Our Services

Athenaeum is here to help with the essentials & beyond.

We support libraries & community organizations in both initiating new and bolstering existing cooperative solutions to organizational challenges through organizational development, capacity relief & project management.

We are unique because of our areas of specialty that we bring to the library field, including but not limited to supporting inclusivity and racial justice in library collections and services, social emotional learning in the workplace and with children, consensus decision making, community-driven strategic planning and so much more!

We are passionate about providing strategic support to library and community organization professionals so that we all have healthier, more connected, inclusive, creative and resilient communities.

Organizational Development

  • Operationalizing more inclusive workspaces & services
  • Policy research & development
  • Program development
  • Professional writing & editing
  • Budget review
  • Grant writing
  • Facilitating trainings on: Social-Emotional Learning, consensus decision making, facilitation tools & strategic planning.

Capacity Relief

  • Capacity assessment
  • School library set up services
  • Coverage for “Family Medical Leave- FMLA”
  • Temporary staff vacancy coverage

Project Management

  • Designing & implementing large library programs & events
  • Conducting community-based action research
  • Coordinating library renovation projects
  • Developing & facilitating committees
  • Designing & coordinating staff development curriculum

Specialty Services

Community Engagement

In addition to offering traditional services, libraries & community organizations are being called to act as facilitators of community engagement and civil discourse. While your staffers are talented professionals within their field, facilitation work may be outside their wheelhouse. Athenaeum Consulting can provide you and your staff with key tools to help you serve as effective facilitators and community engagement leaders.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Justice Work

We hope it’s obvious that we are committed to supporting libraries and communities (and ourselves) in being more inclusive. In the work we do, we meet you where you are, and ensure that the actions we take are relevant to your community.

  • We help build systems that support everyone in ongoing reparations, long-term engagement, and accountability.
  • We focus on authentic collaboration that works to center marginalized identities.
  • We support individuals and teams taking steps to dismantle white supremacy workplace culture.
  • We synthesize and implement sustainable and robust plans, ensuring you get the best tools and experiences for your library or community organization.
  • We have expertise in inclusive programming and readers’ advisory resource development.

Investing in your library or organization

Athenaeum is committed to supporting libraries & community organizations in their areas of greatest need. That’s why we’ll work with you to develop a custom contract that spells out the deliverables, timetable, and budget that meet your needs. We work with public, academic, and school libraries — large and small — in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Our clients have hired Athenaeum Consulting services using Library Friends group funding, departmental budgets, and grants.

Pricing

Athenaeum is passionate about people over profit. That means we’re committed to making our services accessible to all types of libraries & organizations. That also means we provide living wages and medical benefits to our staff, and compensate people fairly for their work and intellectual property. To honor both principles, we offer a range of pricing options that allow you to customize your contract to meet your specific needs.

Pricing Scale

Solidarity rate: For libraries or organizations with robust budgets, your investment provides increased accessibility to Athenaeum Consulting services for organizations facing scarcity

Standard rate: For libraries serving populations of 30,000 people or more, or community organizations with medium sized operating budgets

Small library or school rate: For libraries serving populations of less than 30,000 people, or community organizations with small operating budgets

Hourly or Flat-Rate Contracts

We tailor our contracts to meet your particular needs. Some services are more cost-effective at our hourly rate, while others are better suited to a flat fee. For estimating purposes, here’s a snapshot of our hourly and flat-rate offerings.

Hourly rates

  • Project management and organizational development: $100-$150 per hour
  • Front-line staffing coverage: $25-$40 per hour
  • We bill for all hours worked, including prep and follow-up

Flat Rates

These are examples; we will customize your rate to satisfy your specific needs.

  • Three 8-hour days of school library setup: $1,400-$3,800
  • Facilitating one 3-hour event, including prep, setup, and tear down: $800-$1,400

Taking action on our anti-racist commitment: We donate 5% of our annual income to Black, Indigenous & People of Color owned community organizations.

Ultimately, we want to support your organizational development while maximizing your resources, so please reach out to us about your needs and we will share some ideas on how we can make it happen!