Transitioning and Sustaining Community Connection During COVID

Catie Carlson / Library Director University of Cincinnati

Kathy Ladell / Reference Librarian University of Cincinnati

Abstract: Entering a higher education institution as a new library employee often means identifying your role, allies, and methods to reach the community served. Identifying and reaching out becomes even more challenging when employee attrition results in a large loss of institutional knowledge. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced an academic library to shut down physical services, traditional means of establishing relationships with the community were further complicated. This case study explores this library’s successes and failures in reaching out to a community during the high- stress, remote teaching and learning situation brought on by the pandemic. The authors conclude that successful community-building should emphasize people and synchronous social interaction for the greatest impact.

Keywords: COVID-19, outreach, remote work, online, community-building Introduction

Library outreach plays a vital role in library advocacy. Outreach efforts help develop and rally a library’s community for the crucial moments that arise when advocacy is essential. Libraries—even academic libraries—work to serve their communities, and they often begin that relationship-building through various means of outreach. Every sector across the world felt the impact of COVID-19 throughout 2020, and libraries were no exception. As university campuses had to send students home and shift academics online,

27 Marketing Libraries Journal Vol. 5, Issue 2, Fall 2021

academic libraries had to similarly transition their offerings to the online environment. Library community relationships that may at one time have been largely dependent on physical space and presence on campus, as well as face- to-face interactions with faculty and students, were suddenly ripped away. In the world and the library community, new methods of engagement emerged to allow for the continuation of outreach and advocacy online.

In the chaos of expedience, those who were unexpectedly placed in online-only environments may have overlooked some best practices in online learning and communications. For instance, in online engagement it is important not to focus just on the online tools available, but on “our shared humanity and community” in navigating the world while online (Bessette, 2020, p. 9). This article seeks to describe one academic library’s journey establishing its humanity in an online world not only in the context of a global pandemic but also with an almost entirely new staff. Just as the pandemic began on a campus that had relied on face-to-face communications, the community could not engage with the new faces behind the library’s curtain of operations, creating unique hurdles for library employees in charge of library outreach and advocacy.

The pandemic marketing response at this library can be broken down into two phases. The first phase began when the crisis emerged, and it was defined by a rapid response to COVID-19, crisis communication, and organizational shifts in communication. As the library and its staff began to find its footing, methods of library marketing and outreach shifted to focus on meaningful community engagement that emphasized human interaction.

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