Libraries as Civic Hubs: Dialogue, Deliberation, and Civic Engagement in Challenging Times

On October 28, 2025, EveryLibrary Institute, the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD), the Listen First Project, and Living Room Conversations came together to discuss the role of libraries as civic hubs within their communities. The following includes key takeaways from our democracy initiatives. 

VoteLibraries

VoteLibraries is an initiative to help public libraries in registering, informing, and empowering citizens to help libraries conduct election administration while remaining nonpartisan. In recent years, with the rise of book bans and censorship, many libraries have faced the politicization of their spaces and are unsure of how to navigate involvement in election-related activities. 

As trusted community messengers, libraries are well-positioned to be civic hubs in their communities. One way to serve as a civic hub is through strategic partnerships with organizations such as the League of Women Voters, National Voter Education Day, Vote Early Day, Disability Voting Rights Week, and others. These partnerships enable your library to receive free training and access resources, allowing you to become active participants in civic engagement. 

One example of becoming a more active participant in civic engagement is demonstrated through how your library conducts voter registration activities. Many states mandate public libraries as voter registrars, but that often only translates to providing voter registration forms. Libraries can do more than the bare minimum by hosting voter registration drives, providing nonpartisan issue or candidate guides, hosting candidate forums, or collaborating with a local voter registration organization to educate eligible citizens about voter registration laws and regulations.

Within the framework of being civic hubs, public libraries must remain nonpartisan and accessible in election administration activities. This includes reducing barriers to access the poll, creating opportunities for voters with disabilities to participate in discussions, and highlighting issues that the disability community faces. Learn more by downloading our guide to Disability Voting Rights Week, created in partnership with the American Association of People with Disabilities.

Libraries are also civic laboratories where community members not only learn about democracy but actively practice it. As research institutions and beacons of knowledge, libraries can model transparency, election participation, and bridge-building for community members to be more active in their civic lives. Civic laboratories can be developed within libraries through civic education, where your library can host classes on civic education, conduct mock city council meetings, explain city tax revenue structures, learn about political misinformation, or even invite patrons to develop community-led policies. 

Fight for the First and Coalition Building

Fight for the First is EveryLibrary's digital platform for organizing coalitions in local communities. We strongly encourage public libraries to partner with community members to build local support for libraries through Fight for the First. The platform enables your community members to create petitions, events, and send emails to supporters, informing them about book bans, censorship, or library funding issues. Libraries are inherently civic institutions that promote and protect democracy. Through coalition-building efforts in your community, libraries can actively promote civics.

These local coalitions can also collaborate with your library to conduct voter engagement activities. Last year, we launched a guide in collaboration with Nonprofit Vote for library alliances, coalitions, state library associations, and library friends groups, enabling them to work with their local libraries to encourage voter registration. You can learn skills such as remaining nonpartisan while doing this work, creating plans for voter engagement activities, and engaging with potential voters, among other things. 

Through organized coalition building within your community, your library helps build sustainable civic ecosystems that support disempowered and disenfranchised communities nationwide. 

Watch the complete webinar recording at ncdd.org/news/ncdd-october-2025-webinar-recap-libraries-as-civic-hubs