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San Diego Library Project Libraries throughout San Diego are facing significant budget cuts impacting library hours and service opportunities. Not only do these cuts limit hours and service opportunities, the cuts could lead to a decrease in staff and increase in wait time for all types of library services. Due to the challenging circumstances the libraries are facing, libraries are potentially forced to develop new ways to raise funds, limit costs, and provide programming. Whether in a thriving or insecure financial environment, libraries have the potential to play a critical role in community building and exist as a fundamental asset at the center of community life. Because libraries act as natural community centers, they have the ability to engage in a plethora of beneficial activities. Library staff and neighborhood leaders can work together to maximize library resources and in turn, support each surrounding community. Productive partnerships build an essential web of mutually beneficial relationships, which significantly contribute to the well being of an entire community. As more of these relationships develop, the local library acts as a facilitator for on-going community development, to engage the energy of a wide range of stakeholders. Robert Putnum (2003) says it best, "No longer a passive repository of books and information or an outpost of culture, quiet, and decorum in a noisy world, the new library is an active and responsive part of the community and an agent of change" (p 35). The Consensus Organizing Center (COC) is currently working with various funding sources in order to implement the San Diego Library Project. Over a three-year period, the COC plans to work closely with three to five libraries that have expressed interest in engaging in the Consensus Organizing approach and a willingness to develop community-based efforts to support their libraries. Working in partnership with the community sector, as well as with other public services, each effort will be resident motivated, unique to its library and surrounding community, and driven by the goal of making the library an available and sustainable space for community involvement, activities, and decision making. The San Diego Library Project was developed out of an internship with the Administration/Community Develop Track in the SDSU MSW program. Placed at the Linda Vista Branch Library, the intern helped create the Linda Vista Homework Helpers, a Young Adult Council, and programming for One Book One San Diego, a partnership between San Diego Public Library and KPBS. This work allowed the intern to experience first hand, the process of engagement with libraries and their surrounding communities.
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