Libraries, Archives, Museums: Libraries and Community Sustainablity: Home

Workforce & Economic Needs

Discover the workforce and economic needs of your community.

Alaska Business Monthly
A monthly publication providing a " thorough and objective analysis of issues and trends of interest to the Alaska business community."
Alaska Economic Development Directory
This directory provides links to local resources including: regional office contacts, state government contacts, and University Centers, and Tribal planning organization sites.
Alaska Economic Trends
"Alaska Economic Trends is a monthly publication dealing with a wide variety of economic issues in the state."
COVID-19 Resource Center
The Alaska Small Business Development Center has created an online resource where business owners and communities will find guidance, updates, and resources needed during this unpredictable time.
Research & Analysis
Research and Analysis provides community information resources and conducts research studies to support local government development, community planning, local capacity building, and rural policy development.
State of Alaska Population & Census Data
UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research
"ISER studies all aspects of the Alaska economy and at times economies of similar regions. It also creates and maintains extensive economic databases."

Online & Print Resources

Develop a relevant collection of online and print business resources for your community.

Small Business Assistance Center
The Small Business Assistance Center serves as the portal of Alaska small business resources.
State of Alaska Business Resources
Resources include information on how to start a business, laws relating to business and state contracts.

Online Self-Directed Learning

Connect your library users with online self-directed learning classes, workshops and tutorials.

Alaska Training Clearinghouse
Directory of training program providers and training programs located in Alaska.
Coursera
"A social entrepreneurship company partnering with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free."
edX
edX is a non-profit created by founding partners MIT and Harvard with the goal of bringing the best in higher education to the world.
FutureLearn
"FutureLearn uses design, technology and partnerships to create enjoyable, credible and flexible online courses as well as undergraduate and postgraduate degrees that improve working lives."
Global Edge
Global Edge serves as a portal connecting "international business professionals worldwide to a wealth of information, insights, and learning resources on global business activities."
Open Culture
"Open Culture brings together high-quality cultural & educational media for the worldwide lifelong learning community."
Udacity
These freely available courses are highly interactive and led by industry experts. Complete the course at your own pace without worrying about deadlines

Community Based Agencies

Build relationships and partnerships with local non-profits and governmental agencies in your community.

Alaska AARP
Shares local information about upcoming events, sponsors educational workshops and advocates on behalf of people age 50 and older.
Alaska Small Business Development Center
The Small Business Development Center provides free consulting services and workshops to entrepreneurs who want to grow their small business.
Community Partnership Guidebook for Libraries
"How libraries can build relationships to create financial education programs for their communities."
Money Smart Week
"A public awareness campaign designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances."
National Lemonade Day
A program designed to help entrepreneurship in children by having them create and run a lemonade stand.
UAF Cooperative Extension Service: Professional & Workforce Development
Cooperative Extension's Workforce Development Services include online course on the topics of Entrepreneurship/Small Business, Management/Leadership and Workplace Readiness. Staff are also available to design and deliver training and professional development workshops onsite for a fee.
University of Alaska Center for Economic Development
University of Alaska Center for Economic Development provides entrepreneurs with technical assistance, produces the Alaska Business Monthly magazine and provides training on economic development best practices.

Value of Your Library

Communicate and demonstrate your library's value to the community.

52 Ways to Make a Difference
Public Library Advocacy Throughout the Year!
more...less...
Dr. Camila Alire, President, American Library Association
Presidential Initiative Chairs, Patty Wong and Julie Todaro
Infopeople
"Infopeople is part of the Califa Group (link is external), a nonprofit consortium of more than 230 libraries committed to unleashing the impact of libraries. Infopeople provides library staff quality continuing education opportunities that are tailored to library needs and developed by experienced library professionals. Training formats include 2-6 week asynchronous online courses, as well as free one-hour webinars."
Library Research Service
LRS is part of the Colorado State Library, a unit of the Colorado Department of Education. The LRS webpage has links to a Library Return on Investment (ROI) calculator, a Valuing Library Services Calculator and a Cost Benefit and Return on Investment Calculator.
National Network of Libraries of Medicine
Cost Benefit and Return on Investment Calculator
What's Your Library Worth?
ilovelibraries: an initiative of the American Library Association has developed an online calculator to help you determine what your library is worth.

Community Analysis & Assessment

Prove your library's value through analysis and community assessment.

Alaska Labor Market Information
Visit the Alaska Labor Market Information webpage for information on Alaska's occupational forecast, workforce statistics or wage information.
Alaska Public Library Statistics
Alaska's public libraries file an annual report each year with the Alaska State Library in order to remain eligible for the annual public library assistance grant. Excel or CSV files of the annual statistics going back to 1987 are available online.
Alaska Quick Facts
Summary profiles showing frequently requested data from the U.S. Census.
Outcomes Toolkit 2.0
Outcomes Toolkit 2.0 is a four step process of conducting outcome-based evaluation.
Project Outcome
Project Outcome is a FREE online toolkit designed to help public libraries understand and share the impact of essential library programs and services by providing simple surveys and an easy-to-use process for measuring and analyzing outcomes.
Public Libraries Survey
"The data are collected from approximately 9,000 public libraries with approximately 17,000 individual public library outlets in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and outlying territories. Data includes information about library visits, circulation, size of collections, public service hours, staffing, electronic resources, operating revenues and expenditures and number of service outlets."
Webjunction Online Training Series: Evaluating and Sharing Your Library's Impact
A three part webinar series "bringing together research and practice from across library sectors, covering the ins and outs of creating and implementing assessments that provide insightful, actionable data."
Rising to the Challenge: Re-envisioning Public Libraries
"The Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries is a multi-stakeholder forum to explore and champion new thinking on U.S. public libraries, with the goal of fostering concrete actions to support and transform public libraries for a more diverse, mobile and connected society. "
The Action Guide, Version 2.0
"The Aspen Institute created the Action Guide for Re-Envisioning Your Public Library, version 2.0 a set of resources for convening a community dialogue and helping communities take action to re-envision their own public library. "
You will need to sign in to download the guide.

Contact me!

Valarie Kingsland

Email Me

Contact:

907-465-6611

Books

Measuring Your Library's Value: How to do a Cost-Benefit Analysis for Your Public Library by Donald S. Elliot
ISBN: 9780838909232
Measuring Your Library's Value is a "how-to manual for those wanting to prepare a statistical estimate of the benefit of their library's services to its customers."
Transforming Libraries, Building Communities by Julie Biando Edwards; Melissa S. Rauseo; Kelley Rae Unger; Melissa S. Robinson
ISBN: 9780810891814
Publication Date: 2013-05-30
Written by practicing public librarians and an academic librarian with an interest in public libraries, the book focuses on how public libraries can become more community centered and, by doing so, how they can transform both themselves and their communities.
Start a Revolution by Ben Bizzle; Maria Flora
ISBN: 9780838912676
Publication Date: 2015-01-01
"But this is how we've always done it " Objections to taking a fresh tack are about as common as budget shortfalls, and the two are more closely related than you might think. At the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library in Arkansas, Bizzle and his colleagues defied common practices by using creative risk-taking in marketing and outreach to transform their library into a dynamic institution that continues to grow and thrive.
Successful Community Outreach by Barbara Radke Blake; Robert Sidney Martin; Yunfei Du
ISBN: 9781555707729
Publication Date: 2011-08-31
Libraries that thrive reach out to all parts of their communities.
Designing Adult Services by Ann Roberts
ISBN: 9781440852541
Publication Date: 2017-11-01
Focusing on adult patrons ages 19 through senior citizens and how libraries can best serve this portion of their community's population.

Grants

Library Grants Blog
Scholastic List of Library Grants
Scholastic has developed a list of links various library grants, many of which are ongoing.

Follett List of Grants & Funding
Follett has compiled a list of the best funding opportunities for your library.

Grantseeking for Libraries: Top 10 Practices for Foundation Funding
This free online course available from WebJunction is designed for library professionals and library development staff interested in learning the basics about finding grants for the library.
Library Grants and Funding
An online grant resource guide created by The Library Corporation (TLC) with links to federal grants, American Library Association grants and grants specifically for educators.