Supporting Local Businesses – The Libraries as Launchpads Method

Libraries are uniquely positioned to support aspiring business owners. They have always been about more than just books; expanding access to knowledge, tools, and opportunity. Just as the printing press once revolutionized access to information and fueled the growth of libraries, today libraries continue to play a critical role in ensuring communities have equitable access to technology, digital skills, and business support.

At their core, libraries break down barriers and create pathways for people to succeed, including those ready to launch and grow businesses in their communities.

Join us to explore how your library can more effectively support entrepreneurs and small business owners. This session will include practical steps, hands-on activities, and frameworks you can use to develop goals that reflect your local context, along with an opportunity to experience elements of the entrepreneurial journey firsthand.

All attendees will receive a PDF of Libraries as Launchpads’ Guide to Supporting Local Entrepreneurs: A Workbook for Librarians, a practical tool to help position your library as a resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners in your community.

Ginny Sterpka
Ginny Sterpka is a capacity-building strategist focused on strengthening the systems that support sustainable livelihoods. As co-founder of Libraries as Launchpads, she grew the initiative into a bi-national network of more than 90 Entrepreneurship Librarians across the U.S. and Canada, helping position libraries as vital entry points for expanded access to opportunity.

Her work is shaped by her own path as a creative entrepreneur. With a multidisciplinary background spanning landscape and architectural design, environmental planning, display design, and product design and prototyping. This lived experience informs her commitment to building practical, accessible systems where creative talent can translate into thriving livelihoods.”