Awakening to Community Potential

Primary author: Eli Guinnee

Rural community is a group of residents with a tremendous diversity of experiences and talents.

What is in this tool?

This tool will help you think about how much your library currently serves as a facilitator of community potential and,
if you have any blindspots to the potential that lives in some groups of people in your town.

When we start to see our neighbors as resources, from those we call community leaders to those who too often get forgotten about, we awaken to new potential for building a stronger more resilient community. The library is one place, perhaps the only place, where the staff knows a large cross-section of people and what their backgrounds are. Librarians who get good at tapping into potential are able to accomplish an amazing array of things that you would never guess if you only looked at their budget. Those who gain a reputation for saying “yes” when people bring them new ideas create a positive feedback loop, with the library as a facilitator of community sharing.

LISTEN: “I think we are unique in that everybody pitches in. And basically, you just get things done–you take on a project and you just do it. And there’s a lot of volunteer things that happen here. If something needs to be done, it’s done within not too long a time.” –Heidi, WV interview #1-1-02

Tell Someone's Story
Acting with intention requires us to reflect on and assess our own thinking and actions.

First, take a minute to think about one specific community resident who you see regularly. Try not to think of a combination of library patrons. Focus all of your attention on just one person (library user or not).
Now, write down their story as you know it here. While you write, notice what specific skills, talents, knowledge, and experience this person likely holds. List those in the list boxes below as you think of them.
List this person's potential skills, talents, knowledge, and experiences here:
Self-Reflection Questions: Seeing Unique Community Member Knowledge
Consider your community resident, above. Click to expand for questions.

In what way does the person you chose currently contribute their talents, skills, and knowledge to the community good?
What parts of their unique talents, skills, knowledge, and experience do you think could be useful for the community at large if it could be tapped?
Conversely, is there anything in their talents, skills, and knowledge that you think does not have value? If not, why not?
Self-Reflection Questions: Looking Inward
Consider how you see various community residents and how you value their ability to contribute. Click to expand for questions.

Did you notice anything shifting in your own thinking when answering the questions above?
For you, was it a new way of thinking about community residents or do you commonly consider each individual’s ability to contribute?
What shifts in thinking and behavior could you do right now which would demonstrate you value each resident as they are, in their full unique complexity?
What are some specific actions you could take to facilitate community access to this person’s talents, skills, and knowledge?
Self-Reflection Questions: Maximizing Community Potential
Consider the notion that everyone in your community has a set of potential contributions at least as robust as your example above. Click to expand for questions.

Describe what barriers you have which make it difficult to see the value and potential contributions of each person in your community.
What actions can you imagine your library taking that would build connections between people with unique strengths and specific community wellbeing needs?
Enter your email here if you wish your answers to be emailed to you:

Responses to forms are automatically deleted from our website data base and your information is never shared. For more information about the Southern Tier Library System’s policies which govern Rural Libraries & Social Wellbeing, visit https://www.stls.org/about-stls/.

Further Resources

Want to learn more about the value of seeking contribution from community members? See Pathways to Belonging: Contribution

Want to learn more about creating programs that build connection? See Creating Community Building Events and Pathways to Belonging: Delight

Awakening to Community Potential

Primary author: Eli Guinnee

What is in this tool?

Tell Someone's Story

Self-Reflection Questions: Seeing Unique Community Member Knowledge

Self-Reflection Questions: Looking Inward

Self-Reflection Questions: Maximizing Community Potential

Further Resources