Welcome to LIS-694 - Tools for Community Advocacy

Summer 2017 - May 22 through June 30

Course description: Community advocacy requires efficient and effective communication about issues that affect libraries. This combines original research, synthesis of existing research, opinion canvassing, and speaking to local and broader-based stakeholders. All of this information must be collated and presented in ways that make a strong case for the desired result.

This course will examine techniques for doing, communicating and presenting this sort of research to support a particular population, library program or social issue. Students will learn to use online tools to collect and display data and to interleave statistics and storytelling to provide a compelling case for support of their chosen topic. Sample topics can include the digital divide, early childhood education, makerspaces in libraries, copyright reform, the library bill of rights or other topics of the students' choosing.