Caitlin Corbett

LIS 5253
9/25/16

Community Engagement Plan

After studying visitor and usage statistics, we at OU Libraries have determined that our
Special Collections are consistently under-utilized. It is worth noting, for contextual purposes,
that we are the largest research library in the state. Although we are an academic library immediately serving the University of Oklahoma students, faculty, and staff - we are also open to
public use. The Norman campus enrollment for Spring 2016 was 22,750 students. This figure
indicates a sizable community population to serve, and one with which we need to better engage.
Our present endeavor is therefore to increase usage of and traffic in our Special
Collections areas in Bizzell Memorial Library. There have been recent efforts at bolstering our
social media presence and advertising in print and digital media. In addition, OU Libraries has
decided to engage with the campus community in an academic manner to work toward our goal.
Specifically, OU Libraries will leverage our liaison connections to implement more regular
library collection visitation and engagement with university curricula. Students will be required
to spend time with the collections, to closely study them where possible and applicable, and to
explore the areas in which they are housed. As a lack of student and overall community
awareness is likely a significant factor in the usage statistics, we wish to attack the issue in as
many ways as possible. Working with professors and advisors will almost immediately increase
the exposure that students have with our Special Collections, and our facilities at large. This will
better cultivate an environment in which students are not only familiar with the library, but are
interested in keeping up with its exhibitions and revisiting the collections. Our community
cannot engage to the fullest extent with us if it does not know what we offer. Weaving the

librarys special holdings and perhaps even technological activities into the curricula through
a newly-faceted partnership with instructors and advisors will be mutually beneficial. This
particular engagement program is designed to be a long-lasting implementation.
As our Module 1 readings demonstrate, library engagement implicates many different
tactics. These range from hosted and shared activities, to theoretical approaches and
organizational strategies. But as we have come to determine, there must be constructive factors,
as well as ones of intellectual (or idle) curiosity, to increase usage and broader engagement. It
simply makes sense for us to involve faculty and even advisors in the familiarization of their
students with the library. We, in turn, solicit from the students (and other visitors) their feedback
on what they see and experience, and even their ideas for future program development or
curatorial considerations as they relate to our Special Collections. We want our community to be
as actively involved with us as possible. Our paradigm needs to transcend one of passive
resource-offering.
As Humayun Kabir discusses, there is a change of relationship that occurs in a successful
engagement paradigm (Kabir 3). In our case, it will be between the library, the students, and
respective faculty members and advisors. This ideally bolsters community participation in both
the short term and, hopefully, the long term. Kabir goes on to note the influence on policy and
program development (Kabir 3). He points out that it is not enough to merely perpetuate the we
know best pattern that so often plays out in the model of administration vs.
consumers/patrons/students (Kabir 8). It is critical to acknowledge the patrons, the students and
the community at large, as true stakeholders. In my present example, this involves bringing the
community inside and more often. In similar manner, my example also invokes Arnsteins
Ladder of Participation, in the solicitation and use of community member feedback, suggestions,
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and overall influence. While our organization may not be able to involve students and other
patrons at the highest levels shown in the ladder concept, we certainly wish to ensure that our
stakeholders have input into what they can derive from us, and what they wish to access. This
definitely is fostered by their awareness and comprehension of the breadth of our holdings.
Finally, Week 3s Texas State Library and Archives Commission handout informed this
engagement plan at the most fundamental level: explaining and championing the power in going
where the people are, and working together to determine viable and constructive paths forward.
Indeed, faculty and advisors are community members with the knowledge and ability to help
reshape the college experience. They best understand the day to day needs and challenges of
students, and we can learn much from discussions and coordinated actions with them. Likewise,
this communication grants us heightened and sustained visibility among the student community
at OU. All of these things will translate into increased awareness, understanding, appreciation,
and usage of our Special Collections, as well as the library as a whole.
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References
Kabir, Humayun. 2006. Citizen and Community Engagement Models and Examples. Paper
prepared for the City of Ottawas Neighbourhood Planning Initiative with support from
Infrastructure Canada.

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