“reach out”

To me, 'reach out' smacks of feel-good Oprah-speak.

@Blokin' Smunts - Sorry if you think that definition is a bit vague (although I don't, personally), but in that case, your problem is with Oxford Dictionaries, not with me. Perhaps you find it vague because it's quite a difficult concept to put in words, even though I imagine most of us instinctively know what the Four Tops meant when they sang 'Reach out and I'll be there, or what is meant when a radio station says it wants to reach out to younger listeners. Perhaps the best way to see it is just to think of it as a metaphorical version of the physical act of reaching out. Here are some more definitions and examples from online dictionaries:

Government reaches out to the people (Free Dictionary)
I try to reach out to my daughter but she doesn't want to have anything to do with me (Free Dictionary)

Macmillan gives two definitions:
- to offer help to someone: "We are reaching out to the most vulnerable members of the community."
- to ask someone for help: "She urged him to reach out to his family."

Cambridge also gives two definitions:
- to try to communicate with a person or a group of people, usually in order to help or involve them: "The new mayor is reaching out to the local community to involve them in his plans for the city."
- to offer help and support to someone: "She set up her charity to reach out to the thousands of homeless on the streets."

I don't see that these are about indirect and empty gestures, and in none of these example does 'reach out' simply mean contact (which is what my question was about). In the three examples of the new usage I quoted in my question, the use of 'reach out to' is completely different from all the dictionary examples I've quoted here, meaning simply to contact, get in touch with, phone etc, which we already have perfectly good words and expressions for.

You say - 'Reaching out to libraries on behalf of Google, for example, is an attempt to help make the information contained within more freely available' - sorry, but I think you misunderstood this one, which was no doubt my fault as I didn't quote the whole thing, which read "please reach out to a Library staff member"; it was simply a particular library saying that if users of Google Reader have any problems (with transferring their feeds, as Google Reader is closing down), they should contact a member of staff. Nothing about on behalf of Google or spreading information.

I don't really have that much of a 'hang-up' about it. In my hippy days, I both subconsciously and deliberately used words used by my peer group which no doubt sounded weird to 'straights', and later spent years trying to get rid of them. It's just that this usage sounds a bit affected to me, and I'm by no means alone:

- “Reach out” is one of the best examples of how corporate jargon makes things unnecessarily complicated. The English language already has lots of useful words related to communication. “Reach out to me by phone?” Seriously? How about just “call me?” - Huffington Post

- Jargon for “let’s set up a meeting” or “let’s contact this person.” Just say that—and unless you want the Human Relations department breathing down your neck, please don’t reach out unless clearly invited. - Forbes Magazine

And it's also on nearly every list of the 'Ten most annoying office expressions' type:

- Thinking 'outside the box' and 'going forward' and 'let's touch base' have been found to be the most overused phrases of office jargon. The other annoying office phrases are 'reach out', 'It's on my radar', 'I'm aware', 'flag up', 'low-hanging fruit" - Times of India, commenting on a survey by the London-based Institute of Leadership and Management.

And included in two of the best online collections of office jargon / business buzzwords:

MBA Watch http://www.johnsmurf.com/jargon2.htm
The Office Life http://www.theofficelife.com/business-jargon-dictionary-R.html

What is irritating about the phrase is that it attempts to imbue a sense of urgency or concern connected with the simple act of making contact as a form of manipulating the recipient into believing there exists some extraordinary level of concern.