We are excited to announce the publication of a new report for the Maximizing Public-Academic Library Partnerships project, funded by ECMC Foundation. The project explores how community college and public libraries facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration to create and sustain productive partnerships that promote basic needs services and information.

The first phase of the project focused on examining the landscape of basic need services advertised on library websites. The inventory analysis of websites surveyed eight basic needs categories: Technology, Food Security, Housing Security, Physical Health, Mental Health, Financial Literacy and Assistance, Transportation, and Child Services and Care. There are several key takeaways from our inventory of public and community college websites:

  • The most advertised resources across both types of libraries were technology (86 percent), financial literacy and assistance (61 percent), and children’s services (56 percent).
  • Public libraries act as community hubs that offer a comprehensive suite of services across all basic needs, while community college libraries focus on services that support academic success and students’ well-being.
  • Libraries that have greater financial and human resources promote and communicate basic needs information and services to patrons more than less-resourced libraries.
  • While formal collaborations are less common on library websites, the most typical public-academic library partnerships involve shared collections. These collaborations allow students and community patrons to access resources through library cards and direct links to online collections.

Overall, both types of libraries have strengths in the representation of basic needs services but also exhibit potential gaps in service promotion and provision. While public libraries are particularly strong in community outreach and broad service offerings, community college libraries excel in targeted support for students through career and academic resources. As crucial hubs for education and information, both library types can utilize information on their basic needs gaps to better serve their communities, especially as the pandemic worsened  basic needs insecurity for students and community members alike.

This research also found that although formal collaborations between library sectors appeared limited on library websites, there are potential opportunities for both library types to collaborate to better provide and advertise basic needs services. We intend to deepen our understanding of how these collaborations are happening on the ground by recruiting participants for case studies for the next phase of the project. We aim to identify successful models of collaboration and develop best practices that other libraries can adopt. We invite libraries interested in participating in our case studies to join us in this effort. If you are interested in having your library included, please contact Melissa.Blankstein@ithaka.org