Librarians have a set of very useful skills, which could benefit our local communities enormously. Librarians Build Communities is a program designed to match librarian volunteers with organizations in their communities, both to build partnerships between libraries and other organizations and to advocate on behalf of libraries and librarianship, by showcasing librarians' skill sets. It is still in its early stages, with pilot projects in a few cities and states, but we have put together a toolkit for running this program in other areas and hope it will grow quickly.

1. +
Librarians
Build
Communities
Advocacy through
volunteerism
Coral Sheldon-Hess
coral@sheldon-hess.org
http://sheldon-hess.org/coral
@web_librarian

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Agenda
 Why do we need LBC?
 What is LBC?
 History
 Upcoming projects
 Howdo you implement your
own LBC?

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Library funding is on the decrease
Source: ala.org

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Librarians have a PR problem
Source: mashable.com

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“So you get to read books all day?”

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“Jobs for Loners”
“Jobs for Loners,” CNBC.com, Daniel Bukszpan, posted May 7, 2012. Slide 2.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47341964/Jobs_for_Loners?slide=2

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Library advocacy

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Librarian advocacy?
( )

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But does the message get out?
(This is an echo chamber.)
Source: news.cnet.com

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We need community engagement
Sources: constantcontact.com, bgparkdistrict.org

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Skills-based volunteering
Sources: volunteerfairfax.org, handsonblog.org,
onegooddeedchicago.wordpress.com

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Agenda
 Why do we need LBC?
 What is LBC?
 History
 Upcoming projects
 Howdo you implement your
own LBC?

13. + 13
What is Librarians Build
Communities?
A program run at the
regional, state, and local
level
 One day of volunteering
 Librarians* use library
skills (research, teaching,
technology, organization,
preservation, etc.) to help
local non-profits
 Press releases are sent to
local news outlets
* In the same sense as our patrons use the word; any library workers.

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Where did this idea come from?
 Started in 2006, in New Orleans, as “Libraries Build Communities”
(sort of)
 2007 - Washington, DC
 2008 - Anaheim, CA
 2009 - Chicago, IL
 2010 - Washington, DC
 Work was done in libraries, primarily, with a few other non-profits
participating.

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In 2011…
 ALA’s Chapter Relations
Office tasked a group of
Emerging Leaders* with
developing LBC into a
program that could be run
at the ALA Chapter (state)
level.
 They returned it to its
original name. (Librarians,
not Libraries)
 They made progress, but
there was still work left to
do.
*If you would like to know more about the EL program, ask during Q&A!

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In 2012
A second group of ELs
tackled the program.
Logo by
Eric Conrad
 Emphasized advocacy
 ScopedLBC back down to
one day (for now)
 Scoped up to be run
regionally, at the state
level, or at the local level.
 (We commissioned a new
logo, too.)
Source: ALA Flickr stream

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Also in 2012
 We created a new website at
librariansbuildcommunities.org:
 A primer for running your own
LBC day
 Templates and graphics
 Information about the program
 A blog for celebrating successful
volunteering projects
 Our final report is available
under . This presentation
will be there, too.

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The LBC website
 Mostimportant feature is
the LBC Primer
 Based largely on the
Snapshot Day website
(Marci Merola let us
interview her)
 Built in WordPress
 Will
hopefully find a home
on the ALA website in…

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2013!
A new class of ELs will take on
LBC.
 Theyare tasked with finding
LBC a home within ALA.
 We hope they can expand the
program beyond one day.
This will be their mentor, Ingrid Abrams.

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Upcoming LBC projects
• LaCrosse, WI – 10/12
• Seattle, WA – 01/13?
• Valdez, AK – 03/13
• Boise, ID – 08/13?
Source: newspaper.li/united-states-map

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Boise? Isn’t that the next PNLA
conference location?
 Yes.
 GinaPersichini (of ICfL; also a
mentor to my EL group) and I
are hoping to pull together a
committee.
 Getin touch with one of us if
you’d like to help!
 (Or if you know the best way to
pitch this to the PNLA Board.)
Source: skywatch-media.com

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Alaskan Librarians Build
Communities
 We have a wiki - http://
aklbc.pbworks.com
 Ourcommittee (currently)
consists of four people.
 Contact me to join!
 We’replanning to hold our
LBC day immediately before
our annual conference in
Valdez, next March.

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Wisconsin and Seattle?
 Wisconsin got the jump on all of us! (One of the 2011 ELs,
Easter DiGiangi, was from WI. She was also our other mentor,
this year.)
 WIlibrarian-volunteers will be helping the LaCrosse Friends of
the Public Library with selection/deselection of gifts.
 JaimeHammond has offered to run LBC for the next ALA
Midwinter conference, in Seattle. (Want to be on her committee?
Email her at jhammond@nvcc.commnet.edu!)

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Agenda
 Why do we need LBC?
 What is LBC?
 History
 Upcoming projects
 Howdo you implement your
own LBC?

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How to host a murder mystery LBC
day
 Pitch it to your association’s board
 Put together a committee
 Choose a day (immediately before or after a
conference is an easy one)
 Create a website for easy reference
 Find librarian volunteers
 Find community organizations to partner with
 Publicize your successful volunteer day
Source: voices.yahoo.com

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Pitching it to your board
 BothAlaska’s and
Wisconsin’s boards
were very receptive;
yours probably will be,
too
 You can see the
documents submitted to
each board under the
LBC Primer’s
Templates & Graphics
section.

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A word of (hard-earned) advice
 Whenever pitching this
program, whether to your
board or to a potential
volunteer, list the benefits
first
 “Know your audience” –
what problems will LBC
solve, what good will it do
for the people you’re talking
to?
Source: exhilarateevents.com

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Your committee (theoretically)
A chair, or co-chairs
 Someone from the host city
 Someone from your library
association
 Someone from each type of
library – public, academic,
school, special
 (Notactually 7 people; these
roles hopefully overlap!)

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Alaska’s committee
 Public, Academic, School, and Special are all represented!
 But nobody local to Valdez.
 Chair/Liaison to National LBC
 Volunteer Recruiter
 PR Czar
 Logistics Czar

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Choosing a day
 At
the state or regional level, no-brainer: pre- or post-
conference!
 Doing a local version of LBC? (You should!)
 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - http://mlkday.gov/
 National Volunteer Week (same in Canada and US, usually the third
week of April)
 Anniversary of the founding of your library association
 Local volunteer day
Source: winona.edu

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Creating a website
 You guys, this is so easy.
I promise.
 Step 1: Get an account with PBWorks
 It’s free
 Their interface is WYSIWYG
 Step 2: Go steal Alaska’s!
 (Just like everyone doing Snapshot Day stole NJLA’s website,
including Alaska.)
 Step3: Customize for your particular setup. If nobody will make
you a logo, go get Lily from the LBC website!

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Get librarian volunteers
 Ask on mailing lists
 Ask your colleagues, individually
 Remind everyone that this is advocacy
 Remind everyone that they’re helping organizations that need
them.
 Remind everyone that it’s only a few hours.
 If all else fails…

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Appeal to their self-interest!
 Volunteering is good for
you!
 Networking
 Resume/CV
 Learning new skills
 Leadership experience
 “Practice on someone else’s
stuff.”
 Sense of accomplishment
 Pro-volunteering discussion
points are available on the
LBC website

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Find community organizations
 Your
local committee member
may have ideas
 United Way is known for keeping
lists of local non-profit
organizations
 The Rotary, the AARP, and the
Lions Club may also have ideas
or projects for you
 There’s
a sample letter at the
LBC website.

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Take pictures, get quotes, and
publicize!
 There’sa form on the LBC
website for submitting blog
posts and photos to the
LBC blog.
 Sample Press Releases
are available in the
Templates & Graphics
section, as well!

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Other things to consider
 “Logistics”
- Depending on location, this may
be optional.
 Getting volunteers to and from the volunteer
location.
 T-shirts, or no?
 Feeding the volunteers, or no?
 Remembering to send thank-you notes after
the event.
Source: wikipedia.org

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And that’s really it!
 Now you know how to run LBC yourself!

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Thank you!
Questions?
Comments?
Website tour?
LibrariansBuildCommunities.org
@librariansbuild
Coral Sheldon-Hess
coral@sheldon-hess.org
http://sheldon-hess.org/coral
@web_librarian