Conference: Building Resilient Communities: A National Symposium that explores the role of public libraries in addressing local climate impacts

拟议的会议将召集图书馆领导、气候研究人员和教育工作者、公共卫生专家和非正式教育工作者，研究图书馆中气候相关项目的当前流行情况，以及图书馆如何利用环境健康的概念来创造与当地和文化相关的、面向变化的、公平的STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）学习经验。设计这些体验的目的是为了（而不仅仅是为了）他们的社区增强抵御能力和应对超局部气候影响的能力。会议将包括30名公共图书馆负责人、气候变化对环境影响方面的专家、公共卫生专家以及STEM教育和非正式学习方面的专家。拟议会议的目的是将公共图书馆、非正式STEM学习和气候变化科学领域的思想领袖和变革者聚集在一起，围绕图书馆和社区组织在应对气候变化引起的环境和健康相关问题方面可以发挥的作用，促进行动和研究。会议将通过记录当前的努力和利用与会专家为未来的研究、行动和规划提出建议来推进知识。非正式的教育环境，如图书馆，现在被视为一种尚未开发的教育资源。虽然博物馆环境中的研究和评价已大大增加，但仍在探索图书馆非正式学习的潜力。有必要研究现有的非正式学习模式如何帮助预测和理解图书馆环境中的学习结果。该会议项目旨在确定并为公共图书馆、气候和社区参与等领域的研究议程提出建议。对会议和相关成果的评估将植根于变革范式，该范式认识到人们日常生活中普遍存在的不平等和不公正，并认为研究和评估的作用是解决和缓解这些社会问题之一。该项目的具体可交付成果包括：全国会议或研讨会，四份背景报告，为会议奠定基础并确定当前的突出问题，为公共图书馆工作人员举办的网络研讨会，重点介绍项目和合作伙伴资源以及会议结果，一个网页，传播会议活动和产出，在区域和国家会议上的演讲，以及旨在支持和迭代项目工作的评估工具的开发。项目合作伙伴包括空间科学研究所的国家互动学习中心、网络枢纽、互动学习动力学和北卡罗来纳大学格林斯博罗分校。本次会议将以公共图书馆员为主要受众，重点关注贫困社区的公平和气候适应能力建设，并将进一步巩固公共图书馆作为公平访问的社区空间和STEM学习生态系统中的关键锚定机构的作用，特别是围绕气候变化、公共卫生以及与这两者相关的科学过程的错误信息等关键问题。本次会议项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划支持以下项目：(a)促进研究和实践，考虑非正式STEM学习在STEM公平和归属方面的作用；(b)促进个人和教育在STEM方面的成功；(c)促进公众参与科学发现；(d)培养对STEM职业的兴趣；(e)为有效的非正式STEM学习创造和加强理论和经验基础；(f)改善社区活力；及/或(g)加强科学传播和公众对STEM和STEM过程的参与和理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The proposed conference will convene library leaders, climate researchers and educators, public health experts, and informal educators to examine the current prevalence of climate related programming in libraries, and how the concept of environmental health can be used by libraries to create locally and culturally relevant, change oriented, and equitable STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning experiences. The intention is for these experiences to be designed with (not just for) their communities increasing resilience and the ability to address hyper-local climate impacts. The conference will include 30 public library leaders, experts in environmental impacts due to climate change, public health experts, and experts in STEM education and informal learning. The purpose of the proposed conference is to bring together thought leaders and change makers across the fields of public libraries, informal STEM learning, and climate change science to catalyze action and research around the roles that libraries and community-based organizations can play in responding to environmental and health-related concerns due to climate change. The conference will advance knowledge by documenting current efforts and utilizing the experts participating to make recommendations for future research, action, and planning.Informal education environments, such as libraries, are now seen as an untapped educational resource. While research and evaluation in museum settings has grown substantially, the potential of informal learning in libraries is still being explored. There is a need for research exploring how existing informal learning models can help predict and understand learning outcomes in a library setting. This conference project aims to identify and create recommendations for a research agenda across the area of public libraries, climate, and community involvement. Evaluation for the conference and related deliverables will be rooted in the Transformative Paradigm, which recognizes the pervasiveness of inequity and injustice in people's daily lives, and views the role of research and evaluation to be one of addressing and alleviating these societal problems. Specific deliverables for this project include: The national conference or symposium, four background reports to set the stage for the conference and to identify current salient issues, webinars for public library staff highlighting project and partner resources as well as the conference results, a webpage to disseminate conference activities and outputs, presentations at regional and national meetings, and the development of evaluation instruments meant to support and iterate on the project work. Project partners include the Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning, Web Junction, Interactive Learning Dynamics, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. With a focus on centering equity and building climate resilience in poorer communities, this conference targets the public librarians as the primary audience and will further cement the roles of public libraries as equitably accessed community spaces and critical anchor institutions in STEM learning ecosystems, particularly around the critical issues of climate change, public health, and misinformation about scientific processes related to both. This conference project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.