Communities Matter @ Your Library

It’s National Library Week, and this year’s theme is Communities Matter @ Your Library. While at first glance this may seem like something geared more toward public libraries, it is just as important to academic libraries because people from diverse communities to come together to form our blended campus community. It is also important to remember that many academic libraries exist within a geographical community and we should not be isolating ourselves from the public outside our campus, especially if we are a campus that provides resources for the general public or if we are a campus that hosts various summer camps. As someone who has spent the bulk of my career in academic libraries, I have to admit that it’s easy to forget the community outside of the campus because our primary responsibilities are to the campus community. However academic libraries are in a great position to form partnerships with school and public libraries;  I’ve always thought this, but I’ve recently been viewing webinars to learn more about the Common Core and I now believe more than ever that academic libraries should be forming partnerships to help patrons develop necessary critical thinking and information literacy skills. The Common Core essentially places the critical thinking and information skills librarians have always taught at the forefront of the English Language Arts and Literacy (ELA) Standards, and all types of libraries should be working together to help patrons develop these skills from childhood through adulthood. Thus I think this year’s theme makes National Library Week the perfect time to reflect on how we as academic libraries serve various communities both on and off-campus and how we can team with off-campus communities and public and school libraries to benefit communities.

What are your thoughts? Please share your examples of National Library Week activities or your examples of partnerships.