Beyond the Walls of the Library

During the fall semester last year, I took Community Informatics with Dr. Chris Hagar. For one of my assignments I looked at how SkokieNet.org, a web resource created and maintained by the Skokie Public Library, was building community. In doing so I got to know one of the best and brightest librarians in the country, Fran Roehm. Below is a little of what I learned about the website and librarianship.

SkokieNet is a Web site that passes community information and news to the residents of Skokie. Started in 1995, the driving force behind SkokieNet, Fran Roehm, likes to say, “We were Web 2.0 before there was Web 2.0.” Initially it was a way for members of the community to get information out to the rest of the community. This online bulletin board has grown into a full-service Web site, YouTube channel, Twitter feed, and Facebook page. It also includes a job resource, ChicagoJobTalk. So what's in SkokieNet? Anything and everything. Content can include the following:

• Community news Ranging from notifications of library and other municipal agency news to relocations of local businesses and updates on festivals, community news is wide-ranging but always focused on Skokie.
• Stories SkokieNet is often a voice for people with a story of interest to the people of Skokie. One example is a local Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust. 
• Transportation Whether a community member is a car driver or a mass-transit rider, everyone is updated on important road closures and CTA alerts.
• Images All this news could be one-dimensional without images. SkokieNet publishes many images, either with a story or by themselves.
• Events A forum for groups to announce its event is important. SkokieNet provides a central place for residents to learn what is going on in Skokie.
• Groups Information and news can be sorted by different groups. This way, users can better find what is of interest to them.

The staff at Skokie Public Library maintains SkokieNet. Using the content management platform, Drupal, the staff has been able to create a site that is easy-to-use and read. While the staff creates what the users see, much of the content is from the Skokie community. Herein lies the best part of SkokieNet: it is powered by the community for the community. SPL is the manager of the site, but much of what a user reads comes to SPL by members of the Skokie community. There are even people with no computer experience who send in handwritten strories. These are published by SPL staff thus giving all residents, whether digitally connected or not, a voice in the community.

SkokieNet’s presence on the Web goes beyond its site. Its Facebook page and a Twitter feed have been important, bringing SkokieNet to its audience. This more active method of getting the word out widens the scope of readers, making SkokieNet more effective. These two services also have served as back-ups in case SkokieNet goes down. When the site was hacked and consequently taken offline, SkokieNet’s presence on these social-networking sites served as temporary but effective outlets Skokie news.

Ultimately SkokieNet is about the people and the community, not the technology that goes into it. “I do see it as about people, and the technology is a means of connecting us,” says Fran. These days technology changes rapidly. Because of this it can only ever be a tool not the focal point of building community. Fran says, “I love what we are able to do with technology, but the technology is the tool or vehicle for doing these things, and in ten years there will be new technology, but we will still be serving people.”