Asset-based and Community-led Development (ABCD) for the GLAM Sector

For the public archivist, curator or librarian, asset-based community-led development (ABCD) is many things: a professional practice, a research method, a partnership-building vehicle, and an important tool with which to support the development of healthy, vibrant, and sustainable cultural, educational, and informational services. Community development that starts with the identification and mapping of the community’s assets rather than its deficits is premised on the belief that all communities contain a wealth of resources: in the people who live there, in the associations, clubs and institutions to which they belong, and in the businesses that they run and/or frequent. We can add to this list the available public services and, as importantly, the geography and features of the built and natural environment. ABCD is used with a target population in mind, and it is undertaken for range of purposes from enhancing a community’s cultural offerings to supporting populations-at-risk. It is used all over the world to create conditions for sustainable development at the local level.

Pre-requisite: To take INF2227H: Asset-based and Community-led Development (ABCD) for the GLAM Sector course, students must be 2nd year students and/or have completed their required courses for their concentration.