Overview
In many American communities, public libraries are the most prominent and accessible venues for people to come together across social and political divides, to benefit from a public institution, and to build trust and pride in their communities. But libraries also face unprecedented threats—to funding, public trust, and their longstanding bipartisan appeal.
To help libraries navigate these turbulent times, and retain and capitalize on their unique power to cultivate community trust and connection, IREX, the Urban Libraries Council, and OCLC’s WebJunction program are building, informing, and empowering a national coalition of urban, rural, and tribal public libraries to share best practices and collaborate on trust-building efforts.
This work builds off of findings and recommendations from a 2023 landscape analysis that IREX conducted to assess existing U.S. library-based bridgebuilding interventions, identify the most effective approaches and areas where libraries needed more support, and inform future interventions.