The Massachusetts Library System is pleased to announce that we have partnered with LibraryWorks to provide our members with access to their webinars.  These webinars are free to Massachusetts library workers who register through our calendar.  Because we are working with an outside partner, it is important that you cancel your registration in the event that you are unable to attend the webinar.

Libraries are striving to make their public programs and services more equitable, diverse, inclusive, and socially just. But how can they turn this vision into reality? Community-led planning and evaluation is an approach that can help libraries de-center Whiteness and colonial perspectives to instead empower and defer to their diverse communities. Based on the findings of a new empirical research study, learn how to increase your library’s capacity to engage in community-led planning for adult public programs.  

After this webinar, you will: 

• Understand what community-led planning is and how it works 
• Know the key factors that can increase a library’s capacity for community-led planning 
•  Be able to apply twelve steps to increase your library’s capacity for community-led work. 

Presenter: Dr. Audrey Barbakoff is the CEO of Co/Lab Capacity, which helps libraries grow and develop through community-centered consulting. She brings more than a decade of experience in public library leadership and innovation rooted in community engagement. In addition to her MLIS she holds a doctorate in organizational change and leadership; her research focused on building capacity for equity, diversity, and inclusion in public libraries through community-led planning.  Her contributions have been recognized by Library Journal Mover & Shakers, Urban Libraries Council Top Innovators, the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal “20 Under 40” and the Freedom to Read Foundation. Dr. Barbakoff is the author of Adults Just Wanna Have Fun: Programs for Emerging Adults. Her second book, Twelve Steps to a Community-Led Library, is forthcoming in fall 2022. Find her at www.colabcapacity.com.