Beyond Disciplines: Providing Outreach to Underserved Groups by Demographic

1. BEYOND DISCIPLINES: PROVIDING OUTREACH TO UNDERSERVED GROUPS BY DEMOGRAPHIC L O R E L E I R U T L E D G E A N D S A R A H L E M I R E
2. WHAT IS OUTREACH? Marketing: lets the community know what the library is doing and often focuses on events inside the library Outreach: asks what stakeholders need and engages them in conversation, focusing on events both in and outside the library
3. WHY DO OUTREACH? Members of underserved communities may not: • Be familiar with the resources that the library offers • Know how to access what they need (language- learning resources, specific tools) • Feel comfortable asking for help Love, E., & Edwards, M. B. (2009). Forging inroads between libraries and academic, multicultural and student services. Reference Services Review, 37, 20-29
4. ALA OFFICE FOR LITERACY AND OUTREACH SERVICES The ALA OLOC has identified the following communities as underserved: • Adult New and Non-Readers • Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People • Incarcerated People and Ex-Offenders • Older Adults • People of Color • People with Disabilities • Poor and Homeless People • Rural, Native, and Tribal Libraries of All Kinds • Bookmobile Communities American Library Association (2014). Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/offices/olos
5. LIBRARY OUTREACH MODELS • Satellite service points • Roving reference • Dorm reference Rudin, P. (2008). No fixed address: The evolution of outreach library services on university campuses. The Reference Librarian, 59, 55-75.
6. LIBRARY OUTREACH MODELS Outreach librarians
7. LIBRARY OUTREACH MODELS Embedded librarianship • Office hours model • Full-time departmental location • Virtual Reference
8. ENGAGEMENT STYLES Passive • Silent roving reference • Office hours Active • Events • Active roving reference
9. OUTREACH BY DEMOGRAPHIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH MARRIOTT LIBRARY
10. LGBT • LGBTQ patrons may fear that they will be judged for their gender expression or identity. • They may also struggle to find adequate information about topics of interest, like LGBTQ health • As an often invisible minority, LGBTQ people might feel like the library is not interested in supporting them.
11. LGBT DEMOGRAPHICS Williams Institute. (2013). Infographic: % Couples raising children in top metro areas. MSA. Retrieved from http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/infographic-msas-may-2013/
12. MARRIOTT LIBRARY LGBT OUTREACH
13. MARRIOTT LIBRARY LGBT OUTREACH • Sending library representatives to LGBT Resource Center Events • Holding librarian office hours in the LGBT Resource Center • Working with the LGBT Resource Center to update their library. • Displaying Safe Zone signage in Faculty and Staff offices • Liaising with the Utah Pride Center • Providing tours for community LGBT groups • Creating exhibits highlights LGBT people in Utah
14. VETERANS
15. VETERANS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 Total Undergrad Grad PhD University of Utah Fall 2014 Veteran Enrollment Total Male Female Other
16. MARRIOTT LIBRARY VETERANS OUTREACH
17. MARRIOTT LIBRARY VETERANS OUTREACH • Librarian office hours in the campus Veterans Support Center • Librarian involvement in annual Veterans In-Brief • Co-sponsoring veteran-oriented events with the Veterans Support Center, including a panel discussion/film showing about women in combat • Librarian involvement in campus veterans’ events, including the annual Veterans Day Commemoration and Student Veteran of the Year ceremonies • Library displays of student veteran photographs • Librarian participation in local efforts to raise veteran profiles in Salt Lake City and on-campus, including interviews with local media (print and radio) and oral history interviews with the American West Center • Partnering with Veterans Support Center on veteran-oriented charitable endeavors, including collecting supplies for homeless veterans and writing letters to deployed servicemembers
18. DISABILITY SERVICES • 18.7 percent of the U.S. non-institutionalized population has a disability. • People with impairments may: • Need help accessing library tools and resources • Feel unsure of what resources are available for them
19. MARRIOTT LIBRARY OUTREACH TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
20. MARRIOTT LIBRARY OUTREACH TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES • Attending Center for Disability Services events • Inviting CDS administration over for tours • Asking CDS employees to promote the library • Advertising the library on the CDS homepage • Asking for feedback from students with impairments about library improvements • Creating videos on best practices for working with patrons with disabilities with the support of a student sponsor • Creating a disability studies LibGuide • Building collections for campus interpreters
21. STUDENTS WITH CHILDREN
22. STUDENTS WITH CHILDREN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH NASPA Consortium: Profile of the College Student Experience, Spring 2013 85% 6% 9% University of Utah Students with Children No children 1 child 2 or more children
23. MARRIOTT LIBRARY OUTREACH TO STUDENTS WITH CHILDREN
26. MARRIOTT LIBRARY OUTREACH TO STUDENTS WITH CHILDREN • Library created a Family Reading Room to make the library more welcoming for students with children. Includes toys, books, and games to keep kids entertained while students work. Room sight-lines designed so students can keep an eye on their children while working at the computers. • Efforts to make library marketing efforts specifically inclusive of students with children. • Library events for students with children, including family health days and activities co-sponsored by Utah Museum of Fine Arts and National History Museum of Utah. • Displays specifically developed to include child-friendly elements and marketed to include children, especially last summer’s Vesalius Exhibit.
27. CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS
28. CONSTRAINTS • Time • Money • Engagement and Support
29. OUTREACH BY DEMOGRAPHIC AT YOUR LIBRARY
30. STRATEGY: IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET
31. STRATEGY: IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET • University of Utah Office of Budget and Institutional Analysis • National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) • Utah demographics and statistics • US Census Bureau • American FactFinder • Disability • US Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Benefits Administration Reports • UCLA’s Williams Institute
32. STRATEGY: IDENTIFY THE IDEAL OUTCOME • I will host two open houses for students with disabilities during the Fall semester to introduce them to library resources. They will come back and visit the library again. • We will co-host at least one event with the LGBT Resource Center for Pride Week.
33. STRATEGY: IDENTIFY YOUR GOAL POSTS How will you know if you succeeded? • I will get contact information from at least ten students at my open houses and follow up with them. • I will have at least one event that is attended by at least ten people
34. STRATEGY: FIND YOUR PARTNERS Who can I work with? • I could work with the Center for Disability Services • I could get in touch with the Gender Studies librarian and the head of the LGBT Resource Center.
35. STRATEGY: MAKE A LONG-RANGE PLAN What is my long-term plan for my outreach to this group? • I plan to hold 2 or 3 events per year for students with disabilities, with at least one of them being a tour of the Center for Disability Services • I want to cohost regular events with LGBT students so that they are familiar with the librarians and feel comfortable asking questions.
36. STRATEGY: PLAN YOUR ACTIVITIES What specific activities will I do to enact my strategy? • I will create advertising materials to hang in • the Center for Disability Services, including braille materials. • I will ask the Center to tell the students who come in about the event.
37. STRATEGY: GATHER YOUR RESOURCES What do I need to be able to meet my goals? • Money for snacks • Space to host an event • Help from a graphic designer to create a design
38. STRATEGY: GET SUPPORT Who do I need to buy into my plan? • I need my Associate Dean to agree to give me space to hold an open house and money for snacks. • I need the administration of the LGBT Resource Center to agree to cohosting an event.
39. NOW IT’S YOUR TURN… We created a worksheet for you to use this in your own libraries. Take a look at the worksheet and talk with the person next to you about how you might apply these ideas. An electronic copy of the handout is available at http://tinyurl.com/MPLA2014
40. QUESTIONS?
41. REFERENCES @Doug8888. (2011, 8 29). Rainbow [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/doug88888/6097007477/sizes/m/in/photolist-ahLKUz-nuFToC-61Aa6i-5w7bL6- d2HQ3Y-dZTJVb-7T87Tz-dbaTjJ-9z4Dc8-5nt5P-6Vwx27-9caRGn-kM2nYD-c8RRxb-dVcoiW-9xGAtQ-4xEaU5- 8T4drN-bLUCRc-ag5kG3-FXh7z-8EXUKg-aouZRQ-7eeAoh-o6gX7M-bjgw6r-2AUKjx-9ouD8a-c27B5Y-8VNR4F- btSjjP-8jVj8h-8j2DHT-jof3qH-e1xPms-w696S-oJJJxT-9J5r8M-bWXwA8-61Swhu-4HyV7-5N7kxj-fdtFy8-jddiZS- 6T19yK-eovqWK-hQdkCv-28Weuk-dKDz3K-csSq1G-8HbJee/ American Library Association (2014). Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/offices/olos American Library Association. Library Services for People with Disabilities Policy. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ascla/asclaissues/libraryservices (Accessed September 23, 2014) Brault, M W. (2012). “Americans with Disabilities: 2010,” Current Population Reports, P70-131, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, Crawford, K. (2009, 11 11). Red, white, and boots [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcrawfish03/4097001500/in/photolist-7f3cNU-m5QPxu-5G2L1L-avfm7G-67aPCg- 66dpEJ-7wwRyh-2B592C-4Ppkz2-oRbYp2-iraVqs-8hMz4-2nXZ7-7RxryA-eUQBHN-eUDi1v-yQ1xs-evKWZ-6qeVfb- cmtZyY-9s1hk9-87qHPp-2uRYu-eFbhsk-brBedU-cmGC5E-8tDEUn-ntzPnD-cmtZ2h-9xavdw-24WYCh-6DTSUY- ekTUGj-5xz632-dueBjH-89KJFD-duezir-6Gcqa2-9V2XKH-ds6SK4-ivVjY-eSwcwQ-dVDMqo-8Vo5Ux-8Vo636- 4RESYS-dnbi4q-7yWDFP-f8as3-9TPmae
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43. REFERENCES McConnaughy, R. P., & Wilson, S. P. (2010). InfoAble portal: Developing a disability information portal for a support network for families. Journal of Consumer Health On the Internet, 14, 1-11. Mehra, B., & Braquet, D. (2011). Progressive LGBTQ reference: coming out in the 21st century. Reference Services Review, 39,401-422. Nazareth College. (2009, May 9). Mom's biggest fan [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nazareth_college/3531511838/in/photolist-6o4Vr9-dCd35J-atgvup-ceKVMS- eJCyrj-cEi8MW-83yt8C-YawU2-bELD3E-8x3GJV-nwcyBb-4pEjsC-aVC1MB-erWjQL-er1hmp-dyFqy7-a8FNfH- 99fT4R-dtufb-NuM6u-brtW5-5Yn5Yj-76JCAg-p6KurQ-pofnFX-5dLLkn-ctoSmQ-4XMek2-8CCzkD-eqVTd4-eqWUSK- er1f34-foacVg-bPHwXZ-bPHytB-7xnyQL-o559TU-o51qCM-omJewp-81Zm3Z-4LVYDq-5eZ5Lq-4SjiXP-8vY62y- pgW8m-eqT6sF-aszFmc-asCrvq-erWCEj-aszF Rudin, P. (2008). No fixed address: The evolution of outreach library services on university campuses. The Reference Librarian, 59, 55-75. Stannered. (2007, March 9). Question mark alternate [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AQuestion_mark_alternate.svg Sojdehei, V. (2013). Boots to books: Helping college student veterans through library outreach and engagement programs. College & Research Libraries News, 74(10), 537. Thompson Rivers College. (2011, June 10). Convocation 2011- ceremony D [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/thompsonrivers/5819325301/in/photolist-5adAjG-atMLeP-6q5CTo-mV2nft- 9SeyER-9ShrLw-Nj6cZ-7yCE7d-Nj6ck-dB2JY2-aWJMbe-6xMaXz-6s23in-85rTgp-7yyQVv-bFMo3r-5i8wmJ
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45. REFERENCES Vance1, M. (2013, May 6). Margo graduation [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/miklvance/9015063964/in/photolist-eJCyrj-5MfmzX-nzj3gV-88sFHz-88sFLD- 88sFzk-4oRr3K-pvxGwd-4LVFNf-9K2CcY-9aDaa-9K2Cco-9JYNvi-cjnvE7-kKNwYr-aWJMbe-aVC1MB-bWbc83- bELD3E-8xCyYJ-99fT4R-foacVg-NuM6u-5Yn5Yj-9fZZsg-baWvGg-9MVZd9-eFYo5a-2gJ1K-4Lz2Tj-QNQuT-88vUZh- 88vV9C-88vUWh-5xCtZN-4TjaQJ-6KUVBB-76JCxH-76NxpY-p6Loz4-6Qz9ga-4XMek2-99fTjr-7acMM4-jB4ita- 8bDDAu-99fT7r-99j1HE-abNjCW-8jvcuZ Vardeman, K. (2010, September 17). Texas Tech Libraries roving reference [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/kimberlykv/5060849839/in/photolist-asNask-8Hdb9V-8HdbkH-4askx6-8Hdbd4- 8HdbbB-5SeYoC-o444U-av1zzU-auXTSi-av1zd5-auXTBa-av1AdL-av1zF1-auXUx4-av1zkj-av1z7h-auXUAB-auXTWr- av1Ap3-av1yV9-av1AgQ-av1AbS-av1zT5-av1zZh-av1As3-auXTsi-auXUMB-av1zJS-av1zM7-bfTxkF-4baNaC-o43Y2- dysxXz-dyy2fG-ekuAXc-dysy46-dVdQia-9chSab-azubXM-89tQzF-mYNgM8-dyy2CL-6iNJhi-66Qoz8-gJfAf-gJfAe- bChuDr-7pBFjb-4QbnCM Viinamäki, S. (2014, 9 30). Bullseye dart.JPG [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABullseye_dart.JPG Williams Institute. (2013). Infographic: % Couples raising children in top metro areas. MSA. Retrieved from http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/infographic-msas-may-2013/

Notas do Editor

Hello, and thanks for coming today. My name is Lorelei Rutledge and this is my colleague Sarah LeMire. We are here today to talk about some of the strategies that we have used at the University of Utah to provide outreach to underserved groups. We think what we have to share will be helpful because we are focusing on strategies that we used that go beyond traditional models of embedded librarianship. Once we discuss our outreach strategies, we have some activities designed to help you think about how you could do outreach beyond your current strategies to underserved students.
In library literature, outreach and marketing are frequently conflated. For the purposes of our presentation, we are thinking of outreach as a long term strategy to engage with library stakeholders, which often includes marketing, but is not synonymous with it. Instead, marketing has more to do with publicizing library events.
Most of our libraries already participate in some kind of outreach, so you may be wondering why we are suggesting that you place additional demands on your time and energy by pursuing additional outreach opportunities . However, we think there are lots of reasons why libraries should consider building additional outreach programs to reach underserved patrons. In our case, we realized that we weren’t necessarily reaching students who were not strongly affiliated with their home departments or did not regularly visit the library. We wanted to make sure that we were reaching these students and that they weren’t being missed in our outreach programs. In addition, some of these students have different or additional needs from the library that may require different programming and outreach strategies.
You may be wondering exactly what communities we are talking about when we use the term underserved. The groups that are underserved can differ between communities and libraries. The ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services has specifically designated some groups as underserved. Looking at this list can be helpful in thinking about communities where you could extend outreach efforts, if you don’t have ideas already about the underserved groups you specifically want to target.
There are also lots of different library outreach models focused on reference. Many librarians are doing what Phyllis Rudin calls outpost librarianship. Some examples of this involve roving reference in parts of the library, or satellite service points throughout the campus our community. For instance, libraries may set up short term satellite service points in areas like the student union or other buildings on campus, like the dormitories. At times, librarians might also offer roving reference across campus.
Another outreach model is having an outreach librarian. For instance, Love and Edwards described how the University of Illinois hired three outreach librarians whose specific responsibility was to build relationships with a variety of campus entities. Boff, Singer and Stearns have also done a study which shows that the number of outreach librarian positions have grown in the past 30 years, specifically in the past 4 or 5 years. The University of Utah tried to have a single outreach librarian for a few years, but then extended the call to do outreach to all librarians because it was too much work for a single person.
There are also outreach models that rely on embedded librarianship. Kesselman and Wattstein suggest that embedded librarianship is primarily about librarians collaborating deeply with departments or research teams. There are, however, different levels of embeddedness. For instance, some librarians, Rudin suggests, rely on the liaison model and ask librarians to participate in departmental office hours. Other options include course-integrated instruction, or librarians being embedded in clinical research teams. Other librarians embed full time in departmental locations.
There are also different ways to engage in reference activities. For instance, there are passive strategies that ask the students to come to us, other active events that seek to draw out students to engage them. For instance, showing up in a building to do office hours would be an example of passive reference because we are waiting for patrons to come to us. In some cases, these roles can become active examples of embedded librarianship, but librarians may struggle to engage deeply with their departments. Other styles of engagement can be more active, including hosting activities in departments or doing active roving reference, where library staff approach people to ask if they need help.
LGBTQ people are one of the groups that we identified as underserved on our campus.
According to the census, Salt Lake City has one of the highest percentage of LGBT couples raising children in a major metropolitan area. SLC was also recently ranked the gayest city in America by the Advocate because of the concentration of LGBT resources, like the Utah Pride Center, in the area.
Our library has also worked to develop outreach for LGBTQ patrons. For instance, we have worked to form partnerships with the campus LGBT Resource Center by donating books to their private lending library, cohosting events with them like free movie showings, and having librarians on the Pride Committee. We have also done passive outreach to these groups by purchasing materials specifically to support the LGBT Resource Center and then promoting those materials. We also have a librarian who does office hours in the LGBT Resource Center.
555, 329 students usedPost-9/11 GI Bill benefits in 2011.” ( Sojdehei, p.537)
Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (Hoppenfield et Al.)
Specialized office hours or reference services

The number of veterans enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities has been increasing, and has been sharply increasing since Congress passed the Post 9/11 GI Bill back in 2008, which expanded educational benefits for OIF/OEF veterans. Colleges are doing quite a bit to support the veterans on their campuses, from hiring veterans coordinators to building veterans centers on their campuses. Libraries are still identifying ways that they want to engage with this community, although a number of libraries are starting to reach out to this community, doing things like holding office hours in the veterans centers or participating in the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for disabled veterans.
At the University of Utah, we have a fairly substantial veterans population. Last semester, we had nearly 1,000 veterans on campus – and that includes only those veterans who are using the GI Bill or who have self-identified as a veteran. Not all veterans are eligible for education benefits, and they have no obligation to identify as veterans if they are not, so this is an incomplete picture. Like many other universities, we have an overrepresentation of women veterans, who make up only about 10% of the overall veteran population but over 20% of our student veteran population.
At the Marriott Library, we have been trying to reach out to the student veteran community for the last couple of years. I am an Army and Iraq War veteran, and I was a student veteran at the University of Utah after my Army contract ended, so this community is of particular importance to me. Some of our outreach efforts have been fairly simple: I created a library guide of veterans’ resources and I provide office hours in the Veterans Support Center once a week. But beyond this, I’ve been actively involved in promoting veterans and especially women veterans on campus and have found that student veterans are very responsive when they are asked to step forward and share their experiences with their classmates. I’ve organized displays of student veteran photos for Veterans Day and worked with our campus Veterans Support Center to hold a panel discussion/documentary showing about women in combat. I’ve also practice what I preach by sharing my own experience, working with local media to bring attention to veterans’ issues and participating in the American West Center’s Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Oral History Project.
The ALA Library Services for People with Disabilities Policy states that “Libraries play a catalytic role in the lives of people with disabilities by facilitating their full participation in society. Libraries should use strategies based upon the principles of universal design to ensure that library policy, resources and services meet the needs of all people” (ALA, 2006, para. 3). Approximately 20% of the population has some kind of disability, making this a large subset of the population. People with impairments, however, are usually an underserved population. They may struggle to use library tools and resources or be uncertain about how to use them.
At the University of Utah, students with impairments have access to the Center for Disability Services, which can help them get the reasonable accommodations to which they are entitled under the Americans with Disabilities act. We identified students with impairments as an area where we wanted to do outreach because we know from library literature that they may struggle to utilize library resources. We decided that the easiest way to do this was to work with the Center for Disability Services. We have asked them to promote the accessibility room to their students, and have had several informal conversation with students about what kinds of tools and materials we could add to the library. We have also reached out to the staff that interpret for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and have done trainings with them about available library resources. We have also worked with them to add materials about American Sign Language to our collection. In addition, our library participated in a project to create tutorials about how to work with students with impairments that we turned into a LibGuide, which we have in turn promoted.
At the University of Utah, students with impairments have access to the Center for Disability Services, which can help them get the reasonable accommodations to which they are entitled under the Americans with Disabilities act. We identified students with impairments as an area where we wanted to do outreach because we know from library literature that they may struggle to utilize library resources. We decided that the easiest way to do this was to work with the Center for Disability Services. We have asked them to promote the accessibility room to their students, and have had several informal conversation with students about what kinds of tools and materials we could add to the library. We have also reached out to the staff that interpret for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and have done trainings with them about available library resources. We have also worked with them to add materials about American Sign Language to our collection. In addition, our library participated in a project to create tutorials about how to work with students with impairments that we turned into a LibGuide, which we have in turn promoted.
Although not a traditional underserved group, non-traditional students are an underserved population on many campuses.
All of us face constraints as we try to do outreach. The most common constraints of course, are time and money. It takes some creative work to think about how to do outreach without a lot of money available and on top of your probably large workload. However, you may also face constraints in terms of how much support you can expect from your library. In some cases, you may need to actively recruit support or rescale your projects so that you need less support.
Next we are going to talk about the specific strategies that we used. We encourage you to think about a group to whom you could apply each of these steps.
The first strategy is to identify your target. Decide which group or subgroup with whom you would like to do outreach and why.
There are a number of places where you can get data to help inform your target selection. One of the most important places to try is your university’s institutional analysis department, which should have specific demographic breakdowns of your individual school’s population. If your university participates in a survey like NSSE, the National Survey of Student Engagement, that can be another great place to get some demographic information as well. Information your university may not track might be available through your state’s demographics and statistics department or through the American Community Survey. Veterans data is available through the VA, and some LGBTQ data is available through the Williams Institute.
The first step in planning is to identify your ideal outcome. Most of us have heard of the concept of smart goals, which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely goals. Thinking about your ideal outcome and making sure that your goals fit these criteria is a good first step vin designing your outreach plan/
At this point, before you have even begun to plan your outreach strategy, you want to think about how you will know if you succeeded. In some cases, you may decide that you have succeeded if you have a certain number of people attend an even or if you get contact information from students. In other cases, you might define success as getting students to do something specific, like use a resource.
You might also want to brainstorm and think about which groups or colleagues might be able to assist in your efforts. Sometimes, thinking of who you can recruit is easier because there is an organization, like the LGBT Resource Center, that specifically supports the group you want to engage. In other cases, however, you may have to think about other groups across campus. For instance, our library has worked successfully with academic advising to host advising in the library to help draw people into the library, and has worked with campus groups to hold orientations specifically for underrepresented students.
The next piece is to design strategy. Although the specific outreach activities that we employ might be one-off activities, in general we think it helps to develop outreach plans by thinking in terms of your long range strategy to meet the needs of this underserved group. For instance, you may want to think in terms of making a five year plan for outreach or in terms of aligning with your library’s strategic planning process.
The next step is thinking about methods, the specific activities that we need to do to enact our strategies. This is the area of our planning that may involve marketing and publicity. At this point, we want to think about what kinds of activities we want to do to further our outreach plan.
The next step is to think about the resources you need to enact your strategy. In some cases, these may be space or monetary related, or they may be person-based resources. For example, you may need a colleague to work with you to make your strategy happen, or you may need help from other employees throughout the library, or you may want to ask for small amounts of money for snacks. In our case, we have to think ahead for every class to ensure that we have access to spaces where we can host events.
The last step is to think about which stakeholders you need to agree to your plan. The benefit of many plans that require very little money is that you may need to spend less time garnering support for your idea than you would proposing an expensive project. However, the specific stakeholders that you may want to consider asking for support include your bosses, your administration, and the community members or organizations with whom you would like to partner. This is also a good opportunity, if you can, to get student feedback from students in the demographic you are targeting about whether or not they think your idea will work.
Now that we have talked through our strategies for doing outreach to underserved groups, we would like you to take some time to think about how you could apply these ideas in your own library. Look through each of the strategies we mention, and then share with the person next to you about how you could use them in your own libraries.

Beyond Disciplines: Providing Outreach to Underserved Groups by Demographic

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