Engaging with Stakeholders

Site:	MSL Learn
Course:	Connecting with Local Government Officials
Book:	Engaging with Stakeholders

Printed by:	Guest user
Date:	Friday, April 4, 2025, 11:13 AM

Description

Watch three short video segments for an introduction to this topic and to hear more about why connecting with local government officials is so important to the support and success of public libraries.

Questions to Keep in Mind:

How often do I connect with county or city officials?
What types of conversations do we typically have?
Are there obvious topics that we could be visiting about that are important to the local government and the library?

Introduction by Tracy Cook
Origins of this Work
Stakeholders
- How do you know when stakeholders are on board?
- Outcomes for Local Government Officials
Brainstorm

Introduction by Tracy Cook

Local government officials are stakeholders in the success of your library. We'll use the term "stakeholder" frequently in this course. We invite you to start thinking about who your local government officials are and the individuals who may become active stakeholders.

Lead Consulting and Learning Librarian Tracy Cook provides an introduction to our topic in this short excerpt from a webinar held in April 2024.

(:49)

Origins of this Work

(:55)

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are not just library patrons. They are the community members and leaders to connect with for partnership and support of the library.

(:55)

Understanding what is important to stakeholders involves putting yourself in their shoes or mindset.

How is their success measured?
What do they care about?
In what ways does the work of the library align with this person's goals?
How likely or unlikely are they to support an idea?

To learn more about using data and planning, visit the Research Institute for Public Libraries website for resources and training.

How do you know when stakeholders are on board?

As you think about the changes in support you would like to see from local government officials it is useful to think about the outcomes you might see.

This is a list of examples to get you thinking about possible outcomes you can look for. Outcomes are a change that occurs in a person's knowledge, behavior, attitudes, and status.

Change in knowledge - Person who attended a library program learned about the history of the community.
Change in behavior - Person who attended historical program at the library is now reading books about the history of the community.
Change in attitude - Person who attended the program reports enjoying history and seeing the value of studying history.
Change in status - Person who attended the program is now volunteering at the local history museum. It is their first time volunteering for the community.

Outcomes for Local Government Officials

Think about the four types of outcomes. We will use early literacy education as an example of a community problem that both local government, schools, and the library may share an interest in solving.

Knowledge - data, information, reports, observations
Behavior - actions
Attitude - beliefs and values
Status - commitment and approach

Brainstorm

In the activity you just completed, we used early literacy education as an example.

Take a few minutes to think about challenges and opportunities for your community.

If early literacy is something your community is concerned about you have a head start! If you thought about another community challenge it is worth thinking through the outcomes than can make a difference.

Who are the people with authority, money, or support that could help you?

Access the Logic Model for Stakeholders and Communicating Public Value to complete your brainstorm.

You can download or print the document. This is an exercise you can do on your own or with staff and board members.

We will revisit the logic model later in the course.

Use the course index on the left to view the Logic Model and then move on to Connecting.