As part of my research and advocacy, I reach out to people across the country to talk about libraries. This past Friday, I spoke with the director of an urban northeast library whose work I’d seen and admired.
This was our first conversation and to break the ice (pun intended) I asked if he was suffering the same heat wave we experienced in 
Massachusetts. Oh yeah. Temperatures had topped 100° in his area and air quality was poor. “Well, it’s good for business,” he chuckled and then shared how he’d been occupied over the past few days making sure people had refuge from the heat and no one was overlooked. This library director and other officials across his city were in steady communication strategizing about how they could cooperatively use their resources to help people through this temporary public health situation.
The conversation was a reminder that one of the reasons libraries don’t promote themselves better is because many simply focus on doing the right thing and don’t worry about how to get credit for it. Many libraries have great community networking systems … and sometimes that can literally save lives.
Does this story sound familiar? Leave a comment and tell us one from your library, or contact me; I’d love to hear about it.
