338 College & Research Libraries March 2022 Fundamental to the narrative is the influence that alternative media had on these scenes. Chapters focus on queercore music, performance, films, and zines. The creators of two key zines, Homocore and J.D.’s, are heavily featured in this book. Following the establishment of these zines and the proliferation of many others, queercore zinesters came together at conven- tions where members of different scenes met and collaborated. The main queercore conventions highlighted in this book are SPEW and Homocore Chicago. Among many others, key voices included in these pages are Bruce LaBruce, Vaginal Davis, Tom Jennings, Brontez Purnell, Milo Miller, Jayne County, John Waters, Martin Sorrondeguy, and many others. Some of the content in these pages feels contradictory and frustrating. One disturbing theme throughout the book is a general distrust of younger generations, including a distrust of present-day transgender youth and queer punk communities using the internet. This reviewer was disappointed that there was often little enthusiasm for the direction that contemporary queer punk scenes are moving and the ways they are organizing for change. In addition, some readers may find the use of uncensored graphic language and imagery to be disturbing. Overall, the book is a valuable source for any librarian or academic interested in the development of alternative subcultures, specifically in queer culture, punk culture, and the intersection of the two. For LIS professionals, the book provides vital context for archivists, instruction librarians, and zine librarians who work closely with queer or punk zines. This is bolstered by a set of annotated bibliographies for queercore zines, films, and records. A theme throughout Queercore is the struggle to survive and create space. To do this, queercore developed and deployed specific strategies that can inform librarians in the important work of creating similar antioppressive and antiracist spaces.—Kevin Adams, Alfred University Ask, Listen, Empower: Grounding Your Library Work in Community Engagement. Mary Davis Fournier and Sarah Ostman, eds. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions, 2020. 176p. Paperback, $44.99 (ISBN: 978-0-8389-4740-1). In Ask, Listen, Empower: Grounding Your Library Work in Community Engagement, editors Mary Davis Fournier and Sarah Ostman provide an effective guidebook for libraries seeking to develop a “community engagement librarian” position and expand or reimagine their approach to community programming. The book provides both theoretical foun- dations and practical steps for implementing an intentional and socially conscious community engagement practice. The editors—both members of the American Library Association’s Public Programs Office—begin by outlining why this book needed to be written: Some in the library field remain dubious about the need for a new understanding of the phrase [community engagement]. Ask a career librarian and that person may reason that the library is, by definition, engaged with its community; for a library to exist, it must provide something that the individuals in its community use and want and need. Some library workers marvel at new job titles like ‘com- munity engagement librarian’ and wonder, ‘Isn’t that what we’ve been doing all along?’ (xxiii) Book Reviews 339 The anthology of 12 contributed essays proceeds to answer the question posed, explaining the difference between community engagement as a discrete concept and the sorts of positive community relations that a library should always already pursue. While library practice is often concerned with playing a positive role in community members’ lives, sustaining and nurturing the formation of healthy social bonds and promoting information literacy and knowledge creation, community engagement is a discrete concept that denotes giving com- munity members a more active voice in determining what those library processes look like. The book aims to expand the breadth and diversity of community members who come to the programming planning table. It is also focuses on magnifying the depth, substance, and power of library-community relationships once they are formed. Several essays in the collection reference and interpret the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) “Spectrum of Public Participation” schematic. This schematic iden- tifies a continuum of five possible levels of layperson involvement in institutional decision- making. At the lowest level, “inform,” the layperson is a passive recipient of information from the institution. The institution makes programmatic choices, and the layperson consumes the notifications and announcements that the institution makes. At the next level, “consult,” the institution invites the layperson to share feedback and other opinions about the decisions the institution has made. Decision-making power still rests squarely in the hands of the institution at this level, but the layperson plays a role in contributing their voice to potential revisions and edits of the programmatic decisions. At the next level, “involve,” the institution receives the layperson’s feedback during the decision-making process rather than after the fact. The institution gives the layperson op- portunities to voice concerns and other feedback during the creative process and to thereby influence the outcome of programmatic planning. With “collaborate,” the institution takes the sentiments of the “involve” stage and amplifies them to the maximum level. The layper- son receives a more substantial seat at the table and plays an active role in determining the outcomes of every stage of the programmatic planning process. This “collaborate” level is the second-highest level of layperson participation in the IAP2 continuum. The highest level of participation is “empower.” Here, the layperson has full final decision-making power. The institution’s function, when the IAP2 continuum logic reaches its final conclusion, is literally to “ask, listen, and empower,” as the book’s title indicates. The institution must learn what the layperson wants and make it an institutional priority to translate those desires into results. Although only two of the book’s 10 essays directly mention the IAP2 Spectrum of Pub- lic Participation—essay #1 by Nancy Kranich and essay #7 by Ellen Knutson and Quanetta Batts—this schematic stands out as a choice motif by which to understand the whole anthol- ogy. Every essay in the collection empowers the reader with either a theoretical framework or practical behavioral advice for increasing the extent of public participation at their library. Different readers will come to this book with different levels of confidence and experience in the social skills and design processes necessary to put community engagement programming into action. There’s something for everyone in this book, from those who are chomping at the bit to produce results at the “empower” level of engagement to those who are just starting to realize—or still need convincing—that their institution only performs at the “inform” level of layperson participation. Some essays in the collection give historical and theoretical context, explaining why com- munity engagement is necessary for the proper functioning of libraries within a democracy 340 College & Research Libraries March 2022 and for the fulfillment of the ALA Core Values of Librarianship. Other essays give practical case study examples of libraries around the country whose community engagement efforts are a model for others. Still other essays speak directly to the reader, offering practical guid- ance on how to speak to community members, practice the emotional intelligence necessary to manage the relationship, and how to follow through on the promise to give these community members a greater say in how the library runs and what the library is used for. The collection includes advice not just for the planning and implementation stages of community involve- ment but also for the task of assessment and determining whether community outreach efforts are having their desired effect. In this well-written, conversational handbook, editors Fournier and Ostman deliver on their promise to “examine the context, implications, and applications of community engage- ment today” (xv). Written primarily with a public library audience in mind, the volume has much to contribute to academic libraries interested in working more closely with their com- munities both on and off campus.—Alasdair Ekpenyong, Syracuse University Catherine Murray-Rust. Library Next: Seven Action Steps for Reinvention. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions, 2021. 110p. Paper, $54.99 (ISBN: 978-0-8389-4839-2). https://www.alastore.ala. org/librarynext Libraries are in a continual state of identity crisis, transforming and reinventing new services and initiatives in an effort to remain relevant. Catherine Murray-Rust argues in Library Next: Seven Action Steps for Rein- vention that our institutions need reinvention for “our uncertain future” (viii). Whether libraries need to be reinvented remains to be decided, but Murray-Rust makes her case. She provides advice on how libraries can successfully navigate and implement large-scale change. As the re- cently retired Dean of Libraries at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Murray-Rust gives seven actionable directions for libraries seeking to transform themselves. In each of the seven chapters, Murray-Rust outlines one of these steps alongside a story from one of her different academic library positions over the years. These steps form an overall strategy library decision-makers can use to make change. In several chapters, Murray-Rust applies the chapter’s action step to a hypothetical scenario to illustrate lessons learned. Murray-Rust makes a point to include scenarios that feature rank-and-file librarians. However, the focus is on her personal experience as a library administrator and has most relevance to this type of work. There is a strong human touch in Library Next as Murray-Rust shares personal stories gathered from her many years of experience as an academic library leader. Murray-Rust walks readers through the seven steps, giving examples from her academic library positions: Dean of Libraries at Georgia Tech, Dean of Libraries at Colorado State University, Associate University Librarian at Oregon State University, and several positions at Cornell University. Her personal stories work well to illustrate the value of her steps. You can see how she devel- oped her action-step strategy and how it led to success throughout her career, teaching her valuable lessons in the process. Murray-Rust’s action steps involve looking outside the profession for inspiration, being curious about the future, making public plans, collaborating with others, creating successful