Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The Princeton Public Library (PPL) approaches humanities-related work with the goal of broadening public access to humanities through programs, projects, collections, and more. Thanks to a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant, PPL is expanding community access to the humanities. Our philosophy is to combine multiple disciplines and public program formats to create numerous points of entry for the public to access humanities knowledge. Our broad approach diversifies and democratizes the kinds of knowledge the public can gain by creating multiple ways for the public to enjoy humanities content. PPL often plans around themes (like History of Science, racial literacy, and civic engagement) to create series that include public lectures, film screenings, and discussions; topical book and media collections; and topic guides including specialized reading lists. We hope to shape the future of humanities learning in public libraries. The implications of PPL’s work are twofold: enhanced understanding of the humanities within our community, and demonstrating a successful model for others. Positive feedback, robust attendance at programs, and good circulation numbers demonstrate the impact of this work locally. PPL strives to provide a replicable model for other public libraries. Information and method sharing is an important aspect of our work.