Foreword by Tracie D. Hall

Community engagement isn’t simply an important component of a successful library—it’s the foundation upon which every service, offering, and initiative rests. Working collaboratively with community members—be they library customers, residents, faculty, students or partner organizations— ensures that the library works, period. This important resource from ALA’s Public Programs Office (PPO) provides targeted guidance on how libraries can effectively engage with the public to address a range of issues for the betterment of their community, whether it is a city, neighborhood, campus, or something else. Featuring contributions by leaders active in library-led community engagement, it’s designed to be equally useful as a teaching text for LIS students and a go-to handbook for current programming, adult services, and outreach library staff. Balancing practical tools with case studies and stories from field, this collection explores such key topics as

• why libraries belong in the community engagement realm;
• getting the support of board and staff;
• how to understand your community;
• the ethics and challenges of engaging often unreached segments of the community;
• identifying and building engaged partnerships;
• collections and community engagement;
• engaged programming; and
• outcome measurement.

Outcome-based planning and evaluation (OBPE), with its straightforward approach built on a flexible framework, is the perfect model to enable youth services professionals to deliver effective services regardless of uncertainties. An outcome-based approach can help youth services stay grounded in producing desired outcomes with and for youth through responsive programs, services, and processes that can adapt to changing conditions. Clarifying the relationship between planning, program development, and evaluation, the five simple steps outlined in this book will help youth services staff conduct solid community assessments and integrate OBPE into their work. Inside its pages you will learn

• a short history of OBPE and its evolution;
• why it is crucially important to involve youth in all stages of program development, with guidance on navigating challenges;
• how to think about planning as the need to react quickly, whether due to natural or human-made disasters, changing demographics, or economic swings;
• the five steps of OBPE, from gathering information about your community and determining the outcomes that will serve your community to crafting accurate outcome statements, developing an evaluation plan, and maximizing the results of successful outcome-based programs; 
• how to visualize the steps needed to successfully plan, implement, and evaluate an outcome-based program, using the template included in the book;
• ways to share your data to let people know the library’s important role in the community; and
• additional useful tools to bolster your work, including environmental scan forms and ideas for creating relevant family storytimes.

• COVID-19 Misinformation Challenge, featuring an email quiz, to encourage participants to separate fact from fiction; 
• weekly virtual storytimes;
• community cooking demonstrations via Zoom;
• an online grocery store tour, complete with tips about shopping healthy on a budget;
• a virtual beer tasting that boasted 80 attendees;
• socially distanced "creativity crates" for summer reading;
• an online Minecraft club for kids ages 6 and up;
• a Zoom presentation about grieving and funerals during COVID, featuring the director of a local funeral home;
• Art Talk Tuesday, a one-hour, docent-led program; 
• a virtual lecture on the history of witchcraft, presented by a public library in partnership with a university rare book room, that drew thousands of viewers;
• "knitting for knewbies" kits for curbside pickup;
• Songs from the Stacks, an ongoing virtual concert series in the style of NPR’s “Tiny Desk”;
• a pink supermoon viewing party that included people howling at the moon together from their homes on Facebook Live;
• and many others

The opioid epidemic, and other behavioral health issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, directly impact every community across the nation; and, by extension, public libraries’ daily work. Because libraries are not only trusted guardians of information but also vital community centers, people struggling with addictive behaviors as well as their family members and friends often turn to the library for help. But many library workers feel overwhelmed, finding themselves unprepared for serving these patrons in an effective and empathetic way. This book encourages readers to turn their fears and uncertainty into strengths and empowerment, offering to-the-point guidance on welcoming people with substance use disorders and their loved ones through policy, materials, outreach, collaboration, programs, and services. Written by a frontline librarian whose personal experiences inform the book, this resource

• explores the library’s role in the fight against addiction and how to become part of the solution by combating stigma;
• provides background on understanding how substance abuse and related behaviors affect different age groups and populations;
• explains how to be proactive regarding library safety and security by carefully crafting library policies and effectively communicating them to staff;
• offers real world guidance on training library staff, including pointers on recognizing observable signs of drug abuse and responding appropriately and safely to uncomfortable or potentially dangerous situations;   
• discusses safeguards such as a needle disposal unit, defibrillator, and Naloxone;
• gives tips on marketing, outreach, and programming, from putting together displays of materials and resources to partnering with local organizations; and
• recommends useful websites, documentaries, and additional resources for further learning.

Libraries are community connectors, places where people come together, think together, and learn together. Libraries support and nurture strong, resilient communities. Day in and day out, the library workers at these institutions are doing much more than ensuring equal and equitable access to information; and their impact stretches far beyond the books, programs, and services they facilitate. Featuring contributions from such library leaders as Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, the late Nicolette Sosulski, and Erica Freudenberger, this collection of inspiring first-hand stories from across libraryland spotlights the countless ways in which library staff are making a difference for their communities. A sharing of the hearts, minds, and spirits of library staff from across the country, the uplifting personal narratives in this book include

• when a routine reference query inspired a librarian to reach out to a senior patron;
• how a public library’s annual Diwali celebration has strengthened the social fabric of the surrounding community;
• the story of a library that burned down, was hit by a hurricane, got sued twice, and yet still reemerged stronger than ever;
• how the team at the Fayetteville Free Library (FFL) of New York has strategically nurtured a culture of innovation by integrating Syracuse University students into the staff, holding technology “open houses,” and developing other initiatives; and
• the intervention of a public library staff member that helped a mother keep her son enrolled in school and receive his diploma.

Library workers change and save lives every day, and this book is a powerful and nourishing reminder of exactly why libraries are essential.