Civic Engagement and the Embedded Librarian FAQs

• What is expected of NL Managers and staff during the year long process? Managers are expected to be engaged in the process and network with community members to get them involved in the process. 

•  What will occur during Civic Engagement Week in January? 

• Managers and core community group should attend the Monday (January 26th) event at JIB. This meeting will serve as a model for their local meeting Tuesday through Thursday. 
• Managers will work with the core group of community members for the January meeting. The core group should come to both the Monday meeting and the local meeting 
• For both Monday and the local meeting: They will watch the Klineberg video as a group and the core group will have a panel response. The group will then discuss the issues going on in the neighborhood and what they would like to address. 
• Other community members should be invited to the Tuesday through Thursday meeting. Larry is working to invite local Council Members, but other community groups/members should also be invited. 

•  Are all NL locations going to hold a discussion during Civic Engagement Week that is specific to a local community? All locations should hold discussions during Civic Engagement Week. If your location does not have a meeting room, look for a location nearby that could be a host site. Multi-service centers may be a good choice as they are city entities. Churches or school are another alternative. 

• What are next steps? 
• Pick dates for your meeting the week of January 26th (Tuesday-Thursday); 
• Team Leaders are working to invite Larry to meet in small groups with managers to discuss and ask further questions. 
• Look for more people to invite into the process and/or narrow down your list for the core group. 

• Do managers that are over more than one library expected to have something for each location or can it be combined for both locations? Meetings could be combined due to meeting room issues, but for the most part, each location should host their own meeting as communities are different. 

• What are expectations and deadlines? Deadlines are always expanding. Expectations are that managers will engage in relationship building and networking with your communities. 

• Do managers need to recruit the 4 community members and get them to commit to the project and to come to the September meeting with the manager? Yes. Identify your core group of 3-5 community members and set up a meeting to discuss the process. Larry suggests meet them for coffee, lunch, or invite to location to discuss. You can also go to them. 

• What is the best estimate of the amount of time managers will need to commit monthly to this project? Time estimates depend on your existing relationships. If you need to develop them, then you may need to commit more time 

• Will a letter be prepared so we can mail information to community leaders inviting them to the September meeting? Letter should be ready by August 15th. You will get copies to print or email to help you facilitate the discussion. 

• Are we limited to community leaders in our actual service area or can we expand it? Not limited to official service areas. The process involves bonding locally, bridging to other neighborhoods and HPL is the linking capital. 

• Will the community leaders need to commit to ALL 4 meetings? Yes. If an HOA participates, the same member does not necessarily have to attend all 4 meetings, but a representative from the HOA should attend all 4. 

• Will there be training for managers on how to facilitate the meeting in January? Yes. Larry will plan 2 training sessions—one for December and one for early January. More than the manager can be trained if necessary. 

• What is the estimated time that Community Leaders are expected to commit to for this project and the meeting in September? Will there be other obligations beyond the meetings? Hard to say, but each session is 2 hours and there are 4 sessions. We also believe that the core group may want to or need to meet between sessions to work to achieve the group’s goal.