School and Library Collaboration

So last week I attended a workshop on Public and School Librarian Collaboration (say that 10 times fast). Now you may be wondering why such a workshop is even needed. After all, children's/teen librarians and school librarians are both in the business of books and encouraging kids to read said books.  Communication between schools and libraries, even though it seems logical, does not always occur.

Why? Well,unfortunately a big reason is that there are fewer librarians in schools. Check out this article to see what a travesty that is.

 Even when there is time and manpower, though, we (school and public librarians) don't always realize how working together can be mutually beneficial. We all know that school librarians and teachers are incredibly busy. Then  a public librarian comes in asking can I do this, that , and the other. It probably seems like we are trying to give them more work, or put them out of a job.  Nothing could  be further from the truth. Public librarians have access to resources that are not always available to teachers and school librarians and we want to share them. What do we get out of it? A captive audience! The biggest struggle for public librarians is getting kids in the building. Schools have access to kids everyday and working with teachers and school librarians gives us the opportunity to reach them.

It was amazing to hear about school and public librarians that have formed successful partnerships that have helped each other and, most importantly, the kids they serve.  Two of the speakers, one being the librarian from a middle school and the other a teen librarian, have partnered for several years to develop distance learning opportunities for at risk kids and, also, for students during the summer. The public library has increased patronage and the middle school has seen improved test scores. From spring to fall students have shown no summer slide and sometimes even gain. How cool is that?

Another library and school system has an amazing program called ThinkLink. Each school in the district has a blue bin at the public library and a corresponding one in the school library. Teachers can email requests for materials to the public librarian, who checks them out and places them in that school's bin. Parent volunteers ferry the bins of books back and forth. Teachers and students get access to twice the materials without having to even visit the library. For busy teachers this can be an additional bonus.

At the Portland District Library we are fortunate to have a wonderful school district. The schools  are very supportive of the public library. It still takes a lot of time and effort to reach out to teachers, librarians, administrators, etc. but the outcome is worth the endeavor. Reading is important. If you need facts and statistics look here.

At the end of the day, I came back to Portland with increased enthusiasm and lots of ideas about how to better connect with schools.