Making a Difference

Since October 2009, California Council for the Humanities has been working with the Riverside County Library System to train librarians to facilitate thoughtful, informed, and civil dialogue in their communities. Through the Making a Difference program and support from the California State Library, librarians are taking a new approach to programming—developing their own public, theme-based civic engagement programs for their branch libraries and leading discussions around issues of importance and concern in their communities. By animating and actively engaging in civic discourse, librarians are transforming libraries into "community living rooms" where patrons can exchange ideas and viewpoints.

The final meeting of participating librarians in late June of 2010 marked the end of the first year of the pilot program. Responses to the program were extremely positive. As one participant said, "There is no greater venue for understanding each other’s cultures than being part of a planned dialogue. [In my family], dialogue was not taught. Reading the news, or listening to other people in my day-to-day travels, I can see many people share that same weakness, now a strength for me."

The Council is working to expand the program to other library systems in California.