A recent report by LISC and the Institute of Museum and Library Services describes some of the visionary ways these anchor institutions are helping improve their neighborhoods. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, local libraries (one in an affordable housing complex) and community museums offer everything from recreation facilities and digital learning labs to meeting space and cultural programming, according to what patrons need and ask for.
The excerpt below is from:
"Museums and Libraries as Co-Creators of Change"
By Gayle C. Thorsen, The Line
A new national research report reveals the catalytic role that libraries and museums are playing in rebuilding troubled neighborhoods. These important "anchor institutions" are helping drive economic, educational, and social efforts to raise the standard of living in their surrounding neighborhoods.
Published by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the research was recently shared at a meeting of Twin Cities community developers and museum and library professionals. The report captures the ways museums and libraries are leveraging their positions and resources to help fuel successful comprehensive community revitalization. It also offers best practice advice for other institutions.
“Nationally, there’s a movement to look ‘outside-in’ with our communities to understand how the organizational assets of museums and libraries can best be used to meet community needs. In the Twin Cities, we see what can be accomplished when museums and libraries act as true co-creators of community change,” said Dr. Kathryn Matthew, director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Continued[+]...