When New Mexico libraries finally return to pre-pandemic hours and services, many will offer even more resources than they did in the past, especially to entrepreneurs.
Public libraries are ideal places to nurture people who want to start their own businesses: They are community hubs with deep roots, and local librarians are portals to knowledge, tools, and ideas that can create jobs, build the local work force, and drive development. Libraries are trusted, safe and welcoming spaces that offer culturally and economically diverse patrons free access to computers with internet access, meeting rooms, and other spaces where entrepreneurs can meet and brainstorm.
Libraries can be entrepreneurial centers in some of the same ways business incubators are, because they provide networking opportunities, vast resources and a platform for information sharing. And they can support the next generation of entrepreneurs without the expense of building, maintaining and managing a separate, limited-use facility.
Such initiatives that broaden the use of public infrastructure as a means of economic development are not new in New Mexico.
The Loma Colorado Public Library created a business hub in Rio Rancho by inviting local resource providers, such as WESST — a statewide business development and training organization, to hold workshops at the library. Rio Rancho Mayor Greggory Hull, a former business owner, spoke at one library-based networking session to offer a firsthand account of what it takes to run a business.
Other communities have asked for help from Creative Startups, a nonprofit organization whose Libraries as Launchpads program teaches librarians and local educators how to better serve creative entrepreneurs. Each year, Creative Startups selects several community libraries to host its online LABS program, which guides aspiring business owners from idea to business model to growth. Local librarians help participants access the internet and become part of the program. Once engaged, participants interact with program leaders and other participants who follow the same six-module curriculum.
The Urban Libraries Council, a library advocacy organization, worked with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes entrepreneurship, to create a framework by which municipal libraries can expand offerings to business creators. It’s in keeping with the Kauffman Foundation philosophy that lack of knowledge about where to begin and difficulty navigating licensing, legal requirements, taxes and insurance are surmountable barriers to entrepreneurial opportunity.
The New Mexico Municipal League’s Grow It program has similar ambitions. It has identified and mapped community-based entrepreneurial resources throughout the state and created a database for every New Mexico municipality to post on its own Grow It page. Members of the League’s Library professional group have access to custom bookmarks that direct local library visitors to their Grow It business resource page.
As business owners and entrepreneurs recover from the pandemic, they may only need to look as far as their local library for help.
Visit the Municipal League’s Grow It website. Read the Kauffman Foundation/Urban Libraries Council’s Leadership Brief: Strengthening Libraries as Entrepreneurial Hubs
Finance New Mexico article 681