Who is your community? I moved to Iowa City from Kentucky almost one year ago to begin working toward the joint English PhD and Master’s in Library Science at the University of Iowa. As an undergraduate, your community sometimes forms naturally, especially at a smaller university like the one I attended, through the people in your dorms and classes, your coworkers, and those you meet in clubs and student organizations. As a graduate student, I worried that moving several states away from the small area of Kentucky where I had spent my life would be lonely, but after a year in Iowa City, I have found the opposite to be true.

This summer, I am working as the Community Feedback Framework Intern for the Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation. In this position, I'm working on examining current best practices for how libraries can engage intentionally and effectively with the communities they serve. My final project for the internship will be putting together a report that will help guide the library through its community assessment process and help inform future library services, spaces, and programs. Day to day, I interview other non-profit and community leaders who have recently facilitated their own community and program assessments. I also research how other libraries have handled assessment programs and find ways to reach as many community members as possible for feedback. The main lesson from these meetings and research is that community assessment is, at its heart, a practice of relationship building. During my year in Iowa City, and especially in the last few weeks working with the ICPLFF, I have learned that this is a community that truly shows up.

At the beginning of May, the week before finals, I broke my ankle and was told I would need to have surgery to repair the bone. I was really scared when it happened. Not only was the timing inconvenient with the end-of-semester projects and teaching and the beginning of my internship, but I also live alone and primarily walk to commute. I did not know how I would get by; however, my community showed up. Friends, colleagues, and professors all reached out to offer their support in tangible ways, from helping me get to doctors' appointments to picking up groceries, and even just keeping me company while I was stuck in the house. It would have been easier for them to just send sympathy, but instead they went out of their way to make sure I did not struggle alone. 

Through my work with the Library Friends Foundation, I have seen that this is not unique to the small community I have built in my short time here at the university. Over the course of the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet with staff from libraries across Iowa, leaders of community organizations in Iowa City, and have been in extensive talks with team members at my internship site, and the one constant is the agreement on how much the Iowa City community cares. Sometimes being in community means not taking the easy road but doing more to make sure that those around you are safe, comfortable, healthy, and thriving. Making time to take someone to an appointment, showing up for focus groups, taking a community assessment survey—these are all small things that take extra effort, but they contribute to fostering a sense of community. I'm excited to be a part of this project with the ICPLFF because it allows me to be more in touch with Iowa City and witness the tangible ways this community makes that effort.