Libraries are increasingly becoming relationship driven -- seeking to serve patrons and community organizations to create meaningful connections or partnerships that otherwise would never happen. These activities achieve many ends: they create comfortable café environments that support participants to experience a sense of community. As we learn more about the epidemic of loneliness, and as we become increasingly aware of organizations that could benefit from new community relationships, libraries have become perfect neutral spaces to host these types of events.
The workshop will cover:
• Examples of speed-friending events and how to host one in your library;
• Examples of CoLAB Workshops and how to host one in your school, public or academic library; and,
• Basic processes for promoting and facilitating these events and workshops.
Outcomes:
• New knowledge of the differences between speed-friending and CoLAB workshops;
• Increased awareness of how these processes have made a difference in communities; and,
• Walk away with practical learning about ways to present these types of “in-reach” events at your library.
From Speed-Friending to CoLAB: How to Make Your Library More Relationship-Driven
Bess de Farber has provided grantseeking instruction and collaboration workshops to thousands of library staff, nonprofit and academic professionals, artists, and university students in the past 33 years, and has led efforts to secure millions in grant funding for academic libraries and nonprofits. She is the author of two books on grantseeking, Collaborative Grant-Seeking: A Practical Guide for Librarians, and Creating Fundable Grant Proposals: Profiles of Innovative Partnerships, and co-author of a third, Collaborating with Strangers: Facilitating Workshops in Libraries, Classes, and Nonprofits. Currently, she offers grantseeking training, CoLAB workshops for real time collaboration planning, strategic coaching, and editing services through her consulting company, ASK Associates.
