Partnering to Meet Library Customers’ Needs
Denver Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
Denver Central Library’s Resource Center launched in late 2024, with a goal of supporting a wide variety of human service needs in a welcoming, fully staffed, comfortable space. Recognizing library limitations beyond providing acute relief and referrals, the Community Resources Team developed a strategy of bringing community organizations and city agencies into the Resource Center on a regularly scheduled basis to provide direct services to customers. Those services address regularly requested customer supports, including government benefit access, mental and physical health support, sober living and recovery, and job assistance. Bringing services into the Resource Center decreases friction for customers, builds bridges to partner organizations and strengthens both the library’s and partners’ ability to respond to community members’ needs quickly and effectively.
Challenge/Opportunity
The primary issue this innovation addresses is a fragmented public support system that makes accessing multiple needs in one place incredibly challenging. Currently, the Community Resources Team sees 160-200 people daily at the Resource Center. However, their impact is limited because, in most cases, staff can only refer customers to external organizations for direct services.
Hosting partner organizations at the Resource Center aims to decrease the distance between needs and services. Partner organizations are vetted for alignment with our mission, vision and values and commit to serving library customers with dignity and respect. Because Resource Center staff are trusted and consistent in their approach, partner agencies can directly leverage that established trust. By meeting people at the Resource Center, partners can serve them fully within a hub-style environment, turning what was once solely a referral network into a response network for ongoing support.
Key Elements of Innovation
Partner organizations are sought to meet customer-expressed needs. Because staff have established relationships with direct service organizations, implementation focuses on visit logistics and deliverables. The main goals of the innovation are connecting customers to direct services, and encouraging long term supportive services outside the library.
Key partners:
City & County of Denver human service and workforce agencies
Sober living & recovery organizations
Employment organizations
Activities include:
Vaccines & health counseling
Benefit assistance
Job assistance
This initiative creates a reliable schedule for accessing specific services at the Resource Center. Instead of referring customers out, it brings the services to them.
The initiative innovates the library field by bridging gaps between customers and organizations capable of addressing their needs. By centralizing providers under one roof, it builds strong connections that seek to eliminate common access barriers.
Achieved Outcomes
Successes:
35 new partnerships
25 monthly partner visits
400 connections to partners per month
Many of the successes of this project are qualitative, including: improvements in relationships with partners visiting the Resource Center; trust-building between customers and partners; and decreasing direct service referral bottlenecks through onsite access.
Metrics:
Number of customers connected to partner services
Number of partner services offered per month
Findings from Systemwide Data Collection :
In 2024, staff members made 4,543 referrals to community organizations. In 2025, this number increased to 6,550, representing a 44% increase in referrals to outside organizations. This demand for services prompted the Community Resources Team to develop the partnership model.
From 2024 to 2025, requests for support increased by:
63% - employment support
36% - mental health/substance use support
38% - tech support to complete digital applications
