leaders in their communities in ways that purposefully promote public engagement. In addition, they identified six areas where the library could engage (and some were already engaging) in efforts that could fulfill Archibald MacLeish’s call to action in 1940, urging libraries to become
“active not passive agents of the democratic process.” (MacLeish, 2003). The six areas of activity advanced at the 2000 meeting have, with very little refinement, become the basis for the model for the Civic Library:
1. Public Space
2. Community Information as a Medium for Engagement 3. Public Dialogue and Problem Solving
4. Citizenship Information and Education 5. Public Memory
6. Integrating the Newcomer
Each of these brief phrases requires elaboration; however, what is most important in all of them is the presence of intentionality on the part of librarians. As I noted earlier, the library profession has often made gestures toward the importance of the civic aspect but has rarely sought to make it a practical reality. Therefore, the model is an attempt to purposefully animate the civic aspect. Libraries can emulate the model only if they consciously seek to adopt its elements, completely or in part.
(1)Public spacerefers to the physical and spatial aspects of the library as they affect public use and behavior, and underscores the preeminent value of the library as a place for common experiences. Usage patterns in libraries reflect the extent to which people are seeking the common experience. A welcoming social and civic space is a prerequisite for many of the other functions of the Civic Library, and, through its very existence, helps to build the trust and connections between residents that are essential to a healthy democratic culture. The sense of place, the concept of a “commons,” is affected not only by the architecture of the library but also the design and use of its external spaces and how they relate to surroundings. Most examples take the form of dedicated areas on the main floor or next to specific departments, while others express the principles of the commons through the design of meeting rooms, study areas or the public areas. Many combine state-of-the- art technology and different study spaces for group projects, individual study or larger meetings (Beagle, 1999). The new Salt Lake City (UT) Public Library that opened in February 2003 was designed intentionally to function as a “commons for the city.” A six-storey, walkable wall embraces the library plaza, creating an “Urban Room,” with shops and services at ground level and reading galleries above. It is but one example of a library designed to foster social and civic interaction as a public good (Bagley, 2003).
(2) Community information as a medium for engagement touches on the library’s ability to play a leadership role through organization, and manage- ment of local information and through creation of local information networks. A paradoxical result of new information technologies is that it has become easier for us to interact with people and activities across the globe than right across the street. Some observers of democratic culture believe this growing imbalance between global and local information is contributing to an increasing sense of disconnection in American culture and declines in civic participation. Libraries can help mitigate the downside of new technology by emphasizing community connections that are both face to face and electronic, and by organizing and disseminating local information for local residents. The public library can also use information strategically to build social capital by linking the skills and interests of residents to opportunities for service that benefit the overall community. In doing so, the library brings into play its many connections with other constituents of the community such as schools, museums, senior centers, environmental centers, health and childcare agencies, businesses, cultural institutions and youth organizations.
As libraries evolve their civic services, they are doing so with input from residents—stakeholders—whose knowledge of their communities can ensure the relevance and appropriateness of the libraries’ collections, spaces, services, partnerships and other civic functions.
The Saginaw (MI) Public Library’s provision of online information resources illustrates how libraries are using networked information creatively to strengthen connections across the community—connections between people, people and services, people and other sources of local information.
Saginaw Community Connection is an online database of over 800 local agencies and organizations; Saginaw Images provides online access to the history of Saginaw in photographs and essays; and Saginaw Facts and History provides a wide array of recreational, historical and practical information. In addition, the library has led development of a collaborative online community events calendar, GoSaginaw (Saginaw).
(3) Community dialogue and problem solving are essential for addressing important local issues and concerns. While all libraries can and do provide space for local organizations to carry out meetings or performances, the Civic Library may also organize the meetings and help the community set and examine its agenda. The same information networking noted above, as key for civic participation, also puts the library into a unique place in the community and gives it the opportunity to lead in the solution of local problems. In collaboration with local organizations, schools, and public entities, the library can convene and moderate public forums or stimulate discussion and debate on public affairs, local issues, or other matters that require public deliberation. Libraries fulfill the “forum” function in various ways. Some
provide forums using the National Issues Forums model or the Study Circles approach. Others host meetings and provide research assistance for residents who are tackling local problems. Still others are developing technological solutions to assist communities in securing local data, and engaging communities in inquiry-based approaches to shared challenges. In one example a group of libraries in Arizona worked with the Arizona Community Foundation, Arizona Humanities Council, and Libraries for the Future to organize and host a series of “community conversations” after the attacks of September 11, 2001. These libraries recognized that not only are libraries natural places to begin the public dialogue necessary in such a crisis, but that they should also take the lead in mobilizing their resources for this purpose.
The project involved town meetings, local dialogues, an online community toolkit giving information on speakers, resources and reference material, and audiovisual support (Arizona, 2002).
(4) Citizenship information and education lie at the heart of civic life.
However, citizenship and participation in the culture of democracy are learned skills, which newcomers may lack when they arrive; even many native-born residents may understand and practice them poorly or not at all.
Public libraries would seem to be ideal learning environments, given their historic mission of welcoming all people, and their array of resources and services, including public affairs programs, films, and tutoring and mentoring programs. While it is true that all public libraries have information on citizenship and collections that support understanding of the meaning and functions of citizenship, it is also true that most do not reach out to those who may not know how to find these resources or how to start the process of citizenship. The Queens Borough (NY) Public Library’s New Americans program is one exception.3 Another is Citizenship through the Library, a program developed by the Ross-Barnum Branch of the Denver Public Library to engage Vietnamese and Latino adults and teenagers through readings and classes focusing on preparing residents for the citizenship examination (Denver Public Library, 2002).
(5) Public Memory refers to the library’s responsibility to preserve and make accessible the records, images and other cultural artifacts that are meaningful to its audiences, especially as they relate to the historical and cultural experiences of local residents. Through this function the public library plays an important role in fostering community identity and a sense of a shared cultural heritage. This can come about through the use of new media to widen access to the vast array of local historical and cultural materials in local libraries, by building these collections through outreach to
3For the Queens Borough Public Library’s “New Americans Program”, see www.
queenslibrary.org/programs/nap/index.asp.
nontraditional library audiences and newcomer groups, or by interpreting these collections and using them to better understand the local environment.
Twelve years ago staff of the Los Angeles Public Library’s photo archives became concerned that the collections did not include adequate materials representing minority families in Los Angeles, particularly newcomer families. They initiated a project, “Shades of LA,” to collect pictures from family albums, through which images were chosen and copied for the library along with the story about the image provided by the donating family. The images included daily life, social organizations, work, personal and holiday celebrations, and migration and immigration activities. The strong public response enabled the library to expand its collection and gain valuable new knowledge about the city’s current residents. At the same time, the project enabled those individuals and families who contributed photos to believe that they, too, were represented in the story of the city and in the city’s library collection.4
While libraries have traditionally been understood as repositories of community history and culture, in many situations this “memory” function has been more passive than active. The active collecting going on today, through oral history, photo documentation and intergenerational exchange, are reinforced by new capacities to digitize and disseminate images and information—all part of the phenomenon of libraries reinterpreting their preservation function in the context of today’s communities and today’s technologies.
(6)Integrating the newcomerhas long been a function of public libraries, made even more important by the growing influx of newcomers in recent decades. As the nation experiences the greatest wave of immigration in a century, libraries are exceptionally important locales for newcomer infor- mation and education. They are, increasingly, becoming vehicles for engaging newcomers in the community, from Phoenix, AZ, where the public library is collaborating with local refugee organizations to help connect families with services and institutions, to St. Paul, MN, where the library has established a special center for support of small businesses operated by immigrants and refugees (McCook, 2001). The Providence Public Library has created the “Cambodian Family Journey,” a partnership with the Cambodian Society of Rhode Island that involves reading and discussion programs, oral history, bilingual conversations and other intergenerational activities to enhance communication between parents and teenagers and promote exchange between generations, cultures and languages. The project has enabled older members of the Cambodian community to share their
4For the “Shades of LA” program, seewww.lapl.org/elec_neigh/index.html.
history and culture with young people—both Cambodians and other teens, and offered opportunities for adults and teens to sharpen their English and Khmer. Teenagers in the program have learned computer skills and designed web pages that include web films about their own family’s unique story. The library has been able to expand its collection of important cultural information on new residents while also building the basis for an ongoing relationship with Cambodian-Americans in the city and the state. Cambo- dian-Americans are now actually participating in the library’s governance and contributing to its operations and cultural perspective. Examples such as these suggest that the local library has a crucial role in helping newcomers become part of the civic and social life of the community.5