Final_Report_Printed.pdf

M U S E U M S , L I B R A R I E S , A N D

21st Century Skills M U S E U M S , L I B R A R I E S , A N D

Institute of Museum and Library Services

1800 M Street NW, 9th Floor

Washington, DC 20036

(202) 653-IMLS (4657)

www.imls.gov

IMLS will provide visually impaired or learning–disabled individuals with an audio recording of this publication upon request

Printed July 2009 in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-

Publication Data may be found on inside back cover.

CREDITS

Produced by the IMLS Office of

Strategic Partnerships under the direction of Marsha Semmel, Deputy Director for Museum Services and Director for Strategic Partnerships

01 About the Project

02 Introduction

05 Case Study: Good to Grow Initiative

06 Libraries, Museums, and 21st Century Skills

08 Case Study: Miami-Dade Public Library

10 Museums and Libraries in the 21st Century: New Contexts

12 Case Study: Maine Memory Network

14 The Pueblo of Pojoaque Public Library, Raising Readers Program

15 Self-Assessment Tool for Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills

23 Skills Definitions

27 Case Study: Philadelphia Museum of Art

28 21st Century Skills Action Agenda: Six Steps to Build Momentum

30 Case Study: Skokie Public Library

33 Case Study: New York Hall of Science

34 Implications of this Report

35 Conclusion

36 Works Cited

“Success in today’s society requires information literacy, a spirit of self-reliance, and a strong ability to collaborate, communicate effectively, and solve problems.

Combining strengths in traditional learning with robust investment in modern communication infrastructures, libraries and museums are well-equipped to build the skills Americans need in the 21st century” (IMLS 2008)

About the Project This project underscores the critical role our nation’s museums and libraries play in helping citizens build such 21st century skills as information, communications and technology literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, civic literacy, and global awareness.

Recognizing that every individual requires these competencies to succeed in 21st century life and work, IMLS offers the Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills project to:

the 21st century;

libraries play in creating an engaged citizenry and competitive workforce.

The Process and the need for 21st century skills. The Task Force met with the project team throughout the course of a and library individuals to review and enhance the work.

A full list of Task Force members is included on the back inside cover.

Specifically, this work aims to help library and museum leaders:

21st century skills;

improvements;

public about the unique value these institutions provide to the nation’s learning systems.

Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills includes three components:

The Report: the following pages outline a vision for the role of libraries and museums in the national dialogue around learning and 21st century skills;

this report also includes case studies of innovative audience engagement and 21st century skills practices from across the country.

The Self-Assessment Tool: the tool included in this report allows museums and libraries to determine skills operations and programming.

The Online Self-Assessment (www.imls 21stcenturyskills.org): this brief interactive survey quickly analyzes an institution’s for action.

The Process

Introduction

20TH CENTURY 21ST CENTURY

Number Jobs / Lifetime 1-2 jobs 10-15 jobs

Job Requirement

Job competition Local Global

Work Model Routine; hands-on; fact based Non-routine; technical;

creative; interactive

Education Model Institution centered; formal Learner centered; self-directed, degree attainment is primary goal lifelong learning is primary goal

Organizational Culture Top down Multi-directional (bottom-up, top down, Given the accelerating economic, social, and educational changes of the 21st century, today’s libraries and museums face dramatic shifts in the populations they serve and the communities in which they operate.

At a time when increasingly advanced skills are required for success in life and work, people of all ages are seeking a diverse range of learning experiences to inspire, guide, and enhance their personal and professional lives.

Libraries and museums can embrace this opportunity to build on past achievements and chart promising new directions. One of these critical new directions involves developing a comprehensive, purposeful approach around 21st century skills. With 17,500 museums and

123,000 libraries across our nation, every community in the United

Over the past seven years, the national dialogue around 21st century skills has reached critical mass in national competitiveness, workforce development, and K-12 education circles. This discussion has developed as the needs and nature of the workforce have undergone

2211SST CCEENNTUURRYY 20TTH CEENTURRYY

What sorts of skills are needed to support productive participation in this new

21st century workforce? One of the most well-vetted and widely accepted framework skills” has been offered by the Partnership for 21st by education, business, and community organizations.1

The P21 framework has been adopted by 13 states and numerous organizations and associations, notably including

American Association of

Task Force used the P21 framework as the basis on which to customize this list of skills that are most relevant for libraries and museums.

having produced Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, a school-based resource that is widely used by library media specialists and other educators to enhance 21st century student learning.

21st Century Skills Framework –

Adapted for Libraries and Museums

LEARNING AND INNOVATION SKILLS

INFORMATION, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

LIFE AND CAREER SKILLS

21ST CENTURY THEMES

LEARNING AND INNOVATIOON SKILLS

21ST CCENTUURY TTHEMES

LLIFFEE ANND CARREEER SKILLS

INFORMMATION, MEEDIIA AND TTECHHNOOLOGGYY SKKKILLS

Critical Momentum and workforce systems has added critical momentum to the 21st century skills movement. Throughout his campaign and now in his administration, President Obama has repeatedly articulated the need for our nation’s students to be better prepared for today’s knowledge economy.3 Not surprisingly, most of President Obama’s comments surrounding 21st century skills address the role of formal education

Administration has also recognized the importance of out-of-school community colleges and lifelong learning initiatives to ensure our citizens can continue to gain new skills throughout their lifetimes” for K-12 students and schools. There are millions of adult learners not school-aged children spend the overwhelming majority of their waking hours in non-school settings, and increasingly they spend this time in organized out-of-school settings such as afterschool, museum, and library programs. In these settings, they develop important skills— such as problem solving, collaboration, global awareness, and self-direction—not only for lifelong learning and everyday activities, but also for use back in K-12 schools and college classrooms.

In fact, all people today—youth and adults— spend the majority of their lives learning outside the walls of formal classrooms: in out-of-school programs, workplaces, internships, and other informal learning experiences such as those offered by libraries and museums.

and technology, and the other skills of the 21st century, our companies will innovate less, our economy will grow less, and our nation will be less competitive. If we want to out-compete the world tomorrow, we must out-educate the world today.” More recently, in remarks on March 10, 2009, on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity.”

Good to Grow Initiative

21ST CENTURY SKILLS:

SELF-ASSESSMENT

CATEGORIES:

Leadership & Management

Partnering

Accountability

Begun in 2006, Good to Grow! is the Association of Children’s Museums’ nationwide health initiative.

THE FOUR TENETS OF GOOD TO GROW! ARE:

A key feature of Good to Grow!

more than 300 children’s museums that in turn have the potential to engage millions tool, the project aims to increase the capacity, knowledge, and skills of museums to promote health and wellness in their communities.

As part of its self-study, the Creative key community needs; environmental health was a critical concern. According children and families. And this community sees the environment as fundamental to its health.” Through a partnership with

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the

University of Georgia, the museum created an environmental curriculum now used in science classrooms across the state. The curriculum also serves as the foundation the museum pose thought-provoking questions that encourage critical thinking and intergenerational dialogue around environmental issues. Knowledge and skills are reinforced at the end of the workshop with a wrap-up session that reviews key concepts from each activity.

Good to Grow! museums.

Participating institutions assess their current resources, develop an action plan that prioritizes the local community’s needs, engage key local partners, and empower the museum’s staff to evaluate their progress toward achieving their objectives.

Progress is measured against metrics that include the museum’s connection to the local community, knowledge of health and wellness issues, and knowledge of audience groups.

Good to Grow! embraces a vision of museums as resources that catalyze community-wide health and environmental literacy.

Libraries, Museums, and 21st Century Skills

The need to enhance 21st century skills is a compelling a foundation of deep content mastery, these skills are the new workforce requirements competitiveness and ensuring each person’s personal and professional success.

Competencies like critical thinking, global awareness, and media literacy are no longer simply desirable—they are necessary. If 21st century skills for national and individual success, our nation’s libraries and museums are well-positioned to respond to this need.

Museums and libraries offer rich and authentic content, dedicated and knowledgeable staff with deep expertise, and safe, trusted settings for individuals and families, all of which invite and support effective learning. The collections in libraries and museums—books, artwork, libraries and museums link us with humankind’s history. These institutions operate as places of social inclusion that promote curiosity, learning by doing, and discovery. In them, we learn about ourselves and others, and enhance the skills that contribute to empathy, tolerance, and understanding.

It is also worth noting that our nation’s earliest libraries and museums skills”—such as critical thinking, problem solving, information literacy, in our communities, workplaces and schools grows, all libraries and museums have a stake in re-imagining their future roles as learning institutions.

While it is true that libraries and museums are—and always have made more accessible. All libraries and museums—and the people they about accommodating the lifelong learning needs of people in the

21st century, and doing this work collaboratively in alignment with community needs.

and museum approaches that integrate 21st century skills in more tangible, visible ways. And as our society shapes its educational, technological, and economic policies, it needs to more intentionally call upon the trusted, welcoming, and content-rich settings of libraries and museums—institutions found in every community across America, to support the nation’s development of 21st century skills.

The 21st Century Museum/Library Shift century demands, libraries and museums should build on current strengths and embrace new approaches

All libraries and museums—and the people they serve—stand to benefit from becoming more intentional and purposeful about accommodating the lifelong learning needs of people in the 21st century, and doing this work collaboratively in alignment with community needs.

21ST CENTURY MUSEUM/LIBRARY

Combination of audience- and content-driven

Combination of tangible and digital objects institution, audiences and others in diverse century skills

Acts in highly collaborative partnerships

Learning outcomes purposeful (content knowledge and 21st century skills like critical thinking are visible, intentional outcomes of audience

Content co-created among diverse partners and audiences; accessible in multiple ways

20TH CENTURY MUSEUM/LIBRARY

Primarily content-driven

One-way information (institution presents

Focus on presentation and display

Acts independently

Learning outcomes assumed, implied (content knowledge and skills like critical thinking tend to

Institution leads content development (content

Miami-Dade Public Library

21ST CENTURY SKILLS:

Information Literacy

ICT Literacy

Communication

Civic Awareness

SELF-ASSESSMENT

CATEGORIES:

Leadership & Management

Partnering

Accountability

The Miami-Dade County Public Library System embodies the ethic of service to community.

resource – a place where people can get what they need in a trusted

“When we hire, we ask the candidate: Why do you want to work in the library? If they say: Because I really love books – that’s the wrong answer. This job is about people!”

towns with almost indistinguishable boundaries between them, resulting in an absence of natural city centers. The public library system has addressed this challenge by becoming a leader in the community through its transformative vision of the library as a place where people can congregate.

The public library system’s leadership vision has been put into practice library will be a compelling community destination by providing a Five-

THE FIVE “STARS” OF THE INITIATIVE:

EMPOWERMENT

ENVIRONMENT

EXPERTISE

ATTITUDE

RESOURCES

Community Involvement each institution plays an active role in the town by aggregating community information, partnering with local community organizations, e-government portal with numerous social and library system responded to this community need by creating and developing technology literacy programs for adults, many of whom are seniors. A vibrant technology literacy program now teaches over 200 adults every month. It is common for library staff and volunteers to witness a grandparent connecting with a distant grandchild through e-mail or Facebook communication and civic awareness skills in the Seniors Telling Stories program, which connects them to college professors who are trained to teach them how to craft and share their personal stories. The seniors then debut their stories as part of the Art of Storytelling festival at their local libraries and community centers.

relating to equal access. The Service for the Homebound program provides books-by-mail to individuals of all ages who are unable to visit or frailties of age. This group of people is able to access basic reading services to advance and learn basic literacy, and continue to stay connected to their community through the libraries’ services.

The Miami-Dade Public

Library celebrates the spirit of Colombia with traditional dances during the Art of

Storytelling Festival.

Miami-Dade Library leaders hold themselves accountable to the 5-Star

Initiative through customer surveys. Survey results are reported quarterly to ensure each library is focusing on delivering the best possible service, in the best possible environment, to each customer.

Museums and Libraries in the 21st Century: New Contexts

Rise of the Creative Class and How it’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and

Everyday Life A Whole New Mind.

HOW THE DEMAND FOR SKILLS HAS CHANGED

Economy

The new global economy presents both opportunities and obstacles for library and museum leaders.

Changes in the economy, jobs, and businesses have fundamentally altered the nature of work today. The shift in the last two decades to a the types of skills necessary for individuals to succeed in work and life.

swelled, accounting for 63 percent of the country’s output (Partnership for 21st perform non-routine, creative tasks, which has dramatically heightened the need for individuals to master 21st century skills like self-direction, of this new economy and its implications for individuals of all ages and situations have been well-documented by numerous organizations and leading thinkers. And this trend is accelerating, as is shown in the chart below. The demand for skills that are nonroutine--e.g., critical thinking, creativity, innovation--is increasing dramatically in the 21st century.

M e a n t a sk i n p u t a s p e rc e n ti le s o f th e t a sk d is tr ib u ti o n

Without question, the 21st century has led to profound changes in our society’s economic, cultural, and educational institutions, including museums and shifts are having dramatic impacts on museums and societal needs, and audience

1960 1970 1980 1990 2002

Nonroutine interactive

Nonroutine analytic

Routine manual

Routine cognitive

Nonroutine Manual

Society and Learning

The 21st century has changed how, when, and where we all learn.

institutions from MIT to the University of California put their lectures and class materials online for all at no cost, and iTunes U has accelerated access proceedings are documented, shared, and debated in real time via online social networks, creating meaningful dialogues and interactions more educational offerings been made available more widely or for so many.

been instructive for museums and libraries in its emphasis on the importance of widely available, diverse learning environments that are accessible to everyone in a community. In Lessons Without

Limit: How Free-Choice Learning is Transforming

Education, the authors underscore the importance motivations, interests, skills, and knowledge learning develops across multiple timeframes and settings, and they emphasize the importance of and the many other learning institutions available to students – libraries, science centers and history museums, after-school clubs, online activities that can be accessed from home, and even collaborations between students and working body of evidence points to informal learning

Annenberg Institute and a leading researcher in the area of children’s out-of-school learning, notes that environments with responsive adults and peers make sizable contributions to learning, social skills, and

Therefore, it is critically important to align and leverage all participants in the learning system—schools, institutions, organizations, programs, individuals, families, and neighborhoods. When such alignment happens, everyone has the potential to be a learner, educator, and collaborator, which benefits not only the individuals but entire communities as well.

An important recent contribution to the dialogue around informal learning is the National Academy

Learning Science in Informal

Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits. The work offers a compelling research-based analysis knowledge, interest and capacity of students and degree of science learning that can occur in informal environments, building on learners’ motivations and interests. They provide evidence for the types describe the synergies between formal and informal learning. This richly detailed report, like much of the literature around out-of-school learning, discusses appeal to the individual needs of learners and account for their diverse social, economic, and demographic backgrounds.

Maine Memory Network

21ST CENTURY SKILLS:

Communication and Collaboration

ICT Literacy

Civic Literacy

SELF-ASSESSMENT

CATEGORIES:

Institutional Assets

Leadership & Management

Partnering

Accountability

Maine Memory Network (MMN) is a statewide digital museum created out of a partnership between the Maine Historical Society and the Maine State Library to increase public access and engagement with the holdings of historical societies across the state. MMN now has

170 active contributing partners and more than 12,000 primary institutional hours. This online learning resource has transformed museum, library, and school relationships across the state.

wide learning partnerships, and, in addition to fostering best practice in historiography, enhances each participant’s 21st century skills.

Project teams consisting of librarians, historical society staff, teachers, students, and community members work together to research, learn, and create new online resources on the community’s history. All team thinking, written and oral communication, and collaboration skills. The project’s focus on intergenerational learning is noteworthy—students are recruited through active K-12 school partnerships, and these students establish highly collaborative working relationships with history with other team members in applied, highly relevant settings, and technology skills shared by students. Civic literacy is also a key celebrates their new historical knowledge with a community-wide event.

Additionally, Maine Memory Network has made a strategic commitment to continuous improvement by hiring the Institute for Learning formative evaluation, designed to provide iterative feedback on the development and implementation of key project components; and summative evaluation, designed to assess the impact of the project on participating individuals, organizations, and communities.

The Maine

Memory Network’s infrastructure allows students to create and share their own online exhibits.

Audience Expectations

In the 21st Century, the public has grown accustomed to personalized, customized, and on-demand experiences that are easy to access and simple to share and build upon. In physical levels of interactivity and programs tailored to individual needs. From online stores that record customer preferences for books, clothing sizes, and brands, to music collections that automatically add personalized recommendations, there are seemingly no limits to an individual’s and re-imagine any number of highly personal and non-commercial. In books such as Jeff

Crowdsourcing Here

Comes Everybody impacts—of today’s networked decision-makers are made clear. There is an undeniable trend toward collaborative, crowd-sourced decision result, there has been a sea-change in consumer allow the customer to create, participate in, A recurring theme is the importance of Web

Content is developed, organized, and accessed via bottom-up rather than top-down design. Instead of being a content provider, Web 2.0 is a platform of content and the social ways in which audiences interact with content online has profoundly shifted the roles of directors, librarians, curators, and other professionals who craft designed

The Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills Task Force and project team observed that, increasingly, audiences expect museums and libraries to:

engage more effectively with increasingly diverse audiences, as well as the needs of communities in the 21st century;

learning systems across a community;

families and other like-minded (and sometimes meaningful social and civic interactions;

institution’s mission;

broad-based collaborative engagement among all institution audiences and stakeholders.

These three factors—the shift to the global economy, the rising importance of self-directed lifelong learning, and the expectation of customized, on demand audience experiences— provide a compelling backdrop for museums and libraries as they position themselves as institutions of learning in the 21st century.

21ST CENTURY SKILLS:

Communication and Collaboration

SELF-ASSESSMENT

CATEGORIES:

Leadership & Management

Accountability

The Pueblo of Pojoaque Public Library: Raising Readers Program

The “Raising Readers through Programs and Outreach” initiative illustrates the Pueblo of Pojoaque Public Library’s commitment to a critical community need: basic literacy.

The program came about as a result of the library’s facilitation of meetings, surveys, and interviews, all of which pointed to the need for pre-literacy and reading incentive programs that involve parents and caregivers in the early childhood learning process. The project develops and presents library and outreach programs emphasizing pre-literacy for pre-school children and their families, develops and implements library collection with materials that address pre-reading skills and promote pre-literacy.

Through this program, the Pueblo of Pojoaque Public Library has established itself as a leader in strengthening relationships within the native cultural community by bringing entire families—children, parents, and caregivers—together for storytelling and reading activities with staff. Although initial attendance was quite low, the addition has dramatically increased attendance and interest in reading and

Librarian conducted 103 storytelling sessions with 1,132 attendees.

through visits to schools and early childhood centers. Now, when

At each session, the librarian provides a list of recommended titles for parents to read outside of the library with their families, along with take-home handouts that emphasize the pre-reading skills covered by that day’s session. The books, songs and activities in the program the results of which help staff measure the impact of the lessons and provide recommendations for future workshops.

The impact of the program on the local community has been dramatic, as circulation rates of the library’s books, particularly children’s books, more books outside of the library is particularly energizing to library staff and the overall community as well.

Self-Assessment Tool F O R M U S E U M S , L I B R A R I E S , A N D 21 S T C E N T U RY S K I L L S

Why Use the Self-Assessment Tool?

As this report notes, every library and museum leader has a vested interest in defining his/her institution’s role in supporting 21st century skills. Becoming more strategic and deliberate around a vision for improving or assisting in the development and expansion of 21st century skills among audiences is a vital first step. This tool helps libraries and museums scan the organization and focus planning efforts around core areas of library/museum operations.

Discovery

The Self-Assessment Tool was created to help museum and library leaders determine where their institutions fit on the continuum of

21st century skills operations and programming. Because the tool is not intended to prescribe specific activities, but to offer promising practices, each museum and library can use the tool to better determine the mission-appropriate ways in which it wishes to develop its audiences’ 21st century skills. Due to the increased expectation for accountability in libraries and museums, metrics are offered to help establish specific goals that can be tracked over time.

Leading Questions

The tool is designed to help answer critical questions about how a library or museum can implement a vision for promoting 21st century skills, such as:

of our audiences?

addressing 21st century skills?

21st century skills?

ensure our efforts are aligned with the entire community’s learning systems?

21st century skills?

Why Use the Self-Assessment Tool?

Overview and Definitions:

The Rows

The self-assessment tool is segmented into three rows, labeled “Early

Stage,” “Transitional Stage,” and “21st Century Stage.” The tool itself

(see foldout) contains the specific indicators that help a library or museum complete its self-assessment.

The Columns

This tool includes four core areas for museums and libraries to consider in a 21st century skills initiative: Institutional Assets, Leadership &

Management, Partnering, and Accountability. Each of these areas, depicted as columns in the self-assessment tool, should be analyzed to determine the level of purposeful attention given to 21st century skills integration.

Overview and Definitions:

INSTITUTIONAL ASSETS:

and information technologies be directed to enhance the institution’s support of 21st century skills in its audiences?

LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT:

resources, and sustainability regarding 21st century skills? Are leadership and management decisions open and transparent?

PARTNERING:

other cultural institutions help achieve a broad, community-wide vision sustained over time?

ACCOUNTABILITY:

improvement?

People (Human Capital) Physical

Early Stage

EMERGING: Up to 25% of the institution’s operations and programming are focused on supporting 21st century skills among audiences.

COMMITTED: Museum/Library serves as a trustworthy, authoritative source of knowledge and expertise.

Transitional Stage

PURPOSEFUL: Between 25-75% of the institution’s operations and programming are focused on supporting 21st century skills among audiences.

ENGAGED: Library/Museum acts as a collaborative partner with other institutions to create and deliver audience-centered learning programs.

21st Century Stage

COMPREHENSIVE: Over 75% of institution’s operations and programming are focused on supporting 21st century skills among audiences.

EMBEDDED: Museum/Library partners with a wide array of institutions, individuals, and organizations to co-create and co-deliver audience-centered learning experiences across the entire community.

Collections ProgramsInformation Technology (IT)

Institutional Assets

Resource Allocation & SustainabilityAccessVision & Planning

Leadership & Management

Goal Setting / Metric Development / Continuous Improvement

Business Partners, Community Partners, Education Partners

Partnering Accountability

How to Use the Self-Assessment Tool The Self-Assessment Tool helps museums and libraries categorize themselves on a continuum of 21st century skills strategies, from “early stage” to “transitional stage” to “21st century stage.” Each institution may fall within several different stages (e.g., a library/museum may have a “21st century stage” approach to programs but have an “early stage” approach to accountability). This tool allows any library or museum— regardless of its focus, size, or budget—to better envision and implement a 21st century skills action plan. It is important to note that this self-assessment is best utilized as a broad, high-level planning tool, rather than as a specific, tactical manual.

Before You Start:

Build your 21st century planning team thoughtfully. Consider including individuals from throughout the institution and community. It is important to note that the institution will place itself in various places within the continuum of 21st century skills alignment. Some aspects of the museum/library’s work may be

“transitional,” whereas other areas of work may be “21st century” or “early.” This is a natural and expected result of the self-assessment process.

Step 1:

Organize the institution’s analysis around each of the categories across the top of the tool: Institutional

Assets, Leadership & Management, Partnering, and Accountability. Note the subsections within each of these major categories.

Step 2:

Under each subsection, find the level (e.g. “early stage,” “transitional stage,” “21st century stage”) that best describes your library/museum. It is possible that your institution falls between two levels—if that’s the case, follow a consistent approach (choose a higher or lower level, but be consistent in this approach as you move through the tool).

Step 3:

After identifying where your museum/library falls within each category, compare your institution’s position to the “21st century stage,” which represents an overall vision for 21st century skills and audience engagement. If the institution falls at the “21st century stage,” consider ways to improve the work that is already being conducted.

Step 4:

Use these self-assessment outcomes to initiate a dialogue with the museum/library board, colleagues, and other stakeholders, with the goal of further defining the institution’s priorities around 21st century skills.

Step 5:

Commit to revisiting this process over time to determine progress and consider improvements.

How to Use the Self-Assessment Tool

Skills Definitions considered the list of skills commonly referred slightly to better align with library and museum priorities.5

The resulting list includes the following

Not every skill on this list will be aligned with every institution’s vision and mission. Further, not every community will prioritize the same skills. Library and museum leaders should consider this list as a starting point beyond character, requirements, and priorities of the institution and its audiences.

Learning and Innovation Skills

CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Reason Effectively appropriate to the situation

Use Systems Thinking

Make Judgments and Decisions beliefs arguments analysis

Solve Problems and innovative ways view and lead to better solutions

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

Think Creatively

Work Creatively with Others effectively group input and feedback into the work the real world limits to adopting new ideas and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes

Learning and Innovation Skills (continued)

Implement Innovations the innovation will occur

COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

Communicate Clearly intentions priori as well as assess their impact

Collaborate with Others accomplish a common goal contributions made by each team member

VISUAL LITERACY

presented through visible actions, objects and symbols, natural or man-made6

SCIENTIFIC AND NUMERICAL LITERACY

the basis of its sources and the methods used to generate it and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY THINKING

effective ways

BASIC LITERACY

21st Century Themes

GLOBAL AWARENESS

diverse cultures, religions, and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in personal, work, and community

FINANCIAL, ECONOMIC, BUSINESS AND

ENTREPRENEURIAL LITERACY

choices and career options

CIVIC LITERACY

informed and understanding governmental processes national, and global levels

HEALTH LITERACY

services and use such information and services in ways that enhance health stress reduction decisions

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY

natural systems work, as well as knowledge and understanding of how natural systems interface with social systems political systems, and environmental values of various cultures as the result of human interaction with the environment, and knowledge related to alternative solutions to issues problems and resolving issues7

Information, Media and

Technology Skills

INFORMATION LITERACY

Access and Evaluate Information

Use and Manage Information issue or problem at hand sources legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

MEDIA LITERACY

Analyze Media constructed and for what purposes differently, how values and points of view are beliefs and behaviors legal issues surrounding the access and use of media

Create Media Products creation tools, characteristics, and conventions diverse, multi-cultural environments

ICT (INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND

TECHNOLOGY) LITERACY

Apply Technology Effectively evaluate, and communicate information networking tools, and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information to successfully function in a knowledge economy legal issues surrounding the access and use of information technologies

Life and Career Skills

FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY

Adapt to Change changing priorities

Be Flexible criticism views and beliefs to reach workable solutions, particularly in multi-cultural environments

INITIATIVE AND SELF-DIRECTION

Manage Goals and Time criteria

Work Independently without direct oversight

Be Self-directed Learners towards a professional level lifelong process inform future progress

SOCIAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL SKILLS

Interact Effectively with Others speak manner

Work Effectively in Diverse Teams with people from a range of social and cultural backgrounds values new ideas and increase both innovation and quality of work

PRODUCTIVITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Manage Projects and competing pressures intended result

Produce Results producing high quality products including the

– Work positively and ethically

– Manage time and projects effectively

– Multi-task

– Participate actively, as well as be reliable and punctual

– Present oneself professionally and with proper etiquette

– Collaborate and cooperate effectively with teams

– Respect and appreciate team diversity

LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY

Guide and Lead Others influence and guide others toward a goal common goal and selflessness influence and power

Be Responsible to Others community in mind

Philadelphia Museum of Art

21ST CENTURY SKILLS:

Communication and Collaboration

Critical Thinking

SELF-ASSESSMENT

CATEGORIES:

Partnering

Institutional Assets

“The children in Philadelphia’s public schools are the future stewards of our great cultural resources, and they deserve access now and always to the best of what this city has to offer.”

Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, in partnership with The Barnes Foundation, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has developed a new initiative called Art Speaks!

Art Speaks! curriculum, which introduces fourth graders to art museums and art concepts while reinforcing reading, writing, and creative thinking strategies that are embedded in the school district’s literacy and visual arts curricula. Fourth-grade teachers receive supplemental teaching materials to assist are given a manual, activity sheets, and other resources for writing and discussion ceremonial teahouse Sunkaraku

Seated Riffian story quilt Tar Beach 2 sculpture Jerusalem Stabile

Fox Hunt

Works of art naturally foster conversation, creative thinking, discussion, and even friendly debate—all hallmarks of the literacy concepts fourth graders are learning

Art Speaks! enhances their knowledge of art and artists and reveals how the literacy skills they are practicing in school come into play in real life situations.

Art Speaks!

in the region worked together on a project like this. The children in Philadelphia’s public schools are the future stewards of our great cultural resources, and they with public school curricula in art and literacy, museum trips become a serious part of each student’s education, both as a fourth grade learner mastering reading, writing, and creative thinking, and also as a participant in the cultural life of our great city.”

The program serves as a vibrant model of how multiple museums can work with schools—as well as each other—to enhance art knowledge and critical skills among broad, previously unreached audiences.

Bedroom Painting No. 7, 1967–69, by Tom Wesselmann

Turner Memorial Fund, 1972-

21st Century Skills Action Agenda:

Six Steps to Build Momentum Given the impacts of the new economy, new trends in learning, and new audience museums and libraries take proactive steps to position themselves more strategically for the future?

In this new environment, each community is looking for ways to strengthen the health of its economy, workforce, and culture. As important community institutions, libraries and museums can envision, century skills in more purposeful, visible ways. They can leverage their tremendous learning assets (e.g., and communities improve workforce preparation, civic engagement, and cross-cultural understanding by emphasizing skills like critical thinking, problem solving, global awareness, innovation, communication, and collaboration. These are the skills that audiences and employers need to thrive in the 21st century.

audience engagement strategies calls for a holistic to be a vibrant, relevant institution. This project encourages museums and libraries to evolve from an intuitive approach toward learning to a more targeted and deliberate one; a disciplined self-assessment of the entire institution is required.

Implementing a comprehensive 21st century skills action agenda takes dedicated planning, strategic consensus-building, and, often, robust partnerships to be effective. The following sections provide practical guidance for beginning this process.

Integrating 21st century skills into library/museum audience engagement strategies calls for a holistic approach that expands the vision of what it means to be a vibrant, relevant institution.

Six Steps to Build Momentum

1 Engage with Community. Complete the community learning scan to better the 21st century skills, and identify potential partnerships. Then, continue to work with community organizations to align the institution’s efforts with community needs.

and sustaining an ongoing awareness of what the community needs, how these needs are changing and what partnerships are most strategic will help focus, prioritize, 2 Establish the Vision.

systems of the community. Museum and library leaders can articulate the value of the institution’s participation in the dialogue around 21st century skills to staff, board members, volunteers, and the public. The institution’s vision, mission, and values are crucial to setting a comprehensive frame for 21st century learning work. Only when the the community’s needs can effective partnerships and audience engagement strategies be fully leveraged.

3 Assess Current Status. Use the self-assessment tool to create a current 21st library is already doing vis-à-vis 21st century skills and audiences so that a future path

Implement a Prioritized Plan. After the institution has scanned the community, established the vision and analyzed its current status, an action plan should be developed in its operations; the partners that should be engaged to better align and leverage the implement the plan; a timeline; and methods to track progress and improve the initiative over time.

5 Focus on Comprehensive Alignment. Library and museum leaders should align the institution’s vision and goals for 21st century skills with key organizational areas such

6 Track and Communicate Progress. Use the principles outlined in this report and the self-assessment tool to monitor progress around 21st century skills goals and communicate this progress to audiences, partners, community leaders, and policymakers. The ability to implement the vision and document results that strengthen the community’s overall approach to learning in the 21st century is a powerful leadership opportunity for museums and libraries.

Skokie Public Library

21ST CENTURY SKILLS:

Financial

Literacy

Communication and Collaboration

Global Awareness

SELF-ASSESSMENT

CATEGORIES:

Leadership & Management

Partnering

Institutional Assets

Skokie, a northern suburb of Chicago, has a current population of 68,000 that has become increasingly diverse over the past 25 years. Forty-two percent of its population is now foreign born and 90 different languages are spoken throughout the community. In array of partnerships and focused its operations and programs to serve the entire community. This leadership vision and community-centric approach the fabric of the community, constantly working in collaboration with other organizations to address the focus on building community and supporting lifelong planning process, the library scans the community for emerging needs, and determines how and whether the library can help address them. This process revealed several years ago that the economic base had shifted—seemingly overnight—from large corporations as the major employers, to smaller, more nimble businesses. Local entrepreneurs were relying more

Library, where specialized business and workforce development information could be accessed along need to better understand this audience, Anthony became involved with the Chamber of Commerce.

education to members of the business community and educate the broader community about the work local businesses are doing.

Library—the institution’s leaders know that all community needs cannot be met by a library alone.

Library leadership in addressing these needs—to listen, to research, to connect the dots, and to bring partners to the table—is a fundamental value that awareness, communication, and life and career skills throughout the community. Its Festival of

Cultures, a cooperative project started 19 years the community around the central theme of sustainability, with interactive games and an obstacle course all crafted out of recycled materials. A range in educational activities at each cultural booth and turned the beads into global necklaces representing the diversity of the community.

Families enjoy stories and songs in the Skokie Public

Library courtyard, followed by a marshmallow roast.

Community Learning Scan:

A helpful step in the process of implementing a 21st century skills action plan is to align your institution’s efforts internally and your institution, and a list of potential partners. From here, you can better understand which ones, if any, should be incorporated more purposefully and comprehensively into your overall 21st century skills efforts.

Critical Thinking and

Creativity and Innovation

Communication and

Collaboration

Literacy

Thinking

Information, Media and

Global Awareness

Civic Literacy

Organizations and others who are focused on this skill

LEARNING ECOSYSTEM SCAN

Our community needs this skill21st Century Skills

Our target audience(s) need this skill

This skill is relevant to our current mission

This skill is relevant to our future vision/mission

New York Hall of Science

21ST CENTURY SKILLS:

Communication and Collaboration

Global Awareness

SELF-ASSESSMENT

CATEGORIES:

Leadership & Management

Partnering

Accountability

The Science Career Ladder (SCL) at the New York Hall of Science is an innovative education, employment, and mentoring program that hires high school and college students. The program employs 150 students

The ladder is a progression of knowledge and responsibility, with the ultimate goal of producing employed, trained, and mentored of this approach is well-known to vice president of education;

she began her career in 1989 climbing the ladder to the top

A 2002 study conducted by the

Institute for Learning Innovation found that alumni of the program reported that they developed self teaching skills during a critical phase in their lives, were more willing than average college graduates to consider careers in teaching, and acquired an appreciation for science and a personal connection to science and learning as part of their everyday lives.

Interns, who help children and adults create science-related arts and crafts and assist with

These students move up the ladder through a thoughtfully designed process of mentoring, training college-level students become paid staff that work are continually provided opportunities to grow their workforce, leadership, science communication and public speaking skills; these are assessed at regular their competencies over time. It is in this visible visitors have consistently placed interaction with activities. Through their hands-on, science-focused develop the kinds of interpersonal, empathy, and communication skills necessary to bridge generational, cultural, and religious gaps among applied settings, enhance the students’ prospects for continued academic and workforce success program has inspired over 1,700 students to pursue professional careers, many in science and education.

success of our work requires clarity and coherence in how we engage the public and enhance learning, as well as in the work we do to grow and

Implications of this Report

Concerted action is required to meet the educational, economic, civic, and cultural needs of the community.

innovative partnerships to be formed among cultural, business, education and policy leaders, all of whom can work together to strengthen the community’s approach to 21st century skills.

Community Stakeholders education, and business organizations each have a stake in strengthening the community’s overall learning overall basic literacy, civic awareness, environmental literacy, and health literacy throughout the community.

awareness and visual literacy.

museums and libraries to enhance 21st century skills across their campuses, with a particular focus on cross-disciplinary thinking.

well as the economic health of the community.

All business, community, cultural, and educational institutions can align their missions with a community-wide vision around 21st century skills.

Policymakers

Policymakers can play a key role in moving communities toward a compelling vision around 21st century developing 21st century skills among individuals in self-directed learning environments.

Conclusion

The relationship between libraries, museums, and their communities is at a critical intersection. There has never been a greater need for libraries and museums to work with other organizations in effectively serving our communities; there has never been a more rapid period of change affecting museums, libraries, and their communities; and there has never been a more challenging period of economic dislocation facing the people in our communities. As a result, there has never been a better opportunity for libraries and museums to act as leaders for positive change and collaboration. Our libraries and museums can and should seize the opportunity to position our institutions in light of these 21st century challenges.

The Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills project is designed to help library and museum leaders play a catalytic role in this dialogue, if museums and libraries are prepared to take four critical steps.

EACH LIBRARY AND MUSEUM SHOULD BE WILLING TO:

community respond to the challenges of the 21st century;

development of their audiences’ 21st century skills;

partnerships that address 21st century audience needs; and demanding challenges of 21st century life.

The collective leadership of the museum and library community can play a major role in setting and implementing this new strategic direction. It is our hope that the conversations sparked by this report and tool will invigorate meaningful collaborations among cultural institutions and other stakeholders to help every community embrace its

There has never been a greater need for libraries and museums to work with other organizations in effectively serving our communities, there has never been a more rapid period of change affecting museums, libraries, and their communities, and there has never been a more challenging period of economic dislocation facing the people in our communities.

Works Cited

21st Century Skills, Education & Competitiveness.

Learning Science in Informal

Environm…