Flopped?

Well my first venture to try a world cafe didn't go over well. I brought together a community group and they were very excited about the library as a center for community engagement. However, they weren't as interested in the idea that I thought had brought us together: a community discussion of a recent event where the police had removed folks occupying a building. The community was pretty upset by the tactics used by the specific police. But the group I got together wasn't really interested in doing a community discussion about it.

But we did get some really wonderful programs out of it: a panel discussion with local activists about activism and a fantastic program led by a local poetry group about finding your voice in social justice issues.

I have since realized I just wasn't trained or well read enough in how to do the World Cafe style discussions so I really couldn't advocate for that type of thing. I think now that it is going to be a process to get to the point where we can do a World Cafe on a civic engagement issue.
As librarians we are so used to presenting a program and we've trained our community to expect to come to a program, not as much to participate in a discussion.

I'm going to try to get more training, get more reading done and then set out for a smaller goal. I like what was done by some libraries in California I just read about. They planned the dialogues around several holidays (Martin Luther King Jr. day, Cesar Chavez Day, etc.). This gave them their themes and perhaps a more receptive audience.

Anyway, thanks for listening to a bit of reflection and a chance for me to write to firm up some of my feelings. I'm glad this resource is out there.