ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the differences between outreach and community development in the context of traditional and community-led service planning. Community development is a partnership between local communities and library services to meet community needs. A community-led approach shifts the role of the librarian from a person who gives information out to the community, to someone who actively listens to the community and learns about their needs. The Working Together Project recognized that while outreach had its place in the range of services provided by a public library, it tended to focus on the end product in terms of the delivery of the service to the community. In Essex, the Home Library Service visits people who are unable to reach the library because of disability, age or long-term illness. Managerialism is achieved using a carrot and stick approach via incentives for both service providers and local communities: discouraging and rewarding different behaviours.
