We created the Civic Librarian Project as a way to share our process with libraries across Michigan, and more broadly across the country.  The lessons here are based on the courses and programs we lead, and the case studies in each module are from the students and community partners that we work with.

Since 2013, Cliff and Scott have run courses and co-curricular programs and the University of Michigan under the umbrella of Citizen Interaction Design (CID). The flagship course, “Citizen Interaction Design”, aims to create information tools that support 21st-century citizenship. This is a project-based, experiential learning course where students apply their skills to create information products and services in partnership with a Michigan community.

The CID program has broad reach and an extensive portfolio of civic tech projects. The CID course, in combination with co-curricular programs like the Civic User Testing (CUT)group, Civic Information Challenges, and CID Summer Fellowships, has worked with a dozen communities and hundreds of information students on over 100 civic tech projects. 

For inquiries and questions, please reach out via email at civiclibrarianproject@umich.edu.

We want to thank the Institute of Museum and Library Services for their generous support of this effort. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services RE-17-19-0036-19.