Storytelling with Impact: Using Data and Community Voices to Strengthen Your Library

Libraries collect meaningful data every day, but data alone rarely inspires action. This webinar explores how to combine quantitative evidence with authentic community stories to communicate your library's impact, advocate for resources, build partnerships, and engage stakeholders. Drawing from real-world examples from libraries and community initiatives across North Carolina, participants will learn a practical framework for identifying compelling stories, incorporating publicly available and local data, and tailoring messages to different audiences - from funders and policymakers to community members and staff. Whether you're writing a grant, presenting to a board, or sharing your library's successes, you'll leave with strategies for creating stories that are both evidence-based and memorable. 

Presenter: Erin Huggins is the Associate Director of Program Evaluation and Education Research (PEER) at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University and recently completed her Ph.D. in Education Research and Policy Analysis. Her work focuses on participatory research, implementation science, and mixed-methods evaluation to strengthen digital inclusion, early childhood learning, educator development, and community resilience. Dr. Huggins partners with state agencies, public media, schools, libraries, and community organizations to translate research into action, with a particular emphasis on using storytelling as a tool to elevate community voices, inform policy, and drive meaningful systems change. She has presented nationally on storytelling, digital opportunity, and community-engaged research, helping organizations use authentic narratives to complement data and inspire action.

Learning Objectives:
-  Identify the essential elements of an effective, data-informed story that communicates library impact.
-  Locate and incorporate meaningful data sources, including library metrics, community data, and publicly available datasets, to strengthen storytelling.
-  Develop audience-specific messages that resonate with funders, policymakers, community partners, library boards, staff, and patrons.
-  Apply a practical storytelling framework to create a compelling story that highlights a program, service, or community partnership from their own library.
-  Recognize opportunities to use storytelling to strengthen advocacy, strategic planning, community engagement, and partnership development.