Political Dialogue: Community Conversation

Contact Information:

5707954315

jserrenti@albright.org

Library Type

Public

Cost:

$10-$100; Funding came from partnership with the University

Partnerships:

University of Scranton

Description:

The University of Scranton approached the public library to host a public Political Dialogue as part of its Community Conversations series. The goal of this program was to encourage open-mindedness and understanding of people who think differently on hot topics facing politics today. This included social, racial, and economic issues. Program Basics: We had close to 50 people attend the political dialogue. At the beginning of the program, they all sat together to listen to the facilitators from the University of Scranton give a brief description of the rules, set up, and goals of the program. Once the introduction was done, participants were then split into groups of 7-9 with one facilitator per group. The next 45 minutes to an hour was spent in these smaller groups. The facilitator was in charge of asking the prompt questions and timing participants so everyone had a chance to speak. There was time after each person spoke for participants to comment on each other's thoughts. This too was timed. After all the questions were asked by the facilitator and the group was done talking, all the groups met together again to share some common beliefs that came up across all the groups and to share their feedback on the program. Program Logistics: The University of Scranton handled the participant registration and used University staff as facilitators. For participants to register, they had to also answer a short survey that asked generalized questions on how they vote. For example, "Do they identify as more liberal or more conservative?" No questions outright asked how they are registered and who they voted for in the past. These questions helped the University facilitators arrange people in their groups so each group had diversity. The library was responsible for a majority of the marketing of the event and the room set up. The library used room dividers and a separate meeting room space to make sure all groups could be accommodated. Cost: There was little cost to the library to host this program. The University of Scranton has in its mission to provide public outreach through programming. The program fulfilled the criteria they needed to meet their goals. Staffing: There was one full-time program development staff member from the library who handled the room setup and marketing of the event. The University of Scranton had 5-6 staff members coordinate and facilitate. Overall Outcome: This program was highly received by the participants who appreciated the fact that it was held at the library and open to the public. The majority of attendees commented that they felt that they were heard and understood by their groups when sharing their beliefs. This program was held in 2018 and again in 2019 with help from ALA's American Creed grant. grant funding in 2019 did go towards paying the facilitators for their time.