Social Innovation in Libraries explores how libraries harness their role as civic connectors to creatively and inclusively address community challenges. By collaborating with local organizations, entrepreneurs, and residents, libraries serve as laboratories for testing new approaches to digital equity, literacy, workforce development, and community wellbeing.
Today’s libraries are redefining innovation—not through collections alone, but through people-centered practices that foster connection, experimentation, and belonging. As welcoming “third places,” libraries offer opportunities for socializing, learning, and creativity, where librarians act as guides and facilitators of change.
This session will highlight key types of social innovation in libraries, including participation, outreach, partnership, learning, and creative making. Participants will explore foundational principles of social innovation, strategies for communicating (“selling”) the concept within their organizations, and share their own innovative practices. Together, we will celebrate the library’s evolving role as a social innovator and consider implications for future library leadership.
