"Visibility for the organization also means getting the info to someone who can use it. It's a win-win situation.'"

--Frances Roehm
NorthStarNet Librarian,
Skokie Public Library

"NorthStarNet sounds too good to be true, but it is true."

--A Grateful Information Provider

Introduction
According to the United States Census Bureau, about half of our nation's population now lives in the suburbs. The nature of the suburban landscape poses challenges for librarians working to build community in part simply because residents in suburbia are more dispersed than city dwellers. In addition, social institutions-be they community clubs or governmental offices-are more widely separated and information about local concerns is harder to locate than it is in cities. As a result, a sense of community is more difficult to come by. That's not to say, in the words of Gertrude Stein, that "there is no there there" where the suburbs are concerned. On the contrary, suburbs can be varied, vibrant places with proud histories. Rather, it means that for suburbanites interested in finding information about their communities, getting "there" from here may require a greater effort. Suburban Chicago is a good case in point, as 1999-2000 ALA President and North Suburban Library System (NSLS) Director Sarah Long pointed out to us in a recent interview. Long characterized the difference between urban and suburban information seeking in this way:

If you live in Chicago, you have the Tribune, you have the Sun Times, you have

[local television stations], you have a city government, you have one city library. 

Everything is focused on the entity itself. If you live in the suburbs, everything is 

fragmented. You probably live in one suburb, and work in another, and shop in

a third. And, you're not really mindful of boundaries as you pass them. You need 

information that's really hard to get.

NorthStarNet From the Inside Out
The administrative offices for NSLS provide funding, logistical, and administrative support, servers and technical assistance, as well as guidance on the long-term direction of NSN. The system is led by Long, who first envisioned an electronic community network for her system as a replacement for what she refers to as the "ratty little file"-the difficult-to-maintain paper-based collections of community information resources that librarians gathered prior to computers coming to the fore. In the mid-1990s, Long worked with the State Library of Illinois to secure funding for what would become NSN. Although not involved in the day-to-day logistics of the network, her commitment to the power that community information can have in building communities is apparent in the work NSN does. 

Melissa Henderson, the Manager of NSN, oversees the day-to-day operation of the electronic community network. Although this position involves some technical know-how, Henderson sees it as "an outreach job, not a technology job." She works to bring more libraries into NSN. (Membership is not mandated by the system. This would undermine the decentralized nature of the network. More on that below.) In addition, Henderson helps member libraries add information providers (IPs), the NSN term for non-profit organizations, municipal agencies, and businesses that have sites hosted on the network. Her other responsibilities include developing curricula, policies, and procedures that improve NSN's effectiveness. 

While the concept and the funding for NSN originated at North Suburban, Suburban Library System (SLS) is also a primary partner in the network. Such cross-system collaboration is a rarity but has been a boon to NSN in a number of respects. For example, the State Library of Illinois looks favorably on partnerships between library systems. This might prove useful as NSN looks for future funding. In addition, having more libraries involved in NSN helps to ensure its long-term sustainability. One of Long's goals is to make NSN "indispensable" and Suburban's involvement helps in that regard because the more communities become invested in the network, the more it can become a necessary tool in peoples' lives. Moreover, Suburban's participation in NSN is a "value add" in many respects. As Sheree Kozel-La Ha, the administrative consultant for Suburban's NSN members puts it: "Our participation has been good for NSN because I think it infused the network with energy. It encourages members to put a greater emphasis on marketing what NSN does, and it has brought more excitement to the system."

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A Distributed Model
The evolutionary path NorthStarNet has taken since its inception is one where form and function go hand in hand. Its service area spans six counties and 124 communities of varying sizes. There is no one center street that these communities are built around, no single governmental building that oversees the doings of the region's 1.6 million people. Rather, there are any number of main streets, shopping districts, libraries, and town halls. Therefore, it seems appropriate that the decentralized nature of the region be reflected in the organization of the regional information network. Unlike many of the urban networks that we have studied (for an example, please refer to our profile of Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Free-Net) where a more centralized community is served by a network originating from the city's main library, NorthStarNet's authority-like its constituency-is more spread out. This diagram, which the NSN staff uses in community presentations, gives a sense for how the network is structured. 
 

While the graphic depicts the NSN offices at North Suburban and Suburban at the top of the network, the individual member libraries are placed squarely at its center. This is not mere window dressing on NSN's part. Rather, this is how the system really works. This library-centered vision was evident in the pitch that Long made to community libraries when the program began: "We'll take care of the hardware and the software, but you're the frontline people. Your library is the one that is empowered to go out into the community." This approach is still the rule today as Henderson notes: "North Suburban never wants to be the focus. It needs to be the library that is the focus in each community." To fulfill this role, each member library designates a person or two to serve as NSN library coordinator (LC). The LCs serve as liaisons between NSN and their individual communities. They work to recruit new IPs and to offer support to current providers. At present, there are nearly 1000 IPs involved in NSN, ranging from local businesses to non-profit groups to government agencies. Each IP has a web page hosted on NSN that offers information on what the organization does, the services it offers, where it is located, key contact people, etc. 

Library representation in NSN decision making is assured through the participation of two library-oriented advisory boards. The Operations Advisory Committee (OAC) consists of a group of 11 LCs as well as Henderson from NSLS and SLS's Kozel-La Ha and Jenny Levine. OAC was formed after the NSN grew too large (there are currently over 60 member libraries) for decisions to all be made by group consensus. Therefore, NSN asked its more active, more vocal members to serve on the advisory committee. As Kathy Rolsing, the LC from the Park Ridge Public Library and member of the committee recalled, "Doing any kind of research or making decisions on something important was getting difficult in a group of over 60 coordinators. So we formed this advisory committee where we could discuss whatever was coming up among a smaller group." 

While OAC is composed of LCs who do the frontline work for the network, another group, the Policy and Planning Advisory Committee or PPAC, looks at larger issues facing NSN as a whole. PPAC is made up of directors from ten member libraries (along with administrators like Henderson and Kozel-La Ha from the library system offices). Henderson views the difference between PPAC and OAC in this way: 

The directors have a big picture view of the role NorthStarNet plays in their 

community and what a community information network is. Meanwhile, people

in OAC tend to focus more closely on their library's part of network. Perhaps

it evolved that way because library coordinators are the hands-on people who

actually get the phone calls from individual information providers who need

help while the directors are more free to take a longer view.

These meetings are intended to give participants in NSN a larger sense of

community and also, to emphasize how that can benefit them, being part of

this larger community information network. I also want people to feel a 

little bit more ownership of the whole and responsibility to the whole-not

just their site, but that their site is part of a larger project.

Many Roads to Community
While the various member libraries all share in NSN's mission of using the Internet to build community, the specifics of how they go about accomplishing this goal varies considerably from library to library. This level of autonomy is a hallmark of NSN. And it pays off because this freedom means that each individual library has greater flexibility to reflect its community online. One result of library autonomy is that NSN comes across not as one large site but rather as a gateway to a collection of smaller community sites that are referred to as Communities on the Web. Under the NSN umbrella you'll find links to sites like LaGrange Community, NorthStarNet Arlington Heights, the Park Ridge Community Network, and SkokieNet. All of these sites are housed on the NSN server and coordinated by LCs at member libraries and yet they all have their own domain names, their own look and feel, and, to a certain extent, their own policies and procedures. 

Such an approach can occasionally be something of a double-edged sword. Because member libraries have a great amount of latitude to determine the form that their Community on the Web will take, some inconsistency across the system is inevitable. For example, some member libraries are very much invested in NSN and have LCs on staff for whom the network is a primary responsibility. In those instances, the NSN community sites tend to be quite well developed, with more extensive and up-to-date content and more vital relationships with community groups that serve as information providers. At the other end of the spectrum are less active libraries. In these cases, the library's LC has less time, and perhaps less interest, to spend on NSN. These are LCs who in Henderson's words "have NorthStarNet as one of twelve things they do in their library." Likewise, because libraries usually set their own policies regarding look and feel, content, etc., the network is less cohesive than it might otherwise be. In fact, on many of the network's sites, there is no visual element or text that suggests that the page being viewed is part of NSN. As a result, the casual user might not realize what a powerful, comprehensive tool is available to them and information providers don't necessarily get the added credibility that comes from being a part of a larger network. 

Henderson views the plusses and minuses of a distributed information network philosophically: "There are so many things in life where you have great benefits from a certain type of system, but also an equal number of challenges. Our system isn't the easiest way to do things. It's not. But it probably is the best way." After all, without a great deal of autonomy, member libraries would not have the flexibility to create sites that best reflect their individual communities-a capability that Henderson views as NSN's greatest strength: "The biggest advantage NorthStarNet has is the fact that the libraries are very attuned to what goes on in their community and they want to be." 

Here are two examples that show the different forms that library membership in NSN can take: 
 

Park Ridge Community Network
Kathy Rolsing, the library coordinator for the Park Ridge Public Library strives to guarantee that her community's NSN site, the Park Ridge Community Network, be embraced not only by the library but by the larger community as well: "We didn't want people to say, 'Oh, that's that library project that they're working on over there.' Instead, we wanted them to say, 'That's the Park Ridge Community project.'" To build community buy-in, Rolsing has gathered together important players from the Park Ridge area-including representatives from the school system, the park district, city hall, and the chamber of commerce-to serve as an advisory committee for the network. Rolsing describes the character of the advisory committee in this way: "It's a place where we can ask important questions about the role of the Park Ridge Community Network. What do we want for our community? What are your ideas? How can we improve our sites? How can we attract more information providers?" Our research team had a chance to sit in on an advisory committee meeting during our visit and we saw just how important committee meetings could be in the generation and sharing of ideas. Oftentimes, one committee member would mention a procedure that worked for her, followed by the sound of scratching pens as others made notes to themselves to try it.

Rolsing also notes that the committee stands by her when decisions have to be made that affect Park Ridge's 110 IPs: "I always know that if I ever have a problem with enforcement of policy or creation of policy, the community will back me up. I've always got the advisory committee behind me so that people can't say, 'That was Kathy's stupid decision. I don't agree with it.' I always have them there." Not only do committee members diffuse potential problems, they also serve as ambassadors to the community, increasing the public's awareness of the network. 

One challenge that Park Ridge, like all of NSN's member libraries, faces is finding ways to make it easier for community groups and businesses-many of which are not particularly Internet savvy-to create web pages that explain their organizations' missions and activities. Rolsing offers her IPs a particularly innovative solution to this problem. She links organizations that want web sites with budding web designers from the computer club at the local high school. For a very reasonable fee, these students will create web sites for IPs. 

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SkokieNet
With SkokieNet, the Skokie Public Library takes a different approach to providing online community information than does Park Ridge (or, indeed, most of the other NSN member libraries). Rather than focusing on encouraging neighborhood organizations and businesses to build their own web pages, SkokieNet maintains an online directory of organizations. Frances Roehm, the LC for SkokieNet, describes how it works: "We have volunteers who assist us in gathering information from local organizations. And we enter it-also with the help of volunteers-into an Access database. After that, using a template, we create basic web pages for these groups." As a result of these efforts, SkokieNet now boasts 500 organization directory listings. Most listings feature contact information for the organization in question as well as hours of operation, a brief description of what the group does, and in many cases, an email link. Maintenance of the database is fairly labor intensive for the library. However, this approach came out of a realization about the community organizations that SkokieNet serves. As Roehm notes, 

Many of our information providers are small clubs, businesses, or non-profit organizations 

that have no one on hand to do Web work. And, the groups feel overloaded with their other 

responsibilities anyway. Therefore, it's a big help to them to get even basic information out

there through SkokieNet's directory listings.

Perhaps Roehm's appreciation for the challenges that IPs face comes in part from the fact that she is not simply a library coordinator, she is also an information provider. Roehm oversees ChicagoJobs.org, a very extensive resource for locating employment in the Chicagoland area that is hosted by NSN. 

NSN Means Business
NSN hosts pages for local businesses as well as those for non-profits and government agencies. As with many things on the network, member libraries choose whether or not to invite businesses to join their Community on the Web. While some member libraries feel that free server space should only be made available for the non-profit community, others embrace a business presence on their sites. As Rolsing puts it, "As far as we're concerned, businesses are part of the community. They pay taxes. Our philosophy was, how could I not have the chamber of commerce involved? How could we eliminate the business community and expect this to be a viable method?" In addition, Henderson notes that many of the suburban communities that NSN serves do not have a central location with "a boy's club or a garden club. But, oftentimes, there are a lot of businesses in these areas." Therefore, in these communities businesses are a natural constituency for NSN. 
 

Too Good to Be True?
To get a better sense for the type of impact that working with NSN has on local organizations, we conducted several information provider focus groups. One participant had a particularly memorable comment: "NSN sounds too good to be true, but it is true." And, certainly, the free server space, technology training, and exposure that many organizations garner through their association with NSN seem almost unbelievable at times. And yet, the benefits, both for IPs and the libraries they work with, are quite real. Here are a few of the many success stories we uncovered over the course of our research:

• According to an officer at a municipal police department, his relationship with his NSN library has made a major difference in the department's community policing efforts. Working with his library coordinator, he has developed a series of workshops on Internet crime and safety.
• A local chapter of a choral group notes that their NSN web site has served as an effective recruitment tool for new singers.
• A staff person from a local historical society indicates that her group receives frequent requests for information via email: "I can't believe all the wonderful people we've met through the Internet. The other day, we received a note from someone who said, 'Thank so much for all your help in my search. I've been looking for this information for years. You've given me new avenues to explore.'"
• A representative from an area parenting organization told us how her group took a member's extensive list of area activities for families and made it available on their NSN web site. By making information that would otherwise be hard to get readily available, the group is better able to serve its clientele.
• Many organizations use their NSN hosted web pages to give the public a better sense for the work that they do. For example, a member of a local chapter of the Lion's Club feels that his organization can make itself more "relevant to the world" by advertising their public service activities (e.g. the free eyeglasses and eye exams they provide for the needy) online. Similarly, a member of an area chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars believes that the group's web site can be used to change public perceptions of the VFW: "We want to promote ourselves and defy the stereotype of a bunch of old guys sitting around. We do quite a bit of community service. A number of us volunteer at the local school."

A Different View of the Library
As we have seen, it is certainly the case that local organizations can alter public perceptions of their groups through their association with a library-based community network. Interestingly enough, the reverse is also true: a library can transform its public image by working with local groups to create a community network. Long told us a story that makes this point nicely. One day a library director came to her, overjoyed by the way in which the local business community had warmed to her library due to its participation in NSN. She told Long, "Finally the chamber man is coming to me." The library had proven itself to the chamber of commerce through its community building and Internet savvy. Steve Moskal, the director of the La Grange Public Library shared a similar story: One day, I was sitting in a LaGrange Business Association meeting minding my own business, and someone asked, 'When are we going to get our web site?' His friend responded by saying, 'That guy over there in the pink shirt, Steve, he's going to build our web site for us.' That's when I knew that I'd suddenly been catapulted into being this technology wizard. What is it about NSN that has brought about this elevation in the status of librarianship? Kozel-La Ha of Suburban Library Systems has a theory: I remember being part of a small library and wanting the respect of the whole community. And yet, I knew that this wasn't really a possibility because for so many people, I had nothing to offer. But now, being at the center of NSN, we get that respect. And, in some cases, respect can translate into very concrete public support. For example, the Ela Area public library recently passed a referendum by a scant 94 votes. The library's director is convinced that the measure wouldn't have passed if the library hadn't developed a strong relationship with community agencies and organizations through its work on NSN. 

For more information on the NorthStarNet, the Park Ridge Community Network, and SkokieNet, please refer to their web pages.

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