May 16, 2025

Libraries and Social Connection

Brooke Doyle

WebJunction.org

doyleb@oclc.org

Icebreaker

• Turn to your neighbor
• Share your answer to:

What brings you library joy today?

https://www.facebook.com/mychalthreets

https://www.instagram.com/mychal3ts

Reflect on your own experience

• Think of a time you weren’t sure you belonged or would be welcome and were pleasantly surprised you were.
• How did you feel before and how did you feel after?
• What helped you feel welcome?
• What do you take away from that experience?

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• Examine the need for social connection
• Explore the solution
• How are libraries part of the solution
• Welcoming spaces for connection
• Shift the norms towards connection and belonging
• Use community input to shape programs
• Recognize social connection as a community health issue
• Validation and challenge

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A road map for these remarks

WHAT IS THE NEED WE ARE ADDRESSING?

People are lonely and disconnected

https://www.cdc.gov/social-connectedness/risk-factors/index.html

Surgeon General’s Advisory on Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation (pdf)

Social isolation and loneliness impact health

They can increase a person's risk for:

• Heart disease and stroke
• Type 2 diabetes
• Depression and anxiety
• Suicidality and self-harm
• Dementia
• Earlier death

https://www.cdc.gov/social-connectedness/risk-factors/index.html

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

Prescription

“While the epidemic of loneliness and isolation is widespread and has profound consequences for our individual and collective health and well-being, there is a medicine hiding in plain sight: social connection.”

Press release May 3, 2023

- United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy

Benefits of more social connection

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“Social connectedness generates a positive feedback loop of social, emotional and physical well-being.”

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• Lowered anxiety and depression
• Stronger immune system
• Faster recovery from illness
• Increased chance of longevity
• Higher self-esteem, greater empathy

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Source: Connectedness & Health: The Science of Social Connection; Dr. Emma Seppala; Stanford Medicine; May 8, 2014

HOW CAN LIBRARIES BE PART OF THE SOLUTION?

National Strategy to Advance Social Connection

Surgeon General’s Advisory lays out a framework based on six foundational pillars:

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1. Strengthen Social Infrastructure: physical elements of a community (parks, libraries, playgrounds)
2. Enact Pro-Connection Public Policies: National, state, local, and tribal governments
3. Mobilize the Health Sector: Because loneliness and isolation are risk factors for several major health conditions (including heart disease, dementia, depression) as well as for premature death
4. Reform Digital Environments: critically evaluate our relationship with technology
5. Deepen Our Knowledge: A more robust research agenda
6. Cultivate a Culture of Connection: the norms and culture of how we engage one another

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Find more resources and recommendations: https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/connection/resources/index.html

Libraries as welcoming spaces for connection

Designing for belonging benefits everyone

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“The Curb-Cut Effect is the phenomenon where things originally intended as disability accommodations (like ramps and cut curbs) actually benefit everyone. For example, a ramp built for wheelchair accessibility in turn makes deliveries easier too.”

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Like accessibility accommodations, designing for belonging benefits everyone.

Keeping Up With… Neurodiversity, ALA-ACRL

Image: Jono Hey, sketchplanations.com

Invite people into your spaces

Powerful signage

https://www.urbanlibraries.org/initiatives/libraries-stand-tall/inclusion-tolerance/welcome-poster-and-button

What will people find when they enter?

• People who welcome them?
• Spaces that are inviting and comfortable?
• People who look like them?
• People who speak their language or signs in their language?
• A variety of ways to engage if they are interested?

Passive engagement

• No pressure, ready when you are
• Add a sign inviting �participation

https://www.dailybulletin.com/2022/10/31/at-pomona-library-community-jigsaws-appeal-is-no-puzzle/

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Invite engagement

• Can people engage in different ways?

https://www.pinterest.com/memmyygrace/library/

Colorful Conversations

https://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/adult-coloring-explosion.html

Photo courtesy Shelton Timberland Library on Facebook

Flyer courtesy Shelton Timberland Library on Facebook

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Shift the social norms towards connection and belonging

Reimagining new library narratives

• The message: You belong at the library.
• Push against the narrative that libraries are only a place you go to get (consume), and help the community see that the library is also a place you can go give (be seen and heard, create).

Image courtesy Pikes Peak Library District on Facebook

• Based on the statistics, many of your staff will be experiencing social isolation
• Reflect on how you interact as a staff to make sure you are being intentional about designing for connection

Don’t forget your staff

https://www.designforbelonging.com/toolkit

Tips from Priya Parker

“The way you structure and invite a conversation can be transformative and meaningful and can build community wherever you are.” 

                                - Priya Parker 

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https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/1102271728

Adding intention: A checklist

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• What is your ‘why’ or purpose?
• What is your desired outcome? 
• Will your invitation encourage attendance by the people you want to attend?
• Have you designed for connection?
• Have you helped people feel comfortable and safe enough to participate?

Photo by Katie Moum on Unsplash

-Priya Parker 

• Value of storytime for kids
• Add layer of intentionality to create opportunity for parents to connect

Adding social connection for caregivers after storytime

Photo courtesy of Washington County Cooperative Library Services

Caregiver groups and circles

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https://pikecountypubliclibrary.com/events-archive/expectant-new-parent-circle-827/

https://www.autismfamilycares.org/supportgroup

Coffee & Conversation

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Humanize those experiencing homelessness

Reduce misunderstandings

Create a space for open dialogue

Connect on commonalities

Have a good time!

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Program Model: Coffee & Conversation from Dallas Public Library on the Programming Librarian

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Learn more in WebJunction webinar: https://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/community-connector.html

Participants stopping by desk to chat

“I’ve seen a real change in the number

of customers who stop by the desk to say

hello or chat rather than just making a beeline for some corner of the library

where they can sit unnoticed.”

- Dallas Public Library staff who led Coffee & Conversation

What are you doing at your libraries to foster belonging using these approaches?

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• Psychological therapies
• Community-based exercise and physical activity
• Health education and peer support
• School connectedness
• Intergenerational programs
• Animal-based interventions

Promoting social connectedness

https://www.cdc.gov/social-connectedness/data-research/promising-approaches/index.html, CDC

Examples from libraries

• Psychological therapies (social worker collaborations, collections)
• Community-based exercise and physical activity (yoga, walking book club)
• Health education, skill development, support groups, and peer support (Coffee & Conversation, Grief Café, new parents support, older adults and caregivers) 
• School connectedness (whole family literacy, public/school library collaboration, Long Night Against Procrastination)
• Intergenerational programs (youth helping seniors with tech)
• Animal-based interventions (read to therapy dogs)

�https://www.cdc.gov/social-connectedness/data-research/promising-approaches/index.html

Community-led programming

• Community is the expert
• How can you tap into their expertise?

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Different ways to get community input

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Beyond the Survey – Basket of Discovery Tools (pdf) and webinar Getting to the Heart of the Community Through Discovery

Grief support groups & death cafés

Grief Support through Death Café model

Berkeley Public Library

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Croton Free Library

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Driftwood Public Library

Tell us: Communities inspiring libraries

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• Madison Public Library’s engagement strategy for Imagination Center planning (6+ year process)
• Over 750 people of all ages and backgrounds gathered at over 50 small conversations

https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/about/tell-us

Tell us: Communities inspiring libraries

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• What are the communities represented in this room?
• What do you need to feel supported by your community?
• What local organizations or groups directly improve quality of life?
• What are the three biggest issues facing your community?
• What are some ideas to address these issues?
• How would you know things have gotten better?

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https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/about/tell-us

Recognize social connection as a community health issue

Social Rx at Amarillo Public Library

• Monthly events to help the public make new connections and introduce to new opportunities in community
• Discusses need for social connection
• Talk about social skill as a refresher
• Plus presenters from the community
• Examples: theatre group, chorus, art classes, genealogical society, historical museum, league of women voters
• Presenters learn about library

Social prescribing

• Goal: improve health and well-being without medication, or with less medical intervention
• Connecting patients with non-clinical experiences to improve their health
• Job coach or community health worker as accountability
• Using the resources of the library to make substantial improvements to the health of the person

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Libraries on Prescription

• Healing power of storytelling
• Done through stand-up comedy
• Hosted at the Athens Comic Library
• Used as a tool for intercultural understanding and exploring�sense of belonging

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https://theurbanactivist.com/idea/the-therapeutic-potential-of-libraries/

See others like me

“There is a magic moment when you see a group of people who had never met before transforming into a team…when someone stands up and shares a story, and others see themselves in that story. And then they go home and say: ‘Okay. I am not alone. Someone else is experiencing what I am experiencing.’”

- Dr. Lida Tsene, researcher

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Libraries connect the dots

• Libraries as a catalyst for well-being and social cohesion
• Powerful collaboration with mental health professionals
• Created safe spaces for people to share experiences without feeling judged
• Participants developed a different relationship with the library, paying visits more regularly after the program

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https://theeuropechallenge.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Athens-Comics-Library-Refugee-Week-Greece-Libraries-on-Prescription.pdf

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Libraries’ response to the opioid crisis can invite connection

“It has been really cool for me in my own journey…to tell my story, build positive relationships with my community, and hopefully find an opportunity for somebody to learn something from my mistakes. I know for my growth, little things like that have just bolstered my foundation,… my peer network, my positive behavior.”

- Peoria Public Library Community Member

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https://www.webjunction.org/content/dam/WebJunction/Documents/webJunction/Topics/opioid-crisis/Case-Study-Peoria-Public-Library.pdf

VALIDATION AND CHALLENGE

National Strategy to Advance Social Connection

Surgeon General’s Advisory lays out a framework based on six foundational pillars:

​

1. Strengthen Social Infrastructure: physical elements of a community (parks, libraries, playgrounds)
2. Enact Pro-Connection Public Policies: National, state, local, and tribal governments
3. Mobilize the Health Sector: Because loneliness and isolation are risk factors for several major health conditions (including heart disease, dementia, depression) as well as for premature death
4. Reform Digital Environments: critically evaluate our relationship with technology
5. Deepen Our Knowledge: A more robust research agenda
6. Cultivate a Culture of Connection: the norms and culture of how we engage one another

​

Find more resources and recommendations: https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/connection/resources/index.html

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

One takeaway

What is one thing you will take away from this session about belonging and connecting?

Program Manager, WebJunction

Brooke Doyle

doyleb@oclc.org

webjunction.org

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