Libraries as Community Catalysts
Libraries as Community Catalysts is an OCLC research and programming initiative that seeks to support libraries and cultural institutions as catalysts for positive change. This work understands libraries as crucial community hubs with dynamic spaces for learning, collaboration, and community engagement.
OCLC Research partners with libraries and cultural institutions to offer the resources needed to meet changing community needs. This approach emphasizes the evolving and expanding role of libraries as essential contributors to a community's well-being and development.
Highlighted Libraries as Community Catalysts Projects, Publications, and Presentations
| Project |
Reimagine Descriptive Workflows
This project seeks to redefine and enhance how descriptive metadata and cataloging are approached in the digital age. The Reimagine Descriptive Workflows project convened a group of experts, practitioners, and community members to determine ways of improving descriptive practices, tools, infrastructure, and workflows in libraries and archives. The resulting agenda is constructed to instruct and chart a path toward reparative and inclusive description.
| Learning |
Digital Collections Stewardship Courses
Digital collections offer an opportunity to preserve local history, culture, stories, and artifacts. Creating and curating digital collections can be a resource-intensive process, but your team doesn’t have to navigate it alone.
Designed for staff at small public libraries and tribal archives, libraries, and museums (TALMs), these courses will strengthen skills in digital stewardship and community-centered curation of digital collections and guide you through the lifecycle of digital stewardship from planning and gathering to saving and sharing digital collections.
View the On-demand Courses Series
You will be directed to: WebJunction.org
WebJunction is the learning place for libraries.
WebJunction offers innovative, on-demand training and development resources to support library staff in the important work of delivering transformational services to their communities.
We bring new ideas and innovations to libraries through collaboration, applied research, and learning networks. This approach ensures that all libraries—regardless of size, type, or geographic location—can effectively use and share resources toward common goals.
WebJunction offers a variety of programs and services, covering both traditional and emergent library issues:
- On-demand, self-paced courses
- Live and recorded webinars
- Articles on library trends and innovations