Partnerships & collaboration

When the library builds partnerships, it strengthens the ties to its community, shares resources, and builds positive relationships with diverse stakeholders. Reaching out to initiate community partnerships begins with identifying both traditional and non-traditional partners and exploring new ways to work together. Effective collaborations are sustained through a shared commitment to serving the ever-changing needs of the community.
Photo: jenlen, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Most Recently Added
Singing the unsung heroes who make libraries successful
Publish Date: News / 24 April 2024
Community partnerships play an important role in creating successful libraries, and Berks County Public Library is no exception. Each year, the library honors individuals and groups in the community who demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation,...
Co-creating library services through human-centered design
Publish Date: News / 10 April 2024
Much of the work of co-creation happens before you start to plan a concrete service or program. It’s worth spending the time up front to establish authentic, asset-based relationships and craft a scope that aligns with both community aspirations and ...
New Directions for Library Volunteers
Publish Date: Document / 21 March 2024
Resources and approaches for engaging volunteers in your library.
Hopkinton Public Library unites community in library planning
Publish Date: News / 12 March 2024
At Hopkinton Public Library in Iowa, community engagement is thriving. And the secret to this success is including community members in in the planning, from beginning to end. From an annual haunted house to community bake-offs, the library incorpora...
Co-Creating Library Services for Transformative Impact
Publish Date: Webinar / 27 February 2024
Learn about the fundamentals of co-design and explore how to apply them in your library for wildly creative and deeply impactful programs and services.
Align library services with community aspirations
Publish Date: News / 27 February 2024
The most successful library services are often those that help the community meet its aspirations while also honoring the unique purpose of the library. But balancing the community’s goals and the library’s scope is not always an easy task.
Together we heal
Publish Date: News / 20 February 2024
Like many small-town libraries, Jarrell Community Library is an important place for connection. And through a recent Libraries for Heath grant, the library is offering new kinds of connections—to peer mental health specialists and an array of resourc...
Easy as ABCD: Using asset-based community development as a lens for authentic relationship-building
Publish Date: News / 7 February 2024
Building relationships with systematically excluded communities is one of the most important things your library can do to support relevant, meaningful services. Co-creation can help librarians embody our EDISJ (equity, diversity, inclusion, and soci...
Building Authentic Relationships with Underserved Communities
Publish Date: Webinar / 30 January 2024
Learn how to develop a plan for identifying, reaching, and building relationships with underserved communities.
Stronger Together: Collective Impact and Climate Action
Publish Date: News / 9 January 2024
Climate change is the grandest challenge of our generation. This requires a level of collaboration that has not been seen before.
Community engagement
Where do you go for inspiration? Invigorate your community engagement efforts with advice from library leaders.