this point.

Online community

Because I work for an online community, I’m fascinated by the power of online communities for supporting and strengthening a project and engaging new people into your work. I recently learned about Social Edge, an online community for social entrepreneurs. Check out the video blog of Nick Talarico and Kjerstin Erickson talking about [...]

Community Asset Mapping

I’ve been reading Sondra Cuban’s Serving New Immigrant Communities in the Library and came across a section on community and cultural asset mapping. Long used in the development field as a community building tool, it identifies the strengths in a community by mapping its assets in terms of people, things, services, and resources. [...]