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Revolutionary Reads: Community Events Series

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Revolutionary Reads: Community Events Series

Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries

Equity and Inclusion | 2024

Innovation Synopsis

Revolutionary Reads (RevReads) is Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries’ (FVRL) annual community events series with the goal of galvanizing 4,200 square miles of southwest Washington state’s (SW WA) urban, suburban, and rural communities to read the same book, on a topic of revolutionary importance. Revolutionary is defined as “involving or causing a complete and dramatic change.” Begun in 2019, RevReads started as a Community Reads, distributing free books in the community, and inviting the author to speak. It has evolved into a series of programs that ties larger issues to the local communities we serve. In 2024, FVRL worked with the local nonprofit, the Foundation WA: Restore and Prepare (Foundation WA) to build a series of educational opportunities for FVRL’s communities to learn more about the challenges of reentry from the people with firsthand experience. FVRL also took the opportunity to emphasize the Library’s ability to connect our reentry neighbors to services.

Challenge/Opportunity

FVRL continues to adapt RevReads to emphasize the chosen topic's local impact on SW WA. Beginning in 2023, FVRL expanded the chosen topic to include more local voices. 2023’s title focused on the cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Site, located up the Columbia River from all of FVRL’s communities. In addition to providing free copies of the book and the author visit, FVRL used the library’s platform to provide more context to the issue. WA Dept of Energy shared their current official status, WSU Tri-Cities provided the historical context for the site, and Columbia River Keepers and the Yakama Nation shared the work of their grassroots efforts to push cleanup forward. In 2024, FVRL worked in partnership with local nonprofit, The Foundation WA, to build the series from the ground up, approaching the partner early in the planning process, to share an authentic experience of folks returning home to SW WA following incarceration and the limited resources available to them.


Key Elements of Innovation

2024 included the creation of a staff committee across the district, which helped us identify incarceration as a topic impacting our communities. A library branch member brought up the impact the closure of a minimum security prison was having in SW WA. FVRL staff then attended a presentation by the Foundation WA about their own experience reentering SW WA following incarceration and their work to welcome others. FVRL and the Foundation WA collaborated to identify the need to build more understanding around reentry services and challenges. FVRL proposed several titles to the Foundation WA for final selection. 2024’s series was also the first time all fifteen (15) adult book groups read the RevReads title and expanded the opportunities to discuss this topic across SW WA from five (5) programs in 2023 to twenty-four (24) programs, most with virtual or hybrid options. The author's visit became a panel discussion, elevating the voices of those with lived experience from the book.


Achieved Outcomes

  • Elevated patron awareness of the Foundation WA’s work and challenges faced by folks returning home to SW WA.
  • Connected new reentry neighbors with the Foundation WA and resources during programs.
  • Engaged patrons who may not otherwise voluntarily learn about this topic.
  • Invited in new patrons to participate in programs.
  • Implemented MOU with WA State Library Incarceration Services to issue physical FVRL library cards to patrons returning to SW WA.
  • Collaborated with over twenty community members in eight organizations serving incarcerated folks and people returning home.
  • Generated a local Resources Guide with information shared at the programs as well as the most asked questions during the series, including where and how to get access to local resources, where to volunteer to help, and places to donate materials.
  • 700 Books began circulating in February 2024. FVRL ran out of copies by early March. Five months later, we still hear about books circulating in the community.

Additional Materials:

  • VIDEO: Complete coverage of the April 17, 2024, Revolutionary Reads event at the Fort Vancouver Regional Library.

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