How Libraries Are Becoming ‘Sustainable’
An ambitious goal of "making choices that are good for the environment, make sense economically, and treat everyone equitably."
Local Institutions
58 posts
Florida Man!
How a regional Florida newspaper informs its citizens and encourages activism.
Reading Banned Books Out Loud
When books themselves come under assault, public read-outs give new voice to the choir of believers. A note from the nation’s capital during Banned Books Week.
Libraries in the Age of Book Bans
Across the country, libraries are coming under political pressure. Here is how they are upholding their role as anchors for their communities, 'Open to All.'
Driving Regional Transformation through Inclusion
The Arras Foundation in Lancaster, South Carolina, is using resident input and data to empower whole-of-region progress.
How a Foundation Transforms the Well-Being of Residents
Our Towns' Ben Speggen talks with the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation team to discuss how the Foundation is empowering community development, has transformed a former grocery store into an innovative hub for nonprofits, and more.
How a Community Center Helps a Town Rise Again
Residents of Fort Lawn, South Carolina used a community development model to identify 51 actionable goals to improve their town. Today, they’re checking off the list, one by one.
Global Effort Takes Libraries to the People
Libraries Without Borders finds innovative ways to meet community residents where they are to provide equitable access to the range of services today’s libraries offer.
A Library Garden Celebrates Reading, Art, and Nature
In 2015, Dillsburg, Pennsylvania relocated the town's library to a bigger space to better serve its growing population. A year later, when tragedy struck, the community stepped up to grow the library to include a reading garden.
![Historical view of the Amphitheater at the Chautauqua Institution in New York, scene of Friday, Aug. 12's attack on Salman Rushdie. [Image from New York Public Library via Wikimedia Commons.]](https://www.ourtownsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Section_of_Amphitheater_Chautauqua_Institution_Chautauqua_New_York_NYPL_b12647398-79479.jpg)
What Happened at Chautauqua, and Why It Matters
Friday, Aug. 12, an assailant rushed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution. He stabbed Salman Rushdie in the neck and abdomen. Rushdie was not the only victim in this attack.
Inside Our Towns: Project Fighting Chance
Evan Sanford and James Fallows talk with Ian Franklin and Terry Boykins about Project Fighting Chance -- a boxing gym that is more than a boxing gym in San Bernardino. They discuss how it got started, how it has grown, and an immediate challenge it faces today.
A Remarkable Woman Builds a Remarkable Library
This is the story of how a late-1800s free public library built by Amelia S. Givin in Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania continues to bring the region together today.
How Powerful Stories are Rebuilding a Church
This is the story of Elias Van Buren Parker and how today’s telling of his story has the power to pull the town of Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania from its early glory days, then decline, back to new days of glory.
Building Bridges within and among Communities through Stories
Not all bridges are physical. The ways communities are connecting with one another, and themselves, is happening differently in light of COVID-19 and with new tools like OurStoryBridge: an online platform that captures and houses community stories.
Libraries Lead the Way—Again
Every aspect of civic life has involved reinvention and adjustment, through this pandemic era. One of America's most "traditional" institutions has adjusted fastest and best.
Learning to Expect the Unexpected
Anythink Libraries Serve Adams County Through a Spirit of Hospitality and Innovation