Book Maniacs' Mini Golf -- Can You Do That In The Library?

The first year for the Book Maniacs' Mini Golf Teen Fundraiser.

The second hole was a mystery!

Toddlers tee off.

The family course had a surprise around every corner.

Hungry? Flag down the snack cart!

Come back next year!

Mini golf in the stacks is out of this world.

Library Innovators Initiative

Recent Community Conversations held at the library resulted in support for initiatives that improve our schools through youth literacy partnerships, serve the elderly, help the under-served and make library service more prominent in the city.

 

The Library Innovators initiative will take library service to the next level in and out of our physical building.  Staff will be encouraged to participate in the development of new programs.  Additional effort will be applied to publicizing library services too.  The possibility for being a boundary spanning organization will be explored.

We will lay the groundwork and provide a detailed plan for future outreach services.  The library has strong service areas for youth and the elderly, however both of those service populations have difficulty getting to the library. Ultimately, a bookmobile would allow library staff to have regular stops at local schools, mobile home parks and assisted living facilities. In addition to this, there would be opportunities to partner with local businesses as convenient access points and in doing so, promote the location of the business and their products. 

Library staff will continue the process of turning outward by making contacts and forming partnerships in the community. The working relationship can be as simple as sharing library service information to as complex as shared projects. There will be training on recognizing beneficial partnerships before this starts.  Areas to look for partnerships are:

 

Youth Literacy -- Schools, Daycare Facilities, Preschools

Service to Seniors -- Assisted Living Facilities, Mobile Home Parks

Local Businesses -- Work with the Foundation and Chamber of Commerce

Community and Recreation Centers -- City Facilities, YMCA, Community Centers

Clubs, Groups, Organizations -- Rotary, Largo Historical Society, Kiwanis, Lions Club

Largo Public Library and the Harwood Public Innovators Workshop

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit that trains and coaches people and organizations to address community challenges, improve their own effectiveness, and align their work with community aspirations. While there are many ways to gather data, one of the most powerful ways to get citizen input is through the Harwood Community Conversations. This method is a great way to gain public knowledge to use alongside expert knowledge (statistics, trend data, analysis) and to build public trust.

In 2013, the American Library Association (ALA) began a partnership with the Harwood Institute because they felt libraries were well positioned to host and facilitate community conversations. This approach is a great way for libraries to engage with people in a different way, to find common ground for action, forge deeper relationships with the broader community and it allows staff to use the knowledge they collect to think more strategically about programs and services.

Largo Public Library staff attended the Harwood Institute Public Innovators Lab in Washington, DC in October, 2013 with support from the Greater Largo Library Foundation. We learned to prepare for, facilitate, take notes and find themes in community conversations. More importantly, we learned that in order to stay relevant to citizens, we must turn outward and embrace what they express as their aspirations for the community and the library.  Library staff conducted four "kitchen table" conversations with the public in April and May 2014.  Many other conversations took place with staff and supporters prior to that.

The action list we built from Largo Public Library's Community Conversations aligns with our strategic plan and will continue to be used in decision making.  This blog will showcase our efforts to continue turning outward, building our professional skills and transforming library service to meet the needs of our service population.