School and Public Library Partnerships
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Ideas for growing partnerships between school and public libraries.
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School and Public Library Partnerships
- 1. JOINING FORCES FOR THE COMMUNITY School Library and Public Library Partnerships
- 2. Making Partnerships a Success 1. Have a shared vision & common goals 2. Spend some time on formal planning 3. Create open communication 4. Plan on an ongoing evaluation processes 5. Establish a commitment on the part of decision makers & staff 6. Secure adequate funds 7. Know your patrons Accessed from https://youthserviceslibrarianship.wikispaces.com/School+Library+and+Public+Library+Collaboration 10/14/2016
- 3. Just Keep Swimming • Persistence IS a virtue • Things change • Do you know what I mean?
- 4. Appetizers Public library cards for teachers & school library staff Waive fines Assignment alerts Mutual promotion
- 5. Soups & Salads Joint book club Library field trips Homework & tutoring services Book delivery to the school Public library programs at the school
- 6. Dinners Battle of the Books events Storytelling festival Welcome to kindergarten program Middle school survival program Community reading projects Shared author visits
- 7. Desserts Professional development Technology training Professional collections State library databases System workshops KASL workshops http://www.slideshare.net/cchamp/growing-learners-together?qid=33455c43-b042-4b83-901d-966227f80d1b&v=&b=&from_search=2
Editor's Notes
- To develop a shared vision, you need to determine the needs of both parties: What does the school need? What does the public library need? How can you help each other meet those needs? You’ll need these common goals to establish that both parties are committed to the partnership. Unless both parties are committed, no project will be successful long term. Although it can be difficult to find the time, it’s important to schedule opportunities to plan together with your partner. This keeps everyone on the same page as far as responsibilities, priorities, and input. Part of the planning process could entail a pilot program for testing out the partnership and working out details. During planning, verify the best ways and times to communicate with each other. If you don’t have ongoing, open communication, the partnership isn’t going to work for the long haul. As with all projects, it’s important to establish criteria for evaluating the partnership and the programs you create as they develop. Especially at first, it’s a good idea to keep programs simple. This makes them easier to maintain and reproduce, as well as evaluate. It’s very helpful to have a commitment to the partnership from both the immediate staff and the higher ups at both organizations. Because many partnerships aren’t a huge success with their first program, everyone involved needs to understand that the process may take a few tries before it’s up and running at optimum speed. One sign of such commitment is the provision of funds towards the programs the partnership develops. Funds can be found from either the school or public library budget or a grant opportunity. The patrons are the final party in the partnership, and they are the ones you have to please. So, be sure you understand what they want and need, when they’ll be available, and how to motivate them to participate.
- Plan on making multiple overtures. I recently attended a public/school library partnership presentation where the presenter from New York City, the largest School/Public Library partnership in the country, stressed the fact that on average, it took 5 solicitation interactions from the public library before the school came on board. She said that sometimes these interactions were phone calls or in person visits, and sometimes the interactions were emails or even text messages. But, it’s important to keep trying! Even once you’ve established a relationship and created a partnership, that doesn’t mean smooth sailing from then on. People retire or find new jobs; job duties change; other stuff happens. You need to be vigilant in maintaining and building your partnerships. It’s a good idea to have a list of options to share with the school. As library people, we sometimes assume that everyone understands the services and programs public libraries provide, however, many non-library folks don’t know what we’re offering when we suggest a partnership. So, bring along a menu of options. I’m going to share some examples options from small ideas, like mutual promotion, to huge ideas, like one book community reading programs.
- An easy entry point to a partnership could be offering special cards that allow teachers and school library staff to check out books for an extended period of time or to check out more books than a typical library card allows for. Perhaps even allowing local teachers to have library cards at the community public library, when they are not residents. Another simple option is to offer to waive fines and fees for teachers and school staff. Public libraries can create an "assignment alert form" to be used online where teachers and school librarians can alert the public library to assignments that have been recently handed out in an effort to prepare for and support students who may be wanting to use the public library as a resource in completing these assignments. Promote each others services and programs through newsletters, websites, and bulletin boards to increases the awareness and use each library’s services. Invite school staff to come to public library events and ask schools to share public library card applications with their students, making sure that they and their caregivers are aware of the services available to them. Public libraries should be mindful of the school calendar and plan activities in coordination with it.
- Public and school librarians can collaborate to offer a joint book club - sometimes taking place at the school, other times at the pubic library. Librarians could alternate who leads the discussion each month. Students would take a field trip from their school to the library to experience all (or much) of what the public library has to offer. At this time, children could also be signed up for library cards. Teachers can tutor at the public library after school, or public librarians who feel comfortable can offer tutoring on homework assignments that teachers share. And don’t forget all those state library databases and educational websites the public library has access! Materials from the public libraries, including books, texts, and electronic resources, could be collected and delivered on a schedule to area school libraries for check out and use by students. With public libraries fighting for numbers at many of their programs, especially with school-aged children, one idea would be for the public library to take their programs on the road, to the schools, and present them over lunch hours.
- Of course, you can do some bigger, scarier projects with a partner too. America's Battle of the Books is a reading incentive program for students in 3rd thru 12th grades. Students read books and come together usually in groups to demonstrate their abilities and to test their knowledge of the books they have read. The student competitions are usually similar to the TV series Family Feud or Whiz Kids styles of competitions. Students, teachers, and librarians can participate in storytelling festivals. Public libraries can expand student access to folk tales and fables for such an event as well as providing an away from school location for community performances. Even if your local school offers a Kindergarten Roundup or a Middle School transition event, having another event at the public library can help alleviate anxiety for both students and parents. It also offers an excellent opportunity to demonstrate public library educational resources to parents, teachers, and school administrators. Community reading projects can be for just the community youth or for all community residents. This is a great way to get everyone in the community talking to each other. Author visits can be consuming of both funds and time. By combining resources, public and school libraries could offer more author visits for the students they serve.
- Finally, sharing professional development opportunities with your school library counterpart is a great way to build comradery and find new partnership ideas, while reciprocated training will expand both your expertise. Offer to share books from the NCKLS Professional Collection or invite them to system workshop, and ask them about the nearby KASL meetings and trainings.
- Finally, I want to emphasize that creating partnerships with your schools benefits everyone, the school, the staff, the public library, the students, and the community. So, as you’re calling for the 4th time to set up a meeting with school staff or when you have only 2 students show up to a program you’re present at school, remember your success isn’t just about numbers and circulation, it’s about the impact you have on the students, teachers, librarians, and community members. Showing them the awesome resources the public library has to offer, and letting them know that you value their time, energy, and ideas. Partnerships open doors and lead to support for your library.