Below you’ll find information which can be viewed and accessed on demand for applying the Turning Outward process to your library, planning and engaging in community conversations, and building a strategic plan. Each year, MHLS will work with a cohort of libraries to use the tools in Turning Outward to gather input from their community, which will be used in developing a strategic or long range plan to address community needs that resonates with library staff and trustees and the people the library serves, and it is recommended that libraries participate in the cohort program. “Turning outward” is a process developed by The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, which entails taking steps to better understand communities, changing processes and thinking to make conversations more community-focused, being proactive to community issues, and putting community aspirations first.
MHLS Turning Outward OnDemand Program
Below you’ll find recordings of the 2021 MHLS Turning Outward Cohort program and resources and tools reviewed on our calls that will help you complete your conversations and strategic plans. If you have any questions, you can contact MHLS Library Sustainability Coordinator, Casey Conlin.
Submit the names of your team members along with their email addresses and role at the library (trustee, staff, community member, etc.) to Casey Conlin at cconlin@midhudson.org
Your team should include 4 to 6 people
Your team must include at least 1 trustee and at least 1 staff member
The library’s director will be the leader of the team and primary communication point for this project
Watch the Turning Outward Videos below – Due March 18 before our call
Engage Mini-Webinar: Mahopac Library and Community Conversations – The Mahopac Library shares their experiences conducting “Community Conversations” Listen in as Michele Capozzella, Director of the Mahopac Library, and Alice Walsh, a trustee of the Mahopac library and leader of the library’s planning committee, share their experience using the American Library Association’s Libraries Transforming Communities’ Turning Outward Resources to connect with their community through a series of “Community Conversations.”
ASK Exercise – Four simple questions you can ask people one-on-one—patrons, even folks on the street—to begin learning what kind of community people want.
Community Conversations – A series of 90- to 120-minute conversations with community members about what they want their community to be; what challenges they face in realizing these aspirations; and what changes are needed to overcome them.
