County Librarian Updates County Council on Goals for the Advocacy Committee

by Bob Montgomery

Huron County Librarian Beth Rumble outlined the goals of their Advocacy Committee for the coming year for county council at their last meeting.

Rumble says the Advocacy Committee has been in existence for several years, and a couple members of the Library Board sit on the Committee. The Advocacy Committee goes out and talks to various groups that serve young people in Huron County. They identify specific groups and talk with them about how the library can help further their goals and work collaboratively with them. She says they've spoken to Agricultural Societies, BIAs and Chambers of Commerce, Friends of the Library, and they were planning to speak to several service clubs just before COVID arrived but they haven't got back to that yet.

She says part of what they do with the various clubs and service groups they talk with, is find out how they're serving youth in the community and find out if there is anything the library can do, like provide space or collections or anything else that might fit with what the library is already doing. These groups are already working with young people, so they ask if there's anything the library should know about what's working and what isn't working, and what the needs of the local youth are.

Rumble says reaching out to the community is a very important part of how they design their service. She says when they go out to the community it's not about what does the community need from the library, it's more about what are your aspirations for the community and then what can the library do to help them meet those needs. She's quick to add, they can't solve everything, but she says they can certainly tailor their service to address some of what they’re hearing.