Clearinghouse of Professional Information

Community Development Resources

This section includes general links and resources related to community development and the public library’s role in community development.

SOLS provides consulting assistance and advice in the area of community development. In addition, occasional training opportunities are available to library trustees and staff through clinics and workshops.

OLS-North provides consulting and advice to library boards and CEO’s on community development. OLS-North also provides training opportunities through annual conferences and area workshops. Five additional community development tool kits will be produced in the next three years. Further information on OLS-North services in this area can be found in the Community Development section of the OLS-North website or by contacting Marjatta Asu at masu@olsn.ca.

Topics include

General Resources | Books | Capacity Building Resources | Journal Articles | Libraries as Cultural Partners | Mapping Community Capacity | Public Libraries and Community Development | Social Capital | Social Inclusion

	indicates an item written by SOLS staff		indicates an item written by OLS-North staff
Clicking on certain topics will open a new window, if the link is to a topic included in an other Clearinghouse page

General Resources

• ArtsResearchMonitor.com Provides synopses of qualitative and quantitative research findings in the arts and culture. We hope that the site is useful to artists, arts managers, funders, policy makers, researchers and others with an interest in learning more about the arts and culture.
• Community-led Libraries Toolkit (Working Together Project) This project  has two main objectives. The first objective is to use a community development approach to build connections and relationships in the community. The second objective is to identify and investigate systemic barriers to library use. The Kit can also be downloaded from here  (.pdf)
• Connecting With Your Community. Trustee Tip # 22 (.pdf) This issue of Trustee Tips discusses the important role of the library board in linking with the community.
• Crime Prevention and Personal Safety for Your Library and Community. Community Development Tool #2, 2004. Ontario Library Service-North (OLS-North) received funding through the National Crime Prevention Strategy’s Community Mobilization Fund, a program of the Government of Canada’s Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, to develop a series of workshops and a toolkit to help public libraries take a lead role in developing local crime prevention initiatives.
• The Library as a Community Development Partner. (.pdf) Module 10. Library Board Orientation Kit focuses on the library as a community development partner.
• The Library’s Contribution to the Community: A Resource Manual for Libraries to Document their Social and Economic Contribution to the Local Community. Spring 1998, Updated in 2000. A unique approach to demonstrating the value of the public library, designed to present municipal councils and administrators with local data created with library input. It can be used by any library at a level appropriate to resources available.
• From Restless Communities to Resilient Places: Building A Stronger Future For All Canadians Final Report of the External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities June 2006. Chapters 7-9 of the report they deal specifically with the social and cultural dimensions of community sustainability.

Books

• Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. By John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight. Evanston, IL: Institute for Policy Research (1993).
• From the Ground Up! A Workbook on Coalition Building and Community Development. By Gillian Kaye and Tom Wolffe. Amherst, MA: AHEC/Community Partners, Inc., 1997.
• Helping Business – The library’s role in community economic development. By Maxine Bleiweis. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 1997.
• A Place at the Table: Participating in Community Building. By Kathleen de la Peňa McCook. Chicago: American Library Association, 2000.
• No Place Like Home: Building Sustainable Communities. By Marcia Nozick. Ottawa: Canadian Council on Social Development, c1992, 2003.

Community Development Capacity Building Resources

• The Canadian CED Network: Strengthening Canada’s Communities (CED Network) Promoting excellence in the field of CED, this partnership is committed to developing and delivering products and strategies that expand the scale and effectiveness of CED in Canada.
• Community Development: General Information (Social Development Canada) This site contains links to community development and capacity building resources.
• The Community Resilience Manual:A Resource for Rural Recovery & Renewal. The Centre for Community Enterprise has been exploring the concept of community resilience. At issue is the economic and social vitality of rural communities across Canada and the United States. The Manual offers valuable assistance to any small community that wants to make better decisions about mobilizing and investing its resources.
• Community Tool Box Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas U.S.A.). How-to resources on community health, community and neighbourhood development, community leadership, strategic planning, community assessment, advocacy, grant writing and links to other resources.
• Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO) Training opportunities, resources and events in support of aboriginal development officers.
• Focusing on Your Community: Community Development Principles and Practices  A capacity building program developed from a human resource development perspective in Newfoundland.
• INSTIGATE! An Online Toolkit for Community Mobilization
• The Partnership Handbook (HDRC) This site, developed by Human Resources Development Canada, offers information about partnerships, forming partnerships, the skills and knowledge required, and managing partnership.
• Sustainable Community Development The University of Wisconsin has compiled indicators of community capacity to achieve sustainability

Journal Articles

• Albanese, Andrew Richard. Libraries as Equity Building Blocks. Library Journal, v.126 no.9 (May 15, 2001) p. 40
• Noah, Carolyn and Alan Brickman. Capacity Building for Libraries. Public Libraries, v.43 no.2 (March/April 2004) p.102-7.
• Rodger, Eleanor Jo. Helping Cities Work (other title: Urban Libraries and Economic Development). Library Journal, v.126 no.9 (May 15 2001) p. 42-3.
• Wilson, Randall W. Partners in Economic Development. Library Journal, March 15, 1986 p. 32-34.

Libraries as Cultural Partners

• Are We a Creative Community? (Hill Strategies Research) 2007. Leadership and collaboration are presented as the two key aspects involved in creating and maintaining a vibrant cultural centre.
• Capitalizing on Culture (Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy) 2006. "Two powerful issues: the development of our cities and the nature of culture as a public good".
• Canadians Assess Public Infrastructure Priorities and Government Performance. (.pdf) Survey by Ipsos-Reid. Results published in Municipal World, September 2007
• Creative City Network of Canada Municipalities are playing an increasing role in the development of arts, culture and heritage in Canada. The Creative City Network of Canada exists to connect the people who share this working environment so we can be more effective in cultural development in our communities. By sharing experience, expertise, information and best practices, members support each other through dialogue, both in person and online. If you are employed by a municipality in a capacity that involves developing or serving the arts, culture and heritage sector of your community, please considering joining membership.
• Cultural Vitality in Communities: Interpretation and Indicators. (Urban Institute).The 2006 report outlines measures of the many ways in which people participate in arts and cultural activity -- "as practitioners, teachers, students, critics, supporters, and consumers".
• Factors in Canadians’ Cultural Activities (.pdf)  (Hill Strategies Research) Report indicates that cultural  experiences and exposure are
  more important factors in cultural activities than demographics. The statistics have interesting marketing implications for cultural organizations. Specifically, cultural marketing might be directed at other cultural attendees. For example, performance information should be made available at art galleries, festivals, museums and historic sites.
• From Cultural Silos to Cultural Systems: Municipal Cultural Planning Forums – Lessons and Implications (.pdf) The Ontario Ministry of Culture has identified municipal cultural planning as one of its top priorities. This report compiles concerns and views relating to municipal cultural planning which were voiced at Municipal Cultural Planning Forums held in Ontario in spring 2005.

Mapping Community Capacity

• Building the Road as You Walk It: Community Partnerships that Work (.pdf) by Mike Green.;© 2006 by Inclusion Press. Excerpted from the upcoming book When People Care Enough to Act: ABCD in Action by Mike Green with Henry Moore and John O'Brien by permission of Inclusion Press. This article on community partnerships is based on the community asset mapping work of John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann.
• Canadian Rural Partnership Asset Mapping: A Handbook This handbook introduces community asset mapping as a useful tool in rural community development.
• Mapping the assets of your community: A key component for building local capacity. Beaulieu’s article extends the work of Kretzmann and McKnight by presenting a strategy for identifying individuals with leadership potential in the community, and by discussing the role of asset mapping in engaging local people in community enhancement efforts.
• Taking Our Community’s Asset Mapping Test (RECA Foundation) Although created for the Washington area, the mapping tests #1 through 4 are designed to help collect information about people and groups in your community.

 Public Libraries and Community Development

• Community Development and Community Outreach (.pdf)  (Vancouver Public Library) This article discusses the differences between community development and community outreach in public libraries.
• The Economic and Job Creation Benefits of Ontario Public and First Nations Libraries. This report, prepared by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation, provides information about the economic and job creation benefits of public and First Nations libraries. November, 1998, 2^nd edition.
• The Engaged Library: Chicago Stories of Community Building. (.pdf) Through the use of case studies, this research demonstrates the library’s important role in building community. Published in 2005 by the Urban Libraries Council in partnership with the North West University’s Asset Based Community Development Institute.
• Enhancing Economic Development Through Libraries (.pdf) (Illinois Institute of Rural Affairs) This report describes an Illinois state wide training program in economic development that involved public librarians in small communities called "Preparing Librarians for a New Role in Local Economic Development".
• Focus on Demonstrating Impact 2006: Building Partnerships. In January of 2006, WebJunction focuses on how building community partnerships can be the key to demonstrating the library’s impact and "getting a seat at the table."
• "In" versus "With" the Community: Using a Community Approach to Public Library Services. In 2004, Vancouver Public Library initiated a project to develop methods for libraries to work with low-income communities through a community development approach and to explore ways to overcome systemic barriers to library use by the socially excluded. This article written by Campbell, Brian also appeared in Feliciter Issue #6 2005 p. 271-273
• A Librarian at Every Table: Librarians and Community Initiatives. By Kathleen de la Peña McCook, Distinguished University Professor of Library and Information Science, University of South Florida. Librarians have an important role to play in building community in neighbourhoods, towns, cities, counties, states and the nation. The central focus of this website and the LIBRARIAN-AT-EVERY-TABLE mailing list is to identify new tables at which librarians might take a place.
• Libraries Build Sustainable Communities. This ALA web site introduces sustainable community development as a process for making choices about the future and suggests activities to guide communities and libraries toward becoming sustainable. Some practical suggestions for getting started in sustainable community work are provided.
• Libraries Building Communities. (State Library of Victoria, Australia) An Australian studylooking atthe value public libraries bring to their communities. The report also shows how libraries build social capital and the community role of public libraries. The findings of the study are presented in four reports, andare summarized in anExecutive Summary.
• Libraries Leading the Way in Community Economic Development (Library and Archives Canada. Electronic Collection) This site, created originally by LibraryNet, provides links to web pages that demonstrate how public libraries are taking on new roles to promote community economic development.
• Making Cities Stronger: Public Library Contributions to Local Economic Development. (.pdf) Commissioned by the Urban Libraries Council in Evanston, Illinois, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and Geraldine R. Dodge foundations, the report  suggests that public libraries are shifting from being passive institutions for recreational reading and research to active economic development agents working to address such issues as literacy, workforce training, small business vitality, and community quality of life.
• The Role of Small Public Libraries in Community Economic Development. (Illinois State Library) . This article by Norman Walzer and John Gruidl describes the "Preparing Librarians for a New Role in Local Economic Development" project and the resulting initiatives started by public librarians.
• The Seattle Public Library Central Library: Economic Benefits Assessment. This report prepared by Berks and Associates assessed the library’s impact on the City’s economic vitality, community character and livability, and image and identity.
• Sustaining Communities: Measuring the Value of Public Libraries. (.pdf) Phase One: A Review of Research Approaches. Commissioned by the New South Wales (NSW) Public Library Network Research Committee to explore and then measure the contributions made by NSW public libraries to the communities they serve. This report is a literature review of assessment and evaluation research approaches to investigating and demonstrating the impact and value of public libraries.
• Working Together National Demonstration Project Content will be added as it is created. The site includes a forum to encourage discussions about community development in a library context.

Public Libraries and Social Capital

• Best investment: the modern public library as social capital (.pdf) By Dr. Alan Bundy. Paper presented at the AGM of Friends of Libraries Australia (FOLA) Altona, Victoria, August 27, 2003. This paper discusses how public libraries can achieve their full potential and build social capital.
• Building social capital through networking: how public libraries can be more than repositories of information A report prepared for the Fairfield City Library Service, Australia.
• Libraries Create Social Capital. By Kranich, Nancy. November 15, 2001. Retrieved January 25, 2006 from Library Journal
• Public Libraries in the Knowledge Economy (Local Futures Group, U.K.) Presents a fresh perspective on the role of public libraries as important actors in developing a more dynamic and inclusive knowledge economy
• A Safe Place To Go: Libraries and Social Capital (Public Libraries Branch. State Library of New South Wales) The aim of this project is to investigate how municipal libraries can, and do, contribute to the production of social capital in the communities in which they are located.

Social Inclusion in Public Libraries

• Libraries For All: Social Inclusion in Public Libraries (Community services Group, U.K.) This report on social inclusion and public libraries identifies ways in which public libraries can help overcome social exclusion in the United Kingdom, and offers useful information for all public libraries.
• Libraries as Community Resources (U.K.) IDeA Knowledge provides examples of good practice from councils across England and Wales. The public library service has an important role to play in fostering community development, promoting community identity and developing social inclusion and is applicable to both urban and rural areas.
• Libraries as a Community Resource: Promoting Social Inclusion (U.K.) This report prepared by David Hayes Associates for the Department for Local Transport, Local Government and the Regions (UK) discusses the role of public libraries in tackling social exclusion and offers best practices.
• The Network (U.K.) The Network is a network of public libraries, museums, archives, other organizations and individuals committed to tackling social exclusion in the UK. This site provides access to working papers on social exclusion and public libraries written in the period 1998-2000.
• Social Inclusion and Public Libraries: A Resource Guide (Community Services Group, U.K.) This resource aims to provide access to recent publications, research and networked resources about social inclusion that might be relevant to public libraries.