Libraries are increasingly bringing people together to discuss important issues in their communities. To support these efforts, in 2024, the American Library Association (ALA) launched "Libraries as Leaders in Bridging Divides," a project that seeks to help libraries position themselves as places that promote respectful, constructive, inclusive dialogue. Supported by the Ford Foundation and undertaken in partnership with the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation, the project is part of the ALA's broader "Libraries Transforming Communities" (LTC) initiative. It's led to the creation of an eCourse and a facilitation guide — both of which are equipping libraries with the knowledge and skills to host community conversations.

As the project's evaluators, we've been gathering feedback on LTC libraries' engagement with the project. The response to these resources has been unanimously positive. Describing them with words like "extraordinarily helpful," "a cheat sheet," and "kind of the Bible," library workers have credited both the eCourse and the facilitation guide with helping them have "really really effective" conversations on a variety of potentially divisive topics, including:

• Local infrastructure and local planning
• Accessibility
• Community cohesiveness
• Navigating cultural assumptions, biases, and misunderstandings
• Neighborhood changes
• Health and wellness inequities
• Employment issues and biases
• Regional histories and their continuing impact on local systems
• Understanding different lived experiences

Through the use of project resources, libraries were able to transform things that seemed "very daunting and quite frankly a little scary to embark on" into successful conversations. In this blog post, we highlight emerging best practices from our evaluation, offering a number of practical tips on effective ways to plan, host, and manage community conversations. Our findings are based on an analysis of surveys taken after the completion of the eCourse and interviews with six US librarians (all of whom had experience with a variety of LTC programs and resources).

Planning

Figuring out the right topic to discuss during a community conversation can be hard. This is even more true when the aim is to discuss issues that may be socially divisive. Some topics may feel inappropriate or simply fail to resonate, whereas others might seem too controversial.

When it comes to preparing for these conversations, the libraries we heard from agreed that the best approach is always to work with patrons to find meaningful topics of discussion. Some did this by integrating questions about potential topics into their daily interactions with patrons. Others distributed simple Google forms asking questions like, "What kind of conversation are you willing to have in a library space?"

Another popular practice was to simply observe people's behavior within the library. By paying attention to some of the difficulties patrons experienced with regard to noise levels, the physical design of their spaces, and other barriers to enjoyment, libraries were able to identify one of the most prominent topics of conversation: accessibility. Highlighting the value of this approach, one staff member explained how "it's our job to see what the patron is not telling us."

Overcoming Skepticism

Planning their conversations around what their communities needed was helpful in terms of getting people to attend. But that didn't necessarily guarantee their active participation. At the beginning of their event, "it was just crickets and a lot of glowering," one library worker recalled. Staff were also sometimes reticent to initiate dialogue, fearing that their words might spark negative comments.

These fears were generally unfounded. By affirming that they were "here to serve everyone" and that libraries are "a place for dialogue," staff were able to overcome whatever initial skepticism toward conversation existed among attendees. To encourage the exchange of perspectives and experiences, libraries reminded everyone that "every voice has a story" and that "every voice deserves to be heard." These gentle nudges often worked wonders, prompting participants to open up about things they might have otherwise been reluctant to share.

Hosting

Beyond reassuring participants that their voices mattered, libraries took a number of other steps to ensure that participants respected each other. First and foremost, they laid out clear ground rules and conversation norms. Doing this helped "establish good boundaries for everyone at the start," one library explained. Distributing roles among multiple staff was also key. Many found it useful to have a facilitator, a scribe, and someone observing and managing from the sidelines. The scribe's duty was often to put ideas from the group into the "parking lot," a tool outlined in LTC courses that consists of a large white board or piece of paper where ideas that come up outside the scope of the immediate conversation can be written down and returned to later. Many library staff mentioned the value of the "parking lot," because it made conversation participants feel heard and kept facilitators accountable.

Outside of these building blocks of a successful conversation, library staff also talked about strategies for keeping themselves and their patrons comfortable. For one staff member, this meant hosting a conversation about a particularly divisive topic online. In many instances, making people comfortable meant sharing a meal or providing snacks, and building in time for informal conversation and hanging out. Cultivating spaces where "anyone could just drop in" made their conversations relaxed and social. And having food offered a sense of community. As one library staffer said, "once you break bread with people, there's instantly more of a connection."

The Payoff

The process of participating in a community conversation was a mutually beneficial one. On the basis of what they heard, many libraries made immediate changes to their spaces and programs — from simple upgrades like the addition of automated doors and home-internet devices to large-scale policy shifts or personnel changes (for example, hiring additional staff and increasing staff hours). For their part, patrons said they appreciated the opportunity to participate, and that their levels of trust in libraries had increased.

The conversations also resulted in impacts of a more personal sort. One shared how their event led to a number of "aha" moments for patrons. As an example, they mentioned a patron who came away from their conversation with the realization that "ignorant remarks" are often a product of "not having a space to learn and ask questions"-not of malice. Along similar lines, libraries learned that they are an ideal venue for hosting community conversations.

Perhaps most notably, these events further positioned libraries at the center of their communities. Many remarked on how their conversations brought in new patrons; as one put it, they "got people in that we ordinarily would not have had before." Some saw increased visits after their conversations, as comments from community members who "didn't know libraries did things like this" often prompted increased interest in programs and other aspects of their work. One library won their town's "Small Business of the Year" award, and got a chance to marshall their Christmas parade. Whether big or small, the improved perceptions that resulted from these conversations gave libraries the skills and confidence to play a bigger role in community affairs. As one put it:

You can make two choices in our community. You can be involved or you can be in the shadows. And I think we were in the shadows… it's not just the little old library anymore. That's the positive.

Let's Put it to Work

Using resources created through the "Libraries as Leaders in Bridging Divides" project, LTC libraries succeeded in hosting community conversations among people with different views, experiences, and perspectives. Their work suggests that attempts to do this are most effective when institutions:

• Work with community members to identify topics for discussion
• Make sure conversation spaces are comfortable for attendees
• Establish clear ground rules and conversation norms
• Implement accountability mechanisms to ensure fairness and respect for all voices
• Commit to pursuing changes (institutionally or otherwise) that align with community aspirations and preferences

Interested in hosting a conversation with community members? Check out the ALA's free facilitation guide and eCourse. Through the use of these resources, your library can help bridge community divides in ways that promote empathy and understanding, counter us-versus-them mentalities, and generate collaborative, consensus-based solutions. As demonstrated by the examples above, this is also a great way to get more involved in the local community and effect real change!

About this Article

This blog post is part of a partnership between ALA's LTC program and "Libraries as Leaders in Bridging Divides" project, funded by the Ford Foundation. It's part of the ALA's "Libraries Transforming Communities" initiative, which you can read more about here.

Photo courtesy of Age Cymru @ Unsplash