“Service Integration and Libraries: Will 2-1-1 Be the Catalyst for Renewal?

Libraries often provide important services for community agencies seeking to achieve service integration. Defined as the process by which educational, health, and social services are delivered to improve outcomes for community members, service integration is the means by which the fragmented structure of programs is provided with coordination. In communities where no single coordinating entity exists, libraries, through community information services, often fill this function.By recognizing the long traditions of I&R in libraries and by involvement with other community agencies seeking to implement 2-1-1, a renewal of commitment to community information as a central service response for libraries may well be reaffirmed.