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.