Libraries are key contributors to social capital. As places for meetings and events, they promote social interaction in ways that help people deepen existing relationships and create new ones. Through programs and services, they offer access to resources that can expand awareness and use of local support systems. And through personal interactions, libraries help patrons expand their social networks. In all of these ways, libraries increase social cohesion. They help individuals feel more connected to each other and more embedded in their neighborhoods. In short, they build community.

Trust is at the center of these processes. On the one hand, trust is a prerequisite for social capital. Libraries are able to help people establish the relationships and obtain the resources they need to “get by” in the world because their own actions (being welcoming and open to all, being fair and impartial, etc.) generate high levels of trust among patrons. And in turn, the trust others place in them allows libraries to be a source of more general social trust. In other words, trust in the library can spill over into other institutions.

Of course, trust is not always warranted. When trust exists in the absence of trustworthy behavior, individuals can easily be deceived or exploited. In these cases, distrust is healthy. But provided that others have our best interests at heart, are acting with sincerity and integrity, and have the ability to meet our needs, trust is a social good. It diminishes the feeling that danger is all around, and lowers the perceived risk of interacting with others. It allows people to work together to effectively solve problems without fear of being harmed or betrayed.

It is for this reason that trust has been called “the key element of social capital.” And libraries, by virtue of their status as trusted public institutions, have a “comparative advantage in creating trust.” In the words of library researcher Catherine Johnson:

…Libraries may be an important location for creating social cohesion and trust in the community…In an era when people's social networks are dwindling, the role of the library as a contributor to the social capital of communities may be its most important role of all.

How Libraries Can Build Trusting Communities

There are many ways libraries can broaden people’s scopes for trust. As noted above, qualities such as fairness and impartiality can help patrons become more open to trusting others. Beyond this, there are a number of specific activities that libraries can engage in to build communal trust. These include programs, personal interactions, and partnerships.

Programs as a Pathway to Trust

One way libraries can contribute to increased social trust is through their programs. One study found that by participating in classes offered by libraries, students who had previously only trusted immediate family and friends became more trusting of their classmates — and even previously unknown library users. These classes provided patrons with information they would not otherwise have access to, and also encouraged interaction with individuals outside of their existing networks. As a result, their radius of trust expanded.

Patron Interactions as a Pathway to Trust

Staff-patron interactions are another way libraries facilitate social trust. A study based on interviews with library staff found that getting to know patrons on a personal level helped increase social capital. The personal relationships resulting from these interactions made it easier for patrons to share their information needs with staff, which better positioned them to make use of the library’s resources. These interactions can also increase patrons’ social networks — for example, by making them aware of local groups that connect with their interests or needs.

Another study similarly highlights the role that regular interactions between staff and patrons can play in creating bonds of trust — both within and outside of library settings. Focusing on small and rural libraries, this study found that as staff learn more about patrons’ everyday experiences, needs, and interests, they become more proficient in connecting them with important information and resources. Staff sometimes form deep, personal bonds with patrons, sharing their joys and sorrows. Some of the staff interviewed in this study likened their library to a local church, emphasizing “the library’s ability to form close, trusting communities.”

Partnerships as a Pathway to Trust

Collaboration with local partners is a third key pathway to building trust within the community. By joining forces with other organizations, libraries can enhance participation in these organizations — thereby increasing participation in community activities. Collaborations can also foster the creation of institutional alliances that allow institutions to “speak with one voice” about community needs. Provided these alliances offer a means of more closely listening to and more effectively responding to community needs, libraries’ collaborations have the potential to build trust in the broader institutional infrastructure that exists within communities.

Let’s Put it to Work

Libraries are uniquely well-positioned to generate social capital within their communities. As meeting places, community hubs, and sites of learning and exchange, they exist as platforms for social cooperation and integration, bringing communities together in a time of increased polarization and division. By paying attention to the social relationships and networks patrons develop within library settings, libraries can help ensure that their programs, interactions, and partnerships also lay a foundation for an expanded radius of trust within their communities.

Our trustworthiness framework, pictured below, offers a potentially productive way to make progress toward this goal (see here for an explainer).

The components of this framework intersect with a number of the “impact areas” we identified through our research on the second phase of the NILPPA project. Below, we provide some examples of how work within select impact areas aligns with individual aspects of our trustworthiness model. Taking note of these intersections can help libraries build trustworthy communities.

Affinity and Attraction

Programs focused on building connected and joyful communities can help people better identify with each other and the places they live, boosting local pride and promoting place attachment. By helping community members affirm both their histories and the futures they’re making together, libraries can build identity-based trust within their communities.

Competence and Reliability

Programs focused on building knowledgeable and economically vital communities can improve access to reliable information, foster critical thinking skills, and help patrons acquire the skills needed for career success. By giving community members tools for making evidence-based decisions and reaching their full potential, libraries can heighten assessments of experience-based trust at the community level.

Benevolence

Programs focused on creating healthy communities can help people lead physically and mentally healthy lives, while those dedicated to creating caring communities encourage people to look out for society’s most vulnerable members. Both of these goals can build up feelings of benevolence within the community — another component of experience-based trust.

Integrity

Programs focused on creating welcoming and civically engaged communities seek to provide for the needs of newcomers, to ensure that all community members have access to local services, and to encourage everyone to play an active role in local civic life. All of these goals can foster positive assessments of integrity at the community level.

Sincerity

Efforts to create civically engaged communities can also foster positive assessments of sincerity. This is particularly the case when these efforts promote truth-telling, transparency, and honesty. By creating a space where people’s voices are heard and their input is valued by local leaders, libraries can help lay a foundation for greater communal trust.

About this Article

Want to learn more about trust? The best place to start is our “Trust 101” primer. From there, take a look at our work on why benevolence is key to our perceptions of trustworthiness, our research into how people assess the trustworthiness of zoos and aquariums, a conversation about the role of trust in public health, some findings pertaining to the role of partnerships in trust-building, and our thoughts about how moral motives factor into considerations of trust and trustworthiness. Be sure to also check out emerging findings from our “Culture of Trust” project.

Photos courtesy of Joe Ciciarelli (cover), Mimi Thian, and Sincerely Media @ Unsplash