Advancing A Culture Of Creativity In Libraries

This book shows academic and public libraries the many benefits of nurturing a culture of creativity, offering hands-on guidance on encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration, launching active-learning events that highlight collections and services, fostering goodwill and trust-building, and forming partnerships that promote library visibility.

"Creativity is just connecting things," observed Steve Jobs. In today's diverse, ever-changing job market, creativity is more necessary than ever. In a profession offering a broad range of job opportunities, librarians are surrounded by myriad connections to be made. They are trained to recognize them. This collection of new essays covers a wide spectrum of methods for cultivating creativity. Topics include learning through role-playing games, libraries as publishers, setting up and using makerspaces, developing in-house support for early-career staff, creating travelling exhibits, creative problem solving, and organizing no-cost conferences.

For a library to fulfill its mission to provide community engagement and cultural dialogue, then diverse, excellent cultural programming is the key. This authoritative resource outlines all the steps. For a library to fulfill its mission to provide community engagement and cultural dialogue, then diverse, excellent cultural programming is the key. In Cultural Programming for Libraries, the director of ALA's Public Programs Office shares time-tested strategies and practical, inspiring samples from first-rate programs across the country. Librarians, staff, and volunteers will find the practical how-to for creating a comprehensive cultural program - from planning to funding to promoting. community needs Set goals and establish measurable outcomes Develop winning partnerships that result in high quality, well-attended programs Highlight and drive the use of collections Gain community support and visibility through programming Enhance your library's role as cultural center based on successful models Eleven five-star programs highlight outstanding events for varying audience sizes and price points to help customize your own library's effort. Marketing and promotional samples also inspire creativity in every chapter to help advance your library as a community cultural hub. Programming advocates in libraries of any size can use this authoritative resource to enhance skills, increase effectiveness, and expand their creative vision for promoting winning cultural programs.

"This Report demonstrates that innovative cultural policies implemented at regional and local levels have a positive impact on the whole of cultural governance. It highlights the strategic frameworks best adapted to the digital environment, the emergence of exchange platforms and the dynamism of artistic incubators in the global South. It also points to the persistent inequalities and underrepresentation of women in the culture sector, trade barriers on cultural goods and services from the global South and the vulnerability of artists at risk. By providing yet unpublished statistics and data in these areas, this Report is essential for developing and implementing public policies that are adapted to the evolving needs of the culture sector"--Foreword.

This book demonstrates the ways in which cultivating a sense of play in library work fosters flexibility, creativity, innovation, teamwork, and increased patron and community engagement.

This book can help you create, encourage, and participate in an environment that is conducive to creativity, helping make change a more natural and organic part of the library's culture.

In a world that often questions the value of libraries and librarianship, this collection of reflective essays and future-focused research emphasizes the ways in which being an information professional continues to be a rewarding and vital profession.