Make the library an essential part of your community's economic development efforts by mapping your entrepreneurial ecosystem and empowering citizens to realize their dream of owning a successful business.
An EcoMap is a curated database of all the organizations and individuals in your community who are committed to helping emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses grow. For example, these resources might include:
- SCORE
- Small Business Development Centers
- Incubators
- Accelerators
- Entrepreneur support organizations
- Community Development Financial Institution Funds (CDFIs)
- City/County Licensers
- Accounting help
- Legal advice
- Tax assistance
An EcoMap can be utilized for much more than entrepreneurial support. It can also be used to catalog and showcase all the essential organizations and resources that exist in your community as social support services, such as:
- Aged care services
- Community health clinics
- Counseling services
- Educational and upskilling classes
- Food banks
- Housing and homelessness support
- Family care and planning
- Volunteer-coordinating services
The database is kept up to date, hosted on an easy-to-use platform and available to your staff and community members 24/7.
Benefits
Mapping your library’s ecosystem can help countless individuals simultaneously get matched to the resources most relevant to their unique situations and goals, helping free up staff bandwidth.
- Your users connect with the expertise that is resident in your community.
- Increase cooperation among local partners by removing barrier (time) to information gathering.
- Use the platform as a marketing tool to get more people in the library’s door for events.
- Gain unique insight into platform usage and advanced analytics about your users.
- Regain your own time as EcoMap takes care of the data compilation and updates.
- Build a brand as a modern library system that fulfills the original mission of being an invaluable community resource. The library will be known as a hub of innovation and economic growth.
What’s more, every staff member becomes a “business librarian,” helping your startup and small business communities thrive.