Libraries Building Communities delivering the message A seminar

Libraries Building Communities: delivering the message A seminar for public library service managers and other senior staff Key Concepts

Providing a common language • Need for a common language • Confront the confusion that can be caused by the range of terms used • Practical and simple meaning • Concepts - help us understand the values and principles that underlie community building

Community building • Developing communities which are active, confident and resilient • Respond confidently to change • Embrace opportunities as they arise • Enhancing the ability of the community to work together through: § § Better links, networks and partnerships Development of skills e. g. leadership New governance arrangements Providing public places which support communication and interaction

Community Building - Goals and principles • Goals of economic, social, cultural and environmental well being • Principles of citizen engagement, local democracy and social justice • ‘Bottom up’ approach - driven by local vision • Recognition that people and relationships are central • Focus on building stronger community linkages • Focus on need to change the way government delivers service to communities

Social Capital • Social capital refers to the networks and links between residents, organizations, businesses and government. • Social capital - the glue that holds a community together • Helps create a sense of identity, trust and common purpose within the community • Provides a channel for exchanging knowledge and information • Enables residents to act collectively

Three kinds of social capital • Bonding social capital - the ties between people and organizations that are alike such as families and ethnic groups • Bridging social capital - ties across groups who are not alike. It seeks to forge greater understanding of the needs and perspectives of others • Linking social capital - promotes involvement and inclusion across social strata - focuses on inclusion of people who have been physically or socially excluded from decision making within the community • Linking is one of the most challenging tasks facing community building

Social engagement • Promotes the active participation of communities and individuals in decisions that affect them • Critical ‘new frontier’ in government thinking, social engagement has led to a search for new and better mechanisms for engaging communities

Social inclusion • Ensuring all members of the community have the opportunity to participate in our core institutions and experience a sense of belonging and ability to contribute to community enterprise

Social exclusion • Social exclusion - when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, bad health, poor housing and high crime • Key risk-factors include: low income; family conflict; being in care; school problems; being an ex-prisoner; being from an ethnic minority; mental health problems, age and disability. • Overcoming social exclusion is one of the biggest challenges for community building

Capacity Building • Strengthening individual, organisational and community capacity • Building new skills • Growing leadership • Increasing ability to work together • Developing people’s ability to make active use of leisure time e. g. by engaging interest and involvement in the arts.

Lifelong Learning • Acquiring and updating all kinds of abilities, interests, knowledge and qualifications from the pre-school years to post-retirement • Moving away from learning as preparation for life and work, to learning as an integral part of life and work • Values all forms of learning, including: formal learning, such as a degree course; non-formal learning, such as vocational skills acquired at the workplace; and informal learning, such as inter-generational learning

Digital Divide • The gap between people with the resources, capacity and skills to use the Internet and related technologies and those without • Concerns § The ability to access and use information is not equally distributed. § Impact on community capacity to develop socially and economically