City Library Collective
Co-designed and developed with member libraries, the City Library Collective (CLC), formed in early 2021, brings together libraries across the state that serve mid-sized communities of 30,000 to 100,000. From Superior to Beloit, La Crosse to Manitowoc, CLC members are working together to address common issues and use collective knowledge and experience to improve their organizations and services to their communities.
CLC members represent 13 libraries and serve a combined total extended county population of 1.05 million people. That’s over 18% of Wisconsin’s population!
How the City Library Collective impacts Wisconsin libraries
The CLC is developing a model for approaching common issues in a way that can be customized and scaled to fit member libraries and the communities they serve, helping libraries tackle issues and projects that would be prohibitive to accomplish on their own, and carrying out projects that have distinct and measurable outcomes.
Want to connect with us about the City Library Collective?
Contact the project managers at citylibrarycollective@wils.org for more information.
Collaborative Projects
The CLC works on a collaborative, two-year project cycle. The first year involves identifying priorities for the collective and conducting information-gathering in support of the project and any associated deliverables before entering a more action-oriented phase in the second year.
Peer Data Project
The CLC is currently focusing on using new and existing shared data to gather use case studies for enhanced data storytelling and advocacy.
Strengthening Staff Project
The Collective spent 2023 gathering information from their staff members with an eye to the unique needs, challenges, and strengths of libraries serving mid-size communities across the state of Wisconsin. The goal of this information-gathering process was to provide participating libraries’ staff the opportunity to drive the direction of any project work that might take place in 2024 versus a more top-down approach. This report provides summative information gathering during this process.
Library Resiliency Toolkit
In 2021, the City Library Collective was awarded an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant in order to collaboratively explore and promote a model of “whole person” library services, which informs policy and practice with relevant concepts, tools, and techniques from the field of social work. The grant project combined highly collaborative activities with individual library pilot projects to develop infrastructure including community data gathering and analysis, staff training, and implementing incubator projects at select libraries to position the library as a community resiliency partner and to serve as a model for other CLC partners.