Project 

Community Outreach 

The New Sunset Park Library

brooklyn | new york | usa

PROJECT SCOPE: Community Engagement
PROJECT STATUS: Completed
CLIENT: Brooklyn Public Library

2017

Grain Collective was part of the team hired by the Brooklyn Public Library to gather feedback from Sunset Park residents, organizations, policymakers, service providers, and other stakeholders on the New Sunset Park Library project. Engagement has focused on both the design of the new space and the programming within Sunset Park’s new library.

The engagement process included:
3 large scale public workshops (in multiple languages)
13 meetings with stakeholders, and informal patron conversations along major corridors in Sunset Park
4 focus groups
200 survey responses at the branch from library patrons and staff.

Through these sessions, residents of varied ages and backgrounds provided input about the types of spaces, programs and services they rely on, and the program expansions they would like to see in the new library. They also provided ideas about facilities and operations, universal needs, and the overall culture of the library.

As evidenced from the gathered feedback, the Sunset Park community places as much emphasis on community gathering and programming as they do on library books and materials. Comments reflected the complexity with which the community is using this library and the importance they place on its growth and ability to meet the community’s many needs. Though the new library will be much larger, the new space will require flexibility to accommodate many uses.