Foreword by Tracie D. Hall Community engagement isn't simply an important component of a successful library-it's the foundation upon which every service, offering, and initiative rests. Working collaboratively with community members-be they library customers, residents, faculty, students or partner organizations-ensures that the library works, period. This important resource from ALA's Public Programs Office (PPO) provides targeted guidance on how libraries can effectively engage with the public to address a range of issues for the betterment of the community. Featuring contributions by leaders active in library-led community engagement, it's designed to be equally useful as a teaching text for LIS students and a go-to handbook for current programming, adult services, and outreach library staff. Balancing historical context with case studies and stories from field, this collection explores such key topics as: why libraries belong in the community engagement realm; the differences and overlap between outreach, engagement, and advocacy; getting the support of board and staff; how to understand your community; pointers on telling your story for maximum impact; the ethics and challenges of engaging often unreached segments of the community; identifying and building engaged partnerships; archives and community engagement; engaged programming; and outcome measurement. Sharing numerous examples of successful change, dialogue and deliberation, and collaborative efforts, this book offers a comprehensive look at community engagement work that can help all libraries reinforce their roles as champions of lifelong learning.

The creative programs shared in this book vividly demonstrate the ways in which library programming can make communities stronger and more resilient by creating lifelong learners, fostering conversation, and forging connections. From the moment the pandemic took hold in Spring 2020, libraries and library workers have demonstrated their fortitude and flexibility by adapting to physical closures, social distancing guidelines, and a host of other challenges. Despite the obstacles, they've been able to stay connected to their communities-and helped connect the people in their communities to each other, as well as to the information and services they need and enjoy. Ostman and ALA's Public Programs Office (PPO) here present a handpicked cross-section of successful programs, most of them virtual, from a range of different libraries. Featuring events designed to support learning, spark conversation, create connection, or simply entertain, the ideas here will inspire programming staff to try similar offerings at their own libraries. Showcasing innovation in action as well as lessons learned, programs include COVID-19 Misinformation Challenge, featuring an email quiz, to encourage participants to separate fact from fiction; weekly virtual storytimes; community cooking demonstrations via Zoom; an online grocery store tour, complete with tips about shopping healthy on a budget; a virtual beer tasting that boasted 80 attendees; socially distanced "creativity crates" for summer reading; an online Minecraft club for kids ages 6 and up; a Zoom presentation about grieving and funerals during COVID, featuring the director of a local funeral home; Art Talk Tuesday, a one-hour, docent-led program; a virtual lecture on the history of witchcraft, presented by a public library in partnership with a university rare book room, that drew thousands of viewers; "knitting for knewbies" kits for curbside pickup; Songs from the Stacks, an ongoing virtual concert series in the style of NPR's "Tiny Desk"; and a pink supermoon viewing party that included people howling at the moon together from their homes on Facebook Live.