UBC has a strong commitment to community engagement. It is enshrined in Place and Promise: The UBC Strategic Plan, and is also expressed through its ongoing commitment to the Learning Centre’s Statement of Purpose and Charter of Principles.
As part of the UBC Library, we know that engagement with community transforms service development, learning, and research – it creates commonality, sparks debate, inspires inquiry, encourages contemplation, fosters relevance, and advances excellence. The Learning Centre team is dedicated to ensuring that the Learning Centre fulfills UBC’s commitment and the Centre’s inspiring mission in ways that make sense to communities, respect community expertise, and provide value to community priorities.
How We Work
Learning Centre staff work with community in many different ways: we collaborate, we reach out, we consult. Our approach is always tailored to meeting mutually articulated goals and objectives.
Although we are not a grant-giving foundation there are some programs to which we contribute funding. Our priority is to make or facilitate connections that leverage networks and resources with similar goals. We encourage and support community-based research and learning that foster and build capacity within communities. Our place as part of UBC’s large research library helps us emphasize the role that well-curated information can play in building capacity. We often go beyond this role by , offering the means to collect, maintain and preserve information important to communities; and when appropriate, to make it openly accessible to the world on digital platforms.
Collaboration: Working Together
We love collaborating. We encourage and support innovation and the inclusion of diverse voices and points of view. It’s the way we prefer to work, finding organizations in communities and here at UBC with common interests and figuring out how we can work together to support each other. We view collaboration as a true relationship of equals, where we each bring unique value, create shared visions, and work together to achieve the same end, even if we’re often in it for different reasons.
Some forms of collaboration in which we have engaged include the Remote Community Based Learning Fund, the Indigitization Program and our strategic partnership with Entrepreneurship @UBC.
Outreach: Information Out
We see outreach as a basic approach to community engagement. It involves taking activities and services we’ve developed here on campus and making them available to the broader community, ideally for free. It also embodies initiatives that, as part of the UBC Library, seek to share information about UBC and its activities and benefits to the broader community. Some of our outreach activities include: supporting scholarly speaker series, the Small Business Accelerator program and promoting programming and events (both ours and those of our partner agencies) for community learning and related participation.
Consultation: Asking the Questions
Consultation is an important process for us. We do it formally, informally, and nimbly. We are always looking for insight and feedback from community members across the province. We want to know what they expect from the Learning Centre and UBC.
Let’s Work Together
We’re always looking for potential community partners. Please get in touch if you’re interested in discussing how we can support your organization or community initiative.