Crowdsource Your Library, Engage Your Community: The What, When, Why, and How

(Paperback)

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Description

This book illustrates crowdsourcing techniques that will help you to raise money and collect community knowledge so your library can be its most impactful. This informative guide teaches you how to strengthen your library's collections and services and develop your relationships with patrons by crowdsourcing ideas, support, and skills from your community. Citing success stories from libraries across the country, it also specifies tactics that will help you to serve specific demographic groups, including children, teens, and adults. You'll learn how to more exactly meet your patrons' needs by welcoming suggestions for improvements to your library. To raise money for special projects, you'll learn how to garner the necessary support; the author explains what types of funding campaigns are particularly suited to crowdsourcing and offers concrete steps for executing crowdfunding library initiatives. Moreover, you'll learn how to act as your community's documentarian by using crowdsourcing to gather and preserve community knowledge such as local history, providing your community with a reservoir of information from which it can draw for years to come.

Reviews

In a time of funding cuts that have made implementing innovative projects difficult, public librarians will find practical, inspiring support here. * Library Journal *
A thoughtful and informative book for librarians who are interested in becoming more engaged with their communityRecommended for every public library. * Public Library Quarterly *

Author Bio

Sara A. Fiore is reference librarian at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton, New York. Her work has appeared in Library Journal, Public Libraries Magazine, and PLA Online.