Episode 14: Connecting Community Through Libraries and Access with Ferguson Library CEO, Alice Knapp

This week on Rooted in Impact, host Ashley Gaudiano sits down with Alice Knapp, CEO of The Ferguson Library, to explore how public libraries are evolving to meet the changing needs of their communities. The conversation highlights the library’s role as a trusted community hub—connecting residents to information, technology, services, and opportunities that foster learning, belonging, and support.

Listeners will gain insight into how modern libraries serve as essential community infrastructure, helping reduce barriers to access while creating spaces where individuals and families can learn, grow, and feel connected.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome back to Rooted in Impact. Today I'm joined by Alice Knapp, CEO of the Ferguson Library and this year's recipient of United Ways 2026 Community Catalyst Award. This award recognizes leaders who don't just serve their communities, but actively strengthen and connect them. And Alice's work is a powerful example of that. Under her leadership, the Ferguson Library has been reimagined as more than a place for books. It's a trusted community hub that connects residents to technology, resources, education, and opportunity. Today we'll talk a little bit about how libraries are evolving to meet community needs, expand access, and foster belonging, and how Alice's leadership continues to drive that impact across Stanford. Alice, thank you so much for being here and congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. Oh, thank you. Thank you. We're glad to have you. And we're gonna jump right in, starting a little bit with just the concept of libraries and how they've changed over the years. So can you start with describing the role of a modern library?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

You know, in some ways, it's very similar to the role of a traditional library or, you know, a 1980s, early 1990s library, but then it's expanded so much. So, you know, if we look at what our mission is, it's to provide access, to provide access to information, to provide access to the arts, to provide access to humanities. And in many ways, that hasn't changed. The the mode of how we answer the questions might have changed dramatically. But in doing so, that's also given us great opportunities. So if I look, if I were to look back at a library from the 1990s or even the early 2000s, what you would see is a book warehouse. You would see rows and rows of books, mainly here just in case or just um as opposed to just in time. And uh they uh the reference collections were huge. And we still have, especially at the main library, a fairly substantial reference collection, but the bulk of that reference material is now online and digital. It's all digital, it's in our databases. So if you want to look up um, you know, when your family moved to Stanford back in 1946 and and see and try to find them in the Stanford Advocate, you can do so because that's all been digitized. Um and in and the same thing with a lot of the references, you know, like and it and I I'm dating myself when I say like the type of periodicals, you know, where you would look up articles and stuff like that. Well, now you can go into our databases and you can look them up and you can still really get a nice bibliography of material for your research. Um, and then we have the business references and stuff like that. So those are still there, and our our librarians are still answering those questions, but um a lot of it people are can do from their home. So they may be an avid library user who never walks through the library doors.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

And then and so in that way we've expanded our footprint and our access. And even now, our popular material, so much of it, about a third of the materials that we circulate are virtual. So the popular ebook, e-audio, streaming movies, um, those are all, you know, if if you live in Glenbrook and it's not easy to get to um one of our library branches or Japan or up in the ridges, you can still use the library and just download the material.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Um yeah, which I'm sure, right, makes a huge difference to your point in access and opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Opportunity. But by the same token, so you know what I I tell people is like last year, 491,000 people walked through our doors of all of our branches. In Stanford, Connecticut, 481,000. Yes, 200,000 more visited us virtually. Oh, wow. Yeah, and and you know, some of those are obviously the same people, but that's so we but it is so in addition to our walk-in business, they have it. So we've always had which I called the newspaper clutch people who come in at, you know, if you whether the library opens at nine or ten, if it opened at eight, they'd all be grouped there and come in and get the newspaper. We still have those folks um who do that. We still have the families who stroll in with their kids during the day. And this is the field trip for the day, they're coming to the library, whether there's a story time or not. We all were there at one point or another, not too long ago. Yeah, exactly. Um, we still have those folks. But in addition, um, and this was is true in all of our branches, we have folks who will come down, and because we have great Wi-Fi, fast, stable Wi-Fi, they'll bring their own equipment and walk through the doors, and they'll go out for lunch at noon and then come back in the afternoon. And in in many ways, we are like their office. It's their co-working space. We're a co-working space, yeah. And we like to say we're a co-working space before you can afford a co-worker. For the startup. Yes. And and so the what has changed is libraries used to always be quiet, although I think since I've been in the business, they've never truly been quiet. But now what we find is that we need sound separation because the person who's coming in and working during the day may need to take a Zoom call. And so, where are they going to go within the building to take that Zoom call so they're not bothering other people? Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

We can all remember being in a library, having a librarian tell us to be quiet, right? It's very much an image. But now we have pods and rooms, and right, you've had you've had to evolve to be able to offer space for multiple needs.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Multiple needs. And then where does the that small co-op condo group go to meet the the board? Where do they go to meet? Where do small neighborhood associations go to meet? And so you know, we I was just putting together these statistics for somebody else. Between Harry Bennett and the main library, our small meeting rooms have been used close to a thousand times, and we still have you know a couple months left in our fiscal year. So it's pretty amazing the amount of people who just come in. They may only need us for an hour, but then they go out again.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

But the library serves that purpose. And so what else do you see, right? That's that's um the library serving as space, that's the library serving as an access point to books and technology and Wi-Fi. What other services are you both seeing from a need perspective of people who walk through your doors? And how are you meeting those needs?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah, so coming out of COVID, um, and this has been borne by some of the national studies. People, we were doing a strategic plan, and what we heard from people is they felt alone and isolated, and they wanted to connect to community. So, one of the big things that we see our role is is a way for people to connect in community. So, a a good example is um Wednesday night, we we with Connecticut Public Broadcasting, we had an author come in and talk about his latest book on Sam Shepherd. Um, and we there are people who are hungry to hear about culture and the humanities and what made this person such a great actor and playwright. And of course, we wanted to hear the gossip because he, you know, we dated Patty Smith and Jessica Lang. You could get a little bit of fun out of that too. You get a little bit of fun out of it. Um, but you going, you know, there was a reception beforehand where people gathered to talk. There afterwards, there was a signing where people gathered to talk, and there was a real hunger for people to connect.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Yeah, to be together, right? I don't think that has gone away, right? We we for sure experienced that. And to your point, there are studies and so much research about what COVID did to that social isolation concept, and I still think people are craving that community and that togetherness.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

They really are, and then it's the parent who comes in for story time, you know. There was a cute story um where uh up at the Harry Bennett branch, we had our weekly story time, and afterwards there was a one-year-old birthday party right in the middle of the story time pit, and we didn't know anything about it. The parents just got together and and and planned. A party at the library. And they were all there because they and that's where they're meeting and connecting together. Um, we've been working very closely with the city of Stanford, the Interfaith Council, and Vita on common ground, which is really how do we have conversations where we can find the common ground in this age of divisiveness? How do we relearn how to talk to one another, to do storytelling together? And you know, when we started talking about this, I really thought you we're not gonna get that many people. You know, this is but it'll be fine because the people who come are craving this. Right, and we'll want it and need it. Yeah. What we found is that we the first one we had over 40 people come, the second one we had over 70 people come. Wow. And there's a real yearning to talk about the values that matter to us, and what we somehow see we're seeing attacks on those values and and feeling hopeless about it. So, how can we come together to form that common ground and become that community again? And uh, you know, we it's we in June, I think it's June 10th, we're having a unity breakfast with here at the library. It's the city of Stanford with the AGC that are sponsoring it. But it's um part of that is around that how do we form that core again? And then that I think it is, you know, if someone told me, you know, back at the beginning of my career, I'd be worried about these things. Um I I don't know that I would say, you know, this this is an important driver, and now I see it as a very important driver. Using our collections and that to give that our thirst for knowledge, how does that bring us all together?

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Yeah, and the library is a powerful place and convener for that to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Alice, we're gonna take a quick break. When we return, we'll continue our conversation here in Rooted in Impact.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

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SPEAKER_02 12:32

Welcome back, Alice. We are going to kind of take where we just landed, talking about values and the role uh that the library can play in helping to foster dialogue and really dive into community connection. And turn to how you work to ensure that the library is able to remain responsive as both community needs evolve and also kind of the broader landscape, whether it's the state landscape or the national landscape, um, how does the library play a role in remaining responsive to those things?

SPEAKER_01 13:11

What a great question. Um I and I would say it's changed over the years. You know, the libraries, the traditional 20th century library, I would say was very, very prescriptive. We know the books that are best for you to purchase. We we we know the services that are best to provide. And I think the twin the biggest difference in a 21st century library is we spend a lot of time listening to the community. So every three years, we go out and we we've just completed this process. I haven't seen the results yet. But we have we have we'll bring you back when you have the results. Results, yeah. We have community conversations, and and it's a it's a series of five to six conversations where we really ask pretty abstract conversation, uh questions, like you know, what do you want for your community? Um this this year the question was if Stanford was a color, what would it be? And what would you want it to be? Right. And then you you get people talking about what they want from their community. And then we boil it down from there, and and and maybe eventually we'll get to one or two questions about the library, but we're really asking about the community, um, driving down into that public knowledge. Um and that will inform every now and then we'll change our, we'll tweak a word or two in our mission statement, but it'll definitely form our vision statement. And then our goals for the next three to five years, and the strategies that we're going to approach. So it's very much rooted in what the community is telling us. Um, and then then the last um one that we did was coming out of COVID, and that's when we heard about isolation and how community was important. And that really has been our driver. It's changed some of our policies. It's changed when we look at talk about our 10-year comprehensive plan for our facilities, it was those conversations that led to our strategic framework that drove what we're doing in our buildings now.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Right. And your facility planning to make space, to change space, right? To be that hub. Um, I love that question, right? What do you want from your community? What do you want for your community? And thinking about that for all of us as nonprofits, right? Making sure we're asking that question and and then taking that information and using it to drive strategic planning, program implementation, right? All of those pieces. So I applaud you for approaching it that way.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah, and and this is really based um out of the Hardwood Institute. I know United Way has a relationship with the Hardwood Institute. Yeah, we do. Uh you know, 2013, I went to an innovators lab, and since that time, we've been sending two people a year to it. So hopefully our staff is steeped in that thought process as well. Um, and then they also have the ability to do some facilitation themselves. So we don't have to always rely on outside consultants to do this. We can do it.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

We have staff who are trained. Yeah, that's fantastic. Alice, as we wrap up, you know, you've been at the Ferguson Library for a little bit of time. Um what are you most proud of, right? If you are looking back at your career, what are you most proud of?

SPEAKER_01 16:43

You know, I think one of the things I'm most proud of is the library team that's here now and their work they're doing on a daily basis. But I say that is before the last 10 years, um, before it was cool, and then it became cool, and now it's not cool anymore. Um, we've really been focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion and and and belonging, I would say. And how do we make sure the staff here represents the community? How do we make sure that you know my implicit bias doesn't impact um the policies? Staff's implicit um biases don't impact policies. How do we make ourselves so that we're more open to the community? And um, we've had some really tough internal conversations around this. We've changed our hiring practices, we've changed our policies. I mean, uh like um I think Connecticut is almost uh 100% fine-free. There's still a couple of libraries that still have fines for late books.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

There are. There's about 20 because I serve in a uh legislative capacity in my town, and we were one of the 20-ish towns who still have fines. And I am proud to say we are now going to be a fine-free community.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Oh, that is fantastic. And this has been a goal, you know, at the Connecticut Library Association level. But we were um we signed a pledge with the Urban Library Council and said we're gonna be fine free. Um and it is that's really game-changing. Um, but having automatic renewals means that the number of overdue books actually go down tremendously. Oh, that's interesting. So you're open to the community. The other thing we we've done is understanding that we're not in all the neighborhoods we should be. And so what can we do in the short term? Right. We have our linked library program, which uh student ID is uh library card number, and children can place a hold on a book and we'll deliver it to the schools. Oh, okay. Right because again, access. It's access. And that was one of the real reasons to get rid of the fines, is the children were the ones who had the most fines. Why? Because they have to rely on their parents to get here. Absolutely. Right. Absolutely. So we were punishing the wrong people, and we really do care about early childhood literacy. We want those third-grade death scores to go up. So why are we putting these roadblocks here?

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Right. You want kids to have books in front of them and books that intrigue them, right? And meet them where they're at. And um, the only way to do that is to make them accessible, right? And to remove any barriers that exist. So um it is very clear, Alice, why uh to me, and I hope to people who are listening to this, why you were chosen to be the community catalyst award for our gala this year. Um, can you just share briefly before we wrap how you think about leadership when it comes to building stronger, more connected communities?

SPEAKER_01 19:57

You know, I think often my job as a leader is to listen. You know, if I'm in a meeting, um often I'm I'm not the biggest voice in the room. My my staff may say differently, but but when I'm out in the community and I'm in a meeting, um, I'm listening, and then where are the where can you make the connections? Right. Um, it became clear, um, I think this was youth mental health, that there that Stanford is nonprofit rich. We have a really great community of nonprofits, but we also don't always know what all they all do. And when you're right, when you're in the moment, you know, you're trying to help people. And one of the products that came out of it was such a library product, it's called Stanford Connect. And it's a resource that you can look up and say, you know, I'm in in, you know, we start off talking, I think, talking about food insecurity. Um, you know, you can look and see where you can get food and and and filter it down to just that, or if mental health is what you need, you can filter it down just to that. So it's really meant for all of us not-for-profits to know what each other does, but it also works for those people who are in need as well. It's as it became a real resource for resource-rich for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

That's incredible, and all of it builds so well. Um, for sure, the theme I'm hearing is listening, learning from community, being willing to innovate, but never lose sight of the mission of the library and the deep desire to promote access, you know, in any in all forms. So um, it is a real privilege to sit here and hear from you. Um, I think we can all remember that first trip, right? Or fond memories of being in a library. Um, and so just thank you for giving your. Time to meet today. Thank you for everything you do for the community. And I hope people will join us at our gala to honor you on June 10th.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Oh, thank you very much. I look forward to seeing you in person on June 10th.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

To learn more about United Way of Coastal and Western Connecticut and how we support community partners, please visit us at UnitedWayCWC.org or follow us on social media. I'm Ashley Gadiano, and this is Rooted in Impact. Thank you for listening.