Roanoke County Public Library responded to a cultural shift ushered in by the tech revolution and its implications. After recruiting Pepper®, a humanoid robot, the library has leveraged its deep roots in innovation, privacy, equity, and access. With this, they are able to become a leader in AI and workforce development, particularly for tech skills. The success of the program has attracted 350 people with 60 class offerings, which include topics like Photoshop, stop-action video, Python, Scratch, and Linux.

Urban Libraries Council Innovation Winner | 2019 | Workforce and Economic Development | Top Innovator

Toledo Lucas County Public Library (TLCPL) seized the opportunity of the main library’s temporary closing to launch a new mobile team charged with expanding the library’s capacity to help customers advance their entrepreneurial skills. TLCPL created the Economic Success Team to go beyond the library doors and work throughout the community to offer more one-to-one assistance in less-reached populations. This mobile staffing model broke the mold of how the library served their community, provided colleagues with new skills untethered from their traditional service desk, and produced remarkable results – a 265% increase in one-to-one research and technical assistance and a 188% jump in contacts with aspiring and active entrepreneurs.

Urban Libraries Council 2019 Innovation Winner • Workforce and Economic Development, Honorable Mention

Mindfulness is an important part of Santa Clara County Library District’s wellness initiative to help patrons reduce stress and live healthy lives. Making meditation simple and accessible to all is the goal of their partnership with Headspace, a service offering more than 1,000 hours of virtual meditation classes for all ages to help reduce stress, cope with pain and cravings and better manage anxiety. All 580 of the library’s Headspace seats are in use with a patron average of 3.6 uses per week.

Urban Libraries Council 2019 Innovation Winners • Wellness, Safety and Sustainability, Top Innovator

The Cedar Rapids Public Library’s Downtown Ambassador Program grew out of public safety concerns in central gathering places following several violent confrontations. This collaborative community program worked together to find a way to ensure safe, friendly public spaces and create a more positive environment in the central downtown area. The ambassadors, who are currently or formerly homeless, work to encourage good behavior, provide information about local resources, and deescalate arguments.

Urban Libraries Council 2019 Innovation Winners • Wellness, Safety and Sustainability, Honorable Mention

The Do Space Women Innovators Fellowship challenges fellows to develop new resources to promote the advancement of women in technology entrepreneurship in Omaha and, in the process, address the underrepresentation of women in tech jobs and business leadership. This six-month experience provides fellows with an expert female mentor, $10,000 stipend, and valuable community connections and resources to bring her big idea to life.

Urban Libraries Council 2019 Innovation Winners • Race and Social Equity, Top Innovator

Richland Library’s My Life Experience Mobile Empathy Lab uses virtual reality technology to cultivate empathy in the community. The first-of-its-kind lab helps users “try on” someone’s life to create deeper community connections on challenging issues such as immigration, homelessness, living with impairments, and racism. More than 300 people have participated, and 80% of those surveyed believe they will feel or act differently as a result of the experience.

Urban Libraries Council 2019 Innovation Winners • Race and Social Equity, Honorable Mention

Baltimore County Public Library’s Entrepreneur Engagement Group strengthened the library’s capacity to serve entrepreneurs without hiring any new business development staff. Instead, to build confidence and competence, the library created a staff development curriculum that includes partner-led classes, uses the library’s small business e-resources and provides coaching on the mission of the entrepreneurial services program and staff roles. The library experienced a significant uptick in patrons using business resources and services as a result of the staff effort.

More About the Initiative Here: https://www.urbanlibraries.org/innovations/entrepreneur-engagement-group

A weekly informational video featuring the library director and senior leaders ensures that the 850 staff spread across 41 locations of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County know about library priorities and major initiatives and see themselves as vital parts of the library system. The library director’s video series, which averages 200-300 weekly views on the internal blog, provides information about community, board and staff meetings, government relations, program updates, and staff shoutouts.

Greensboro Public Library customers and staff are becoming tech-savvy together through the library’s Tech Navigators program, which offers one-on-one support from staff who are committed to helping patrons explore and integrate technology into their lives. Since the program launched in January 2018, the library has carried out more than 4,000 Tech Navigator appointments, providing individual guidance on email, social media, computer basics and smartphone, and mobile applications. Plus, library staff now feel increasingly confident in using their new skills to provide valuable guidance and support without being technology experts.

Urban Libraries Council 2019 Innovation Winners • Measuring the Library’s Impact, Top Innovator

Find out more about the program here: https://www.urbanlibraries.org/innovations/tech-navigators-experts-no-explorers-yes

San Francisco Public partnered with The Financial Justice Project to do a comprehensive study on the impact of fines on library access. Drawing on a literature review, dialogue with library leaders, surveys of patrons and staff and analysis of ILS data, the study concluded that fines restrict access to library resources for those most in need and disproportionately affect low-income and racial minority communities. The report provides a blueprint for libraries nation-wide to view fines through the lens of equity and inclusion.

Urban Libraries Council 2019 Innovation Winners • Measuring the Library’s Impact, Honorable Mention

See more about the program here: https://www.urbanlibraries.org/innovations/long-overdue-improving-access-by-eliminating-fine