Community Type

A medium-sized city and surrounding county; population of approximately 200,000.

Geographic Region

Southeast

Overview

The Greensboro Public Library (GPL) is located in a region with significant literacy needs due to an influx of immigrants and refugees and a decline in the number of manual jobs provided by the once-dominant textile and tobacco industries. Besides providing traditional library services at its central library and six branches, GPL:

• Provides literacy services, career counseling, and computer instruction.
  
• Promotes reading and literacy.
  
• Holds forums on community issues (e.g., health education and home buying).
  
• Serves as a community leader and problem solver.
  

GPL also supports local organizations with similar missions through technical assistance, workshops, and its resource centers. For example, nonprofits can obtain information about issues such as fundraising, grant writing, and marketing, and neighborhood associations benefit from a part-time library staff person who attends neighborhood meetings and offers advice on using community resources.

Partnership Highlights

For more than a decade, GPL has been working hard to strengthen its connections to the community. In the past, GPL was perceived as a traditional library, not as an important influence in the community. To change that perception, GPL began developing relationships strategically in the community rather than concentrating solely on its own internal work.

The library director and staff agreed that literacy would be the perfect issue on which to connect with the community. Before offering literacy services, the library decided first to assess Greensboro’s literacy needs and earn the support and confidence of local organizations. In 1989, GPL conducted an informal literacy survey, using the results to develop a concept paper defining the area’s literacy problems, identifying gaps in services, and describing goals, objectives, an evaluation plan, and a budget. Key stakeholders in the community were then invited to discuss the concept paper. Impressed with the document, the stakeholders agreed to form a literacy coalition—Community of Readers.

Forming a Literacy Coalition

Today, Community of Readers is comprised of 30 organizations and agencies, including education institutions, nonprofit organizations, human service agencies, government departments, and grassroots activists. It has four main objectives:

• Encourage collaboration around literacy and reading.
  
• Provide technical assistance to literacy and human service organizations.
  
• Raise awareness in the community about literacy issues.
  
• Identify gaps in services.
  

To address the latter two objectives, Community of Readers, with funding from the Junior League of Greensboro, conducted a formal assessment of the community’s literacy needs in 2000. Issues, trends, and recommendations were summarized in a report titled Literacy 2000. Through Community of Readers, the findings of the report have been shared with city and county decision-makers, including elected officials, school and university faculty, nonprofit directors, business leaders, philanthropic organizations, and the media. While many recommendations have been difficult to achieve because no mandate exists for their implementation, the report nonetheless has helped the participating agencies increase community awareness of literacy issues and attract additional support for their work.

Providing an Infrastructure for Partnerships

Community of Readers has provided the foundation for much of GPL’s work in literacy. New partnerships do not have to be developed for new projects because an infrastructure already exists. For example, GPL was able to pull together volunteers, staff, and collaborating organizations from Community of Readers in 2002 when holding its first citywide “read-in,” an event where community leaders read non-stop for eight hours at City Hall to promote reading and literacy. Called “One City, One Book,” the read-in drew more than 12,000 people, including hundreds of adult literacy students. GPL later applied the same principles and worked with many of the same organizations when putting together a poetry project. Both projects connected and gave a voice to people with different backgrounds and experiences.

Since establishing Community of Readers, GPL has become a more prominent part of the Greensboro community. Editorials frequently appear supporting the library’s work and community efforts. This increased community trust in GPL’s work helped pass two bond measures—in 1990 and 1999—that funded the construction of additional library branches. GPL and its partners continue to look for new ways to improve the work of Community of Readers. For example, they have established special project teams to meet separately, thus reducing the number of meetings held for the entire coalition. They also are exploring ways to add a decision-making structure to the organization without threatening the autonomy and flexibility of participating agencies.

Supplemental Materials

• Getting the Job Done: Making Literacy an Integral Part of Community Services, http://www.buildliteracy.org/collective_wisdom/
  Greensboro%20Final%20Check.pdf
  
• Literacy 2000: Issues, Trends & Recommendations, http://www.greensborolibrary.org/literacy/full.htm
  
• One City, One Book, http://www.greensborolibrary.org/onecityonebook/