Use this free self-paced online course designed to help your library strengthen its role as a core community leader, and to work with residents to bring about positive change: Libraries Transforming Communities.

In bite-sized pieces, the course consists of six webinar recordings of 40 - 90 minutes that link to worksheets, facilitators' guides, and sample materials. Taken together, these resources provide a 90-day plan to help your library "turn outward." 

“Turning outward” emphasizes a shift in orientation from internal (library-focused) to external (community-focused). This change is achieved through practical steps: taking measures to better understand communities; changing processes and thinking to make your library‘s work more community-focused; being proactive to community issues; and putting community aspirations first.

Led by educators from the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, the webinars explain how to use the “turning outward" approach inside and outside the library. The approach emphasizes taking steps to better understand communities; changing processes and thinking to make conversations more community-focused; becoming more pro ­ active to community issues; and putting community aspirations first.

Here's the course structure:

1. First 30 Days: Getting Started
   Begin to talk to your library team about their hopes and goals
   Put in place the thought processes that will lead to long-term change
2. 30-60 Days: Going into the Community
   Begin facilitating conversations with your community
3. 60-90 Days: Sharing What You Learn
   Share knowledge and evaluate team progress
4. 90 Days and Beyond: Taking Action

Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) — an initiative of the American Library Association — seeks to strengthen librarians’ roles as core community leaders and change-agents. LTC is made possible through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sources:
• Free Leadership Course Now Online, American Libraries. May 2015, Vol. 46 Issue 5, p15
• Libraries Transforming Communities, American Library Association