LSC 837 Community Engagement

Libraries, archives, and cultural heritage organizations work with diverse communities, engaging them through resources, services, programming, and outreach. The workforce is also becoming diversified in more ways than one. This course will focus on three large communities: disabled and neurodiverse people; immigrants and refugees; and older adults. The courses combine a wealth of LIS applications, specific examples, and discussions relevant to libraries and cultural heritage institutions with a solid interdisciplinary knowledge base. This allows for educating LIS professionals who can not only implement but also design and manage equitable and inclusive LIS services and who understand not only the "what" of LIS practices but also the "why." There is a great emphasis on attitude and bias awareness; professional empathy development; policy evaluation and decision-making; planning and management strategies; and so on. The course material is not limited to a single library type but looks at engaging these communities across the board.