It’s not all about you: Centering the community
The Baxter Memorial Library is located in Gorham, Maine. It neighbors a large open space, used on a seasonal basis for the town’s farmers market. As it warms up, many who come to the farmers market also stop in to the library, if for no other reason than to use the bathroom. The library staff have worked to be welcoming, inviting, and collaborative with the farmers market, and that has led to new opportunities. For instance, as a small gesture of thanks farmers will drop off extra produce for library staff to take home.
In 2016, Youth Services Librarian Heidi Whelan decided to take the partnership to the next level. She reached out to local farmers and asked if they’d work with her on a celebration of National Food Day, an annual celebration that takes place on October 24. At the program, kids made butter and were able to try different foods, and the public was able to get information from local farmers. As a result of this initial partnership, the library became a designated Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box drop-off site – enabling local residents to pick up a box of produce from a local farmer at the library.
“I think it’s important because we want to give people access to these experiences they may not be getting elsewhere. A lot of people don’t do these kinds of things at home. So I think it’s important to give as many varied experiences as possible, so the kids can just see kind of what they like and what speaks to them,” said Whelan about her approach to public librarianship.
In 2020, the library took things even further. Whelan worked with the Farmers Market coordinator to plan a summer reading and discovery program in which readers could earn points for walking a new trail, trying a new sport, trying a new vegetables. Farmers market was a partner and the idea was that kids could get coins they could exchange for something at the Farmers Market.
The story of the Baxter Memorial Library’s evolving and deepening relationship with the local farmers market illustrates how it has been successful. The library’s success derives from focusing on the community, looking for the energy in the community and seeking to work with it, and striving to increase access to experience that people do not always have access to.
This case study is part of HEAL (Healthy Eating and Active Living) at the Library, funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum & Library Services (# RE-246336-OLS-20)
Key Take-Aways:
- Give people access to experiences they may not be getting elsewhere
- Give as many varied experiences as possible
- Look for the energy in your community
Background / Setting Up the Case Study:
The small town of Gorham, Maine, is neither affluent nor impoverished. It is, according to Heidi Whelan, “very middle class.” In this small town community, there are not as many new and unique opportunities available to its residents, as there might be in larger communities. As a result, the library aims to work with others to increase access to new experiences.
Like other parts of southern Maine, Gorham has grown to become a more desirable place for people to relocate from Boston and other parts of New England. Gorham itself has grown by over 10% every 10 years since 1930, when the population was 3,305. The current population is 18,336. Gorham is considered a part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area, an urbanized area that encompasses much of southern Maine.
- Location: Gorham, ME
- Population: 17,785
- Service Area: 17,962
- Demographics: 90% White, 1% African American, 2% Hispanic or Latinx population
- Staff Size: 8
- Operating Budget: $623,662
- Annual Library Visits: 59,258
- Annual Programs: 322
- Annual Program Audience: 7,373
Recognizing critical partners
In this small town library, given its small staff, partnership with local organizations is key to fulfilling the library’s mission of increasing access to new learning experiences.
For instance, one summer Heidi brought in a Yoga teacher, who normally offers classes at the rec center that require payment, to do free classes at the library. Heidi said sometimes it is simple and reaching out and saying, “we’d love to have you come” and do something at the library. The classes didn’t cost the library any money, as the Yoga instructor offered them as volunteer outreach, and the community got access to new experiences.
Another critical partner is the local school system. So much so that for certain initiatives the library is fine with a 70:30 split in which the library does 70% or more of the labor. A major initiative with the school system has been a collaborative StoryWalk launched during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Whelan said she applied for a grant but she didn’t have enough money in her budget to implement the StoryWalk. In organizing the grant, she talked with the school department to develop a proposal wherein an author would go and do a school visit with all of the elementary schools, give a copy of this book to every classroom and library in the elementary schools, and then have a library program where she sold her book, and people who weren’t in the school, or had little siblings, could come to it so everybody could be involved.
The author’s visit also included a StoryWalk featuring a book written by the author and according to Whelan “really good for anywhere from toddlers up to fourth or fifth grade” because of its focus on the regional geography of Maine.
Whelan said, “The author that I chose to work with had never heard of StoryWalk. So she ended up giving me PDF files of her book, and I created a StoryWalk out of that with one of my assistants who has InDesign experience. We sent it to a sign company that actually printed it on the best quality sign you can get.”
Whelan said that even though she and the library did most of this work, it is critical to have the library listed as a 50/50 partner because it is strategically good for the library to be seen as working closely with the school. It adds credibility to the library and also helps ensure the library has access to school-age students and their families.
Summing up her approach to building these relationships, Whelan said, “I feel like the library needs to take a leadership role and plan events because we are a trusted place that people look to. We bring in people, who bring in different organizations and groups to present to our patrons. So that could be an organization that is kind of hidden out in our community, and no one really knows about them. By bringing them in, it does a service to our patrons, so they can understand what our town has to offer, because they may not know otherwise.”
Where will it lead?
As Whelan has built these relationships, she has also built a culture of health promotion that has extended to other staff within her library.
She described a 5K and Family Fun Run organized in collaboration with the town’s Recreation Department and High School Track Team. This partnership was led by the library director and the Adult Services department, which Whelan said is rare, historically, as, until recently, most collaborative programs were organized by Whelan and the Youth Services Department.
But as the success of Whelan’s relationships have become more visible, they’ve incentivized others in the library to want to work collaboratively with others to increase access to new experiences.
In any case, the 5K and Family Fun Run was completely free, with the only costs being if participants wanted a T-shirt: $5 for kids and $10 for adults.
High School track team members stood on corners and cheered everyone on and also kept on eye on participants to make sure there were no health issues.
The library director, who is a runner as well as a weight lifter, was the instigator of this program.
In 2020, the library hired a new staff member, Nissa Flanagan, as Deputy Director responsible for adult services. Nissa immediately saw the value of what Whelan has been doing with partners and wanted to help support and extend that work. Whelan and Flanagan are working together on SNAP-Ed nutrition and cooking programs, trying to build up institutional capacity to offer cooking programs for adults.
In this way, Whelan has over time built up a culture of collaboration at her library. Modeling success in ways others can see. Whelan said she rarely has time to do any formal evaluation of her efforts – she said that as soon as she does one thing she has to turn her attention to the next thing – but the results of her work speak for itself, leading other library staff to want to get involved in building and deepening the culture of collaboration.
Action Steps: Getting Started and Seeking Energy
If you’re pursuing a critical partner, don’t be afraid to do the lion’s share of the work, at least the first time out in a newer community partnership.
The critical thing is to think strategically about your long-term goals and plan towards them.
This library’s success also illustrates how relationships build on each other, and can over time create a culture of collaboration that more and more people both internally and externally want to be part of.
Action steps:
- Take the lead.
- Think strategically.
- Create a culture of internal and external collaboration.
- Look for ways to involve other community groups.
Summing up her approach to building these relationships, Whelan said, “I feel like the library needs to take a leadership role and plan events because we are a trusted place that people look to. We bring in people, who bring in different organizations and groups to present to our patrons. So that could be an organization that is kind of hidden out in our community, and no one really knows about them. By bringing them in, it does a service to our patrons, so they can understand what our town has to offer, because they may not know otherwise.”