The (reference) librarian should be at the very center of community life.
It all begins with a directory of locally available activities and services, offered by nonprofit organizations, and managed by the public library.
The directory is a lead-in – really this is about active relationships between nonprofit organizations, the local public library, and the community.
This is also about personally connecting and resource management.
Nonprofit resources and the local public library are already in place.
Increased interaction between these two entities increases community access to local resources and also offers the local library new ways of connecting with the community.
The top connects people to resources, the bottom uses connection as a resource.
All it takes is a shift in how information is managed.
Just like relationships, resource management can be static or dynamic:
Annual nonprofit festival
Displays
Meeting space for organizations
Nonprofit conference
Nonprofit event board
Display tables
Nonprofit collaboration
In all of these activities, personal relationships and networking helps create new pathways for community members to interact and participate.
Increased people-to-people interaction promotes relationships.
By making locally available resources more accessible – and encouraging communication between nonprofit organizations, the library, and the community – the public library can offer a reference service that affects more people in a direct way.
Librarians, and nonprofit activities and services, are the community resources: just connect them.