University of Illinois (Illinois Fire Service Institute Library)

The Illinois Fire Service Institute and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in partnership with the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois and School of Information Sciences at UIUC, will conduct a preliminary investigation into partnerships between libraries and community emergency response by focusing on three key areas: 1) types of emergencies that libraries have responded to in the past; 2) scope and nature of library-community partnerships; and 3) role of libraries during a crisis. The project will create case studies, survey libraries and community partners, and host a two Community Engagement Roundtables (CERs) with library staff, community partners, and participants from across the nation. A survey report, two CERs findings reports, and one project white paper will serve as project deliverables and their results will provide a baseline understanding of how libraries can establish and maintain successful partnerships with community emergency response groups during crises.