Roman philosopher Cicero once remarked that “if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Today, libraries nationwide are beginning to incorporate gardens into their public services. Libraries in the southwestern US, for instance, are creating drought-tolerant gardens as neighborhood demonstration projects, while elsewhere gardens are being used to promote community engagement and even STEM learning. Citing examples of library gardens around the world that are thriving, this first-ever book on the subject not only demonstrates the many benefits of library gardens but also provides a complete overview of issues applicable to all library types and geographical environments. Featuring a full-color photo insert showcasing several beautiful library gardens, among the topics covered in the book are a brief history of libraries and gardens, with an overview of such “demonstration gardens” as medicinal and herbal gardens, native plant gardens, xeriscapes, and gardens as wildlife sanctuaries; the use of plants, such as living walls and rooftop gardens, to create ecologically healthy, sustainable environments; gardens as learning environments and spaces for storytimes and active play; food gardens, seed libraries, sensory gardens, outdoor reading areas, prison garden programs, and many other ways that libraries can engage communities; guidance on designing for inclusivity, planning, funding, staffing, recruiting volunteers, and planting and maintenance, complete with advice on determining the best plants to cultivate; and ideas on evaluating the effectiveness of library gardens and the program opportunities they offer. Readers will not only be inspired to create and nurture their own library gardens and programs, they will receive practical advice on how to proceed and sustain them.

Outcome-based planning and evaluation (OBPE), with its straightforward approach built on a flexible framework, is the perfect model to enable youth services professionals to deliver effective services regardless of uncertainties. An outcome-based approach can help youth services stay grounded in producing desired outcomes with and for youth through responsive programs, services, and processes that can adapt to changing conditions. Clarifying the relationship between planning, program development, and evaluation, the five simple steps outlined in this book will help youth services staff conduct solid community assessments and integrate OBPE into their work. Inside its pages you will learn a short history of OBPE and its evolution; why it is crucially important to involve youth in all stages of program development, with guidance on navigating challenges; how to think about planning as the need to react quickly, whether due to natural or human-made disasters, changing demographics, or economic swings; the five steps of OBPE, from gathering information about your community and determining the outcomes that will serve your community to crafting accurate outcome statements, developing an evaluation plan, and maximizing the results of successful outcome-based programs; how to visualize the steps needed to successfully plan, implement, and evaluate an outcome-based program, using the template included in the book; ways to share your data to let people know the library's important role in the community; and additional useful tools to bolster your work, including environmental scan forms and ideas for creating relevant family storytimes.

This book was compiled and edited by a librarian who was instrumental in getting funding from a Library Services and Technology Act grant to carry out an internship program in public libraries. The grant allowed the MCLS consortium of public libraries in the Los Angeles area to place library school students in paid internships in MCLS member libraries. The successful program was called 'From Interns to Library Leaders' (FILL), and led in part to this book, which offers firsthand 'advice from the field' provided by former public library interns and internship site supervisors. Contributors include a diverse group of voices and representative experiences from around the country, who had either worked as or supervised a student intern in one of the many fields of public librarianship (e.g., public services, children's, technical services, branches, etc.). The result: eighteen chapters written by practitioners and library school faculty, who generously share what it's like to participate in a public library internship.

Planning and assessment are both crucial elements of a public library that functions efficiently and flexibly. So why are they often treated as separate processes? This concise book combines planning and evaluation in a holistic approach, helping public library managers and staff put library resources to work for the community. Based on a series of successful workshops, the authors present a workflow made up of manageable steps for integrating outcome-based planning and evaluation (OBPE) into the routine functions of the public library. Offering step by step guidance that's transparent and easy to follow, this book: introduces the concept of OBPE and explains how it can be a streamlined, effective method of getting library users' feedback; defines outcomes and shows why public libraries should use them to plan and evaluate services; shares methodologies for assessing community needs and interests, including key informant interviews, surveys, focus groups, and environmental scans; demonstrates how to use community assessment data to create outcome statements that not only guide the creation of new library services, but also provide targets for measuring the effectiveness of those services; offers techniques for designing services that directly serve the community while also achieving the outcomes the library has targeted; and provides tips for sharing the results with stakeholders and maximizing successful outcome-based programs to leverage the library's role in the community. Featuring plentiful examples of how to proceed through each phase of the OBPE model, this book boils down planning and evaluation into an approachable, easy to understand process for public librarians, library managers, and grant writers.