Creating Alliances: Inside and Out
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Presenters: Lisa Cleary, Elizabeth Puckett. Presented at the Georgia Libraries Conference in Columbus, GA on 10/05/2017. Learn how the Cobb County Public Library System transformed their relationship with two school systems, increased library staff investment in school outreach, and created critical allies in the process.
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Creating Alliances: Inside and Out
- 2. Introductions Lisa Cleary Elizabeth Puckett Cobb County Public Library System & YOU!
- 4. Benefits that impact sustainability Staff buy-in and participation increased 30% of the SRP participants learned about it at school Significant increase in school outreach by branch staff Library PASS Program
- 5. Collaboration Timeline: Schools and Libraries 87% Enter text here. 50% Enter text here. 55% Enter text here. 88% Enter text here. 30% Enter text here. 2014 2015 20162013 2017 CCSD approached Cobb County Public Library to collaborate on Summer Reading Joint marketing strategies were developed and student participation increased CCSD Media Specialists & Smyrna Library visit Cobb County Public Library to plan SRP Suggested author/series lists replace summer reading lists CCSL is formed Educator Cards CCSL meets in December to begin SRP planning Schools and libraries partner with Scholastic to enable students to log minutes online-4 million minutes logged Formed SRP Working Group CCSL meets in Winter to plan Students log 6 million minutes on Scholastic site SRP Working Group collects input from all branch staff Educator Card Drives Library PASS Project CCSL meets in Winter to plan Students log <4 million minutes on Scholastic site but increased participation & super busy summer Library staff log 1 million minutes on Scholastic Parent Surveys
- 6. “Schools do not really want to collaborate with libraries,”
- 7. “We have tried to reach out schools and they do not follow up with us” “Schools already have their summer reading lists” “Schools do not want us to visit them” “Schools have their own summer reading program” “Summer Reading is the responsibility of the Children’s Department” Common Myths held by Public Libraries
- 8. School’s Perceptions of Public Libraries Facts: They are sometimes unaware of our interest in visiting their schools. We are not on their radar so they do not think to invite us After we invite ourselves, they invite us back!
- 9. a Strategies & Tools What worked well...and what we learned.
- 10. Reach out to centralized school staff & plan together! Explore opportunities: ➜ Summer Reading Plan together from beginning to create collaborative program! reading lists, school visits, collaborative docs ➜ Invite yourself to school events! ➜ Teen Read Week and Teen Tech Week ➜ Title I ➜ Kindergarten Readiness ➜ Strategic plan for schools ➜ Schedule visit with media specialist at beginning of school year Strategies for Connecting with Schools
- 11. ➜Media Specialist Meetings ➜School Initiative Meetings ➜Community collaborations Connect more by attending school & community meetings
- 12. Feedback summary from library staff and teachers from our summer reading program 2016 And then we made some mistakes... Place your screenshot here Collect Feedback and Assess
- 13. Polls and assessments Let your staff contribute! Ask questions about your program All staff What could be improved? What works great? Team members Assess materials needs for each branch or department Assess program successes and failure by branch and region Strategies for Library Staff Teams By forming teams you allow representatives to voice concerns for different branches or departments Provides a quicker response time to different branches or departments
- 14. Tools and benefits for Staff ➜ Digital polls, assessments and data collection (Google forms) ➜ System-wide SRP staff instructions created by the team ➜ Physical data collection point our SRP supply boxes ➜ Phone conferences! ➜ Face-to-face meetings ➜ One on one remote meetings
- 15. Collaboration fosters Sustainability Increased use of library databases & resources Community impact of county-wide reading programs Increased School Collaboration opens doors Positive parent perception of SRP program Community meetings invite collaboration Library staff buy-in Community partners increase value
- 18. Thanks! Lisa Cleary lisa.cleary@cobbcounty.org Elizabeth Puckett elizabeth.puckett@cobbcounty.org Related files shared: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5P1YyRkzZj5OEF1TGZMNkd5ZGM
- 19. CREDITS Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free: ➜ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival ➜ Photographs by Death to the Stock Photo (license)
Editor's Notes
- We are a regional model 16 branch system with 4 regions and two large school systems. Over 750,000 residents live in Cobb and we are the second largest school system with approximately 130 public schools.
- Today we will discuss how we have created alliances both internally with staff and externally with our school systems. We will focus on how we transformed relationships-with two school systems through collaboration and outreach. We will also focus on the positive impact our collaboration had on library staff, team building, enthusiasm about SRP that resulted in inviting staff to give input. In both cases, we learned to let go of some control and listen. Today we will discuss: Benefits of creating allies Background (timeline) Dispel common myths about school outreach and explore beliefs that schools have Share strategies and tools that worked: Team building, collecting staff and school input, repeated assessment At the end of the session, attendees will brainstorm strategies for your systems. We will focus mostly on the summer reading program as an example; however, we have definitely employed these strategies with other programs and allies.
- Benefits of these alliances are significant and impact our sustainability—which is hugely important for public libraries. We have had increases in SRP participation as a result of the partnerships. If you help to design a program, you are probably going to support it to ensure its success. We have learned that when staff design of a program, they have much more buy-in. And when the school systems help to plan our summer reading program, they also more invested. It is easier to sustain programs when they are successful We worked to create a county-wide summer reading program with both of our public schools systems. Our collaboration has led to more collaboration like the Library PASS program. There are many benefits of collecting input and ideas from teachers; however, it’s no longer just the public library’s summer reading program but rather a county-wide summer reading program. Combined ownership of the SRP program (schools and library staff) created a sense of community that contributes to sustainability.
- History: Pre 2013, SRP at Cobb’s SRP program statistics were collected by totaling the number of reading logs distributed. Beginning 2014 (post summer) staff were invited to give feedback to help plan following summer: Library staff voted to reward students with box of books instead of iPads SRP celebration was moved to the beginning instead of end of summer. We attend MCS meetings and CCSD Media specialist meetings and are very visible in the schools. We share Teen Tech Week and other system-wide programs with media specialists. 2017 was the first summer we did SRP parent surveys.
- Common myth in public libraries
- We have much more in common with schools than we realize, but librarians often need to make the first steps in collaborating. We all want children to develop a love of reading and SRP is an opportunity to encourage and celebrate reading.
- Invite media specialist’s input.
- Work with local school systems to identify common goals Work with school staff that oversee media specialists-centralized approach-Lisa & Holly gives library credibility. Public Library asked schools if reading lists could be changed to suggested authors and series—and they said yes! This resulted in students reading more instead of waiting to read. Much happier parents, students, and library staff. Additional strategies: Identify someone at the school who is passionate (i.e. Art Teacher, Parent Center coordinator) Look at events on school websites and invite yourself (strategic plans, goals) Visit school at the beginning of school year with calendar and plan visits (meet their needs) Reaching out to Title I staff Be willing to let the schools have input on SRP (we made it county-wide instead of just the library’s SRP program.) This was initially challenging for staff, but the benefits outweighed the loss of control.
- Attending community meetings increases opportunities Marietta Reads Meetings Cobb Collaborative Meetings Educator Card Drives Be seen in the schools! They come to know you! Recently awarded a United Way literacy grant to be executed with a nonprofit (Communities in Schools) and Hickory Hills Elementary school.
- We consistently collected feedback from staff and from our school systems and used it to improve the following year. Not everything works, i.e. 12 minute puppet show! Issuing library cards at schools or on site is too time intensive and does not usually turn recipients into library users. We found that it is better to share about the resources and give potential patrons a library card application.
- START EARLY! Form staff teams—SRP is more than one person can do!-we increased the number of team members for larger regions). We let them know their voices were heard and made a difference.. At least one regional rep from each region was on the SRP Team. Teams decreased response time for SRP needs to the branches. Training teams on SRP means they are more motivated to teach their branches. Staff feedback increases ownership and buy-in. Assessment provided opportunity to collect and use feedback.
- Find the tools that work best for your group-Google docs worked great for us to collaborate. Sometimes email communication is not effective and phone and face-to-face meetings are needed. Data collection boxes really helped to communicate steps and collect data.
- Library Pass & Educator Cards (teachers are our ambassadors and have a large realm of influence) County Wide -it’s not just our programs More cardholders = more database users 222 new Educator cards created last month during Educator Card drives. Library Staff have buy in because they have input Parent survey showed very positive feedback-99% of parents would recommend the SRP program and over 70% did! Attending nonprofit/community collaborative meetings ed to Hickory Hills grant Scholastic gifted us with Reading Road trip with authors like Walter Wick and Natalie Lloyd and Carmen Agra Deedy
- Attendees will brainstorm solutions to collaboration challenges in small groups. Groups will be asked to discuss Are there any myths or long held beliefs that are causing stagnation in your system? What are realistic steps your organization could take to strengthen your partnership with local schools or other organizations? Where could you include assessment to foster collaboration within your organization and/or with your partners?
- Presentation will be available online along with other resources https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5P1YyRkzZj5OEF1TGZMNkd5ZGM