Glossary

Activity

An Activity is an action or actions through which the Intent of a project is accomplished. For LSTA, there are four types of Activities: Instruction, Content, Planning/Evaluation, and Procurement (Procurement Activities may only be used with an Institutional Capacity Intent).  Activities are further specified by Mode and Format. Activities accounting for at least 10 percent of the total amount of resources committed to the project must be included in your application.

Co-Design

The process of designing programs and services together with community members, instead of making decisions for community members. Co-design enables library workers to build strong relationships with the community and empowers community members to take a lead in the design and implementation of library programs and services. Co-design democratizes the design of services by equalizing the power dynamics between multiple community assets, making everyone partners in the design of programs and services. Inviting a group of teens to be part of a library’s Teen Advisory Board to co-develop, co-plan and co-implement library programs for teens in that community is an example of co-design. (Adapted from the “Our Philosophy” page of the VRtality website).

Community Aspirations

Shared hopes and ambitions directed toward achieving one or more goals in the community. Aspirations are often presented as a counterweight during discussions that may focus solely on “need” and/or “deficits.” 

(For more information about aspirations, see the Harwood Tools page on the California State Library website).

Community Connection

A community connection is a cooperating institution or agency with which the applicant works to achieve project goals but with which the applicant might not have a formal, signed agreement.

Community Needs

Needs are the gap between what is and what should be.  A need can be identified by an individual, a group, or an entire community. At the community level, the question becomes: what does the community need from the library?  The data that goes into that process is often complicated and layered, but at its core it is identifying a need that is within the service area of the library and identifying library activities and services that can be used to address that need.

(Adapted from the Community Tool Box, a service of the Center for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas, and from “Know Your Neighborhood: A Community Needs Assessment Primer” by Lisa G. Kropp).

Community of Practice

A community of practice is a group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems, or an interest in a topic, and who come together to fulfill both individual and group goals. Communities of practice meet regularly and often focus on sharing best practices and creating new knowledge to advance a domain of professional practice.

(Adapted from the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium).

Community Stakeholders

Community members and groups for whom the outcomes of library work are important. Community stakeholders include any individuals or groups, including end users, who see the library as valuable to solving community problems and addressing challenging issues related to the stakeholder’s role in the community. A school district may be a community stakeholder for an early literacy project, for example, because early literacy affects the work of school districts. 

Consultant

An individual providing professional expertise and advice that directly supports a project. A consultant might be involved in the implementation of one or more project activities, but their role does not include implementing a project as a whole.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Using facts, metrics, and other data and information to guide decisions relating to planning and implementing library programs and services.

Equity

Equity is providing fair treatment, access, and opportunity for the advancement for all people, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented full participation from some individuals or groups. Improving equity involves increasing justice and fairness within the procedures and processes of institutions or systems, as well as in their distribution of resources.

(Adapted from Worcester State University, “Definitions of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”).

Equity-Based Community Involvement

The practice of embedding equity at the center of all shared community programs, services, and efforts. Equity must be at the center of both the co-design process and program implementation, and not seen as an add-on.

(Adapted from the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative’s “A Guide to Centering Equity in Collaborative Community Work”).

Format

Formats are characteristics of a Mode. They provide further information about how an activity is delivered, created, or experienced, for example, in-person, virtual, or in-person-and-virtual as well as physical or digital.

Intent

An objective or expected result in a project. For LSTA, Intents are mapped to the six focal areas: Lifelong Learning, Information Access, Institutional Capacity, Employment and Economic Development, Human Services, or Civic Engagement. In terms of the grant application, your project may have only one Intent.

Library Development Services (LDS)

A Bureau of the California State Library. Library Development Services staff members administer state and federal grant programs for California’s libraries; develop statewide programs and initiatives; collaborate with local, state, and federal agencies; support library partnerships and resource-sharing; and collect, analyze, and disseminate library statistics.

Library Workers

All levels of library staff, including library directors and leadership staff members, as well as paraprofessionals such as library pages. 

Marginalized Populations and communities

Groups and communities that experience discrimination and exclusion (social, political and economic) because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions. (Adapted from the National Collaborating Center for Determinants of Health’s “Glossary of Essential Healthy Equity Terms”).

Mode

Mode represents how an activity is delivered, created, or experienced, for example, through a program or presentation, or through the act of lending or preservation. For LSTA, each type of Activity has specifically defined Modes.

Partner

A Partner is a cooperating institution, designated through a formal, signed agreement, which contributes resources (materials/funds/staff) to a project Activity or Activities. Organizations or individuals who are contractors under the project are not partners.

Partners and Partnerships

Groups with which a library has a formal agreement to conduct shared work toward common goals. Not to be confused with community connections, which are groups with which a library has a informal agreement to conduct shared work toward common goals.

Procurement

Used sparingly, this activity type involves purchasing equipment/supplies, hardware/software, or other materials (not content) that support general library infrastructure. This activity can only be used for projects with Institutional Capacity as the intent. Most purchases are not procurement activities in themselves, but rather are meant to support other activities, for example, purchasing laptops for a learning lab would be part of an Instructional Activity; subscription to a data collection service would be part of a Content Creation Activity.

Project

A set of discrete and interdependent activities carried out to achieve an intended outcome. Contains allocable resources (e.g., dollars spent, people responsible for accomplishing tasks, venue or service location(s), time spent).

Services

Specific services or resources acquired through a contract to a third party that are needed to fulfill the objectives of an LSTA grant project. Also includes individuals with whom awardees contract to support the implementation of a project.