1. Fargo Library/rural Cass - Laserfiche WebLink

Illinois, the mai orplanning document of the American Library Association (1987), PlanningundRole Setting for Public Libraries, did not include the library's roie in supporting businesses or economic development. The Illinois State Library funded the Illinois Institute for Rural Af/hirs (lIRA), located at Western Illinois University, to initiate a training program that prepared librarians to aggressively support local economic development efforts. The "New Role" seminars, funded with a Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) grant, validated the concept that sapporting business and economic development efforts was a legitimate role for librarians in Illinois. The "New Role" program included seminars, teleconferences, guidebooks, and on-site technical assistance from university faculty working with more than 100 local librarians. This training effort and its effects on the involvement by local librarians in development efforts are described below. Businesses benefit greatly from increased library services and these services will be even more in?ortant in the future. Significant savings exist when library subscription costs, both on-line and in print, are shared rather than duplicated by businesses or community leaders and when specialized information sources can be obtained by libraries on interlibmry loan. The time needed to search for essential market inlbnnation can be drastically reduced when skilled librarians assist local busiuess leaders. The market for libraries in many small communities is shifting from a place where residents mainly check out b o oks and read newspapers to a community information center serving a broad cro ss-section of residents, including businesses. Part of this expanded role includes informing residents of the information available as well as training them to access it. The"New Role appr°ach in Illinois reqmred an investment oftime and money in public librarians to broaden their horizons and enable them to assist community leaders in designing effective strategies for the future of the community. It is a recognized principle that community development with local human resource capacity-building must precede or at least accompany economic development. Libraries, as a mai or institution in many small towns, can play an effective role in bringing a community together and helping residents make informed decisions about their future. Armed with kd~owledge and skills, local librarians can engage in public discussions with business and community leaders to help select appropriate strategies for their community. Librarians have access to ruaterials about strategic planning and are encouraged to undertake long-term planning in their operations (Himmel and Wilson 1998a). In some instances, librarians participating in this project have played an active role in planning and development efforts and, in a few instances, have assumed leadership roles or initiated development efforts. Shifting librarians from their traditional roles of providing library services and making them economic developers, however, was never the intent of this program. Rather, it was intended to help broaden and strengthen the services provided by libraries and to encourage better marketing of library services. Organization of Paper . This report has four main parts: (1) the "New Role" curriculum on local economic development pnnciples and practices provided to participating librarians is described; (2) the involvement and participation of librarians in local economic development before and after the "New Role" training program are analyzed; (3) eight key strategies useful to local librarians assisting in development eftbrts are identified -- these approaches are drawn from case studies and anecdotal information provided by participating librarians, along with their perceptions of the impact of involvement; and (4) future directions in using technological advancements tbr expanding library services to pnrsue economic revitalization, especially in small rural Illinois communities are considered. This project is unique in several respects. So far as the authors could determine, relatively few, if any, statewide training programs in economic development directly involving public librarians in small