Building Successful Collaborations with Communities: Community-Based Librarianship

Register here

Two-week Course | February 24 - March 7, 2025

This 2-week online course is an Introduction to the concept of community-based librarianship using design theory and appreciative inquiry.

This online course is part of the "Building Successful Collaborations with the Communities" series, which addresses four topics in community engagement:

1. Community-Based Librarianship (i.e., this course)
2. Asset-Based Community Development
3. Collective Impact
4. Grassroots Librarianship

The series integrates concepts of community engagement with application tools for practicing librarians. Community engagement begins with librarians themselves as members of the community having ownership and vested interest in its success. The community defines the library. The library is the backbone infrastructure to engage community members and agencies for desired changes. Participants will learn to use tools of appreciative inquiry and Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) with the goal to facilitate positive changes in the local community.

Objectives:

1. To reframe library mission with a community anchor perspective
2. To connect changes with opportunities for community development

By registering for this class, you are agreeing to the NNLM Code of Conduct

Presenter:

Dr. Ling Hwey Jeng, Director of the Texas Woman's University School of Library and Information Studies.

Ling Hwey Jeng is a professor and former director of the School of Library and Information Studies. She was on the faculty of the University of Maryland, College Park, UCLA, and University of Kentucky before she joined the TWU SLIS faculty in 2004. She is a recipient of four federal research and training grants totaling more than $2 million in funding, including the grant project Transforming Libraries into Community Anchors in Rural Texas, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, with Dr. Carol Perryman as co-PI. Jeng is a frequent speaker on the topics of library advocacy, diversity, leadership development, and community engagement, and was named a Thought Leader by WikiWisdom Librarians Forum. She actively serves on elective and appointed positions at the American Library Association and the Texas Library Association, and was the president of the Texas Library Association for 2017-2018. Jeng is also actively engaged in local nonprofits, serving on the advisory board of the Denton Community Health Clinic and co-chairing the United Way of Denton County 2017 Community Needs Assessment Project. She is currently a member of the United Way of Denton County Workforce Success Leadership Team and its committees.

This content is provided by the National Library of Medicine. You will need to create a free account to access the training.

Referral: National Library of Medicine