Bridging the Divide

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an example of a productive working relationship between a public library and a public school district. For years the Clearview Library District (CLD) struggled with an estranged relationship with the Weld Re-4 School District. Various contributing factors made it difficult for staff to proactively connect with educators and school administration. In 2008, CLD made a commitment to reassessing its role in the community and began exploring ways to better serve more members of the community. CLD selected schools as a priority because they presented a tremendous opportunity to touch a large percentage of the population. This new relationship became a major focus for the Youth Services and Outreach Departments of the Clearview Library District, who worked together to develop a plan to bridge the divide.

In Quest of Academic Achievement

This chapter describes various readership promotion activities undertaken by a Nigerian State Public Library in partnership with schools, churches, and the state owned television house. Massive failures in O’ level national and regional examinations and the entrance examinations into the tertiary institutions have brought up the fact that the education sector in Nigeria is facing monumental challenges. This combined with a noticeable decline in user statistics, especially amongst school age children in Onitsha Public Library in South East Nigeria. This decline has long been associated with the school-boy drop-out syndrome. The State Public Library Board collaborated with agencies in its community to introduce intervention strategies to halt the trend. These were expected to increase usage of the public and school libraries, make reading attractive to children of school age, support school curriculum, and help students make better grades in examinations.

A Tale of Two Schools

This case study illustrates two partnerships between the Taylor Public Library and two area schools, first with the Taylor Independent School District for facility use, and second with the Temple College satellite campus at Taylor for their use of the public library facilities in exchange for a free student worker. The partnership with the local school district was specifically during 2002 through 2006 to continue providing programming during the summer. The Taylor Public Library lost its old facility, and while temporarily located elsewhere, had no venue for summer programs. The library and the school district partnered to hold the summer events on local campuses until the new public library building opened in 2007. The partnership between the Taylor Public Library and Temple College consisted of use of library space to house the college’s nursing and medical collections, allow access to these holdings to enrolled college students, and grant students public library cards. For this use, the Taylor Public Library acts as supervisor for a qualifying student worker, funded by Temple College.

A Furry Partnership

This case study describes the partnership between the Bedford Public Library and an elementary school. This partnership consists of a program designed to assist grade school children with literacy skills. Third grade students read aloud to a Pet Partners team made up of a therapy dog and a handler who is a professional public librarian. The team visits the school weekly with books selected from the public library’s collection to provide animal assisted therapy. School staff and teachers collect and provide assessment data on students to create goals and track progress for the students. The librarian, teachers, and school staff work together to create new methods of assessing progress attributed to reading to the dog. During the summer months, the Pet Partners team visits a local Summer Meals site to help address the problem of summer reading loss. Children of all ages are invited to read aloud to the team to participate in animal assisted activities.

A Rite of Passage

In New York City, over five thousand young adults are taken in to custody by the city’s department of juvenile justice. (Fenster-Sparber, 2008). While in detention, they do not have easy access to books, and literacy is not always a priority. Although attempts have been made to incorporate library sites throughout New York City’s juvenile correctional facilities, students there have limited access to educational materials. Research shows that a higher literacy rate in such facilities can play a vital role in an incarcerated teen’s rehabilitation process. The New York Public Library (NYPL) saw an opportunity to reach students who might otherwise not be able to get access to information and build a long-lasting outreach program with Passages Academy, a multi-site correctional school run by New York City’s Department of Education and the Department of Juvenile Justice. This case study describes New York Public Library’s mission at Passages Academy, which started shortly after Passages was established in 1998 and continues to be a strong community partner today. The author, who also participated in the project, interviewed NYPL librarians and Passages Academy librarians and educators to gain a better understanding of their challenges.

Smart Investing

This chapter describes the Orange County Library System’s financial literacy workshops and highlights the partnerships that made them a success. While the library system received a grant that helped get the project started, its partners brought expertise and a connection with the target audience that the library alone could not have provided. This project illustrates how community partnerships are a mutually beneficial way for public libraries to establish themselves as a resource for unbiased and reliable information. In addition to the describing the partnerships, this chapter will also focus on the ingredients believed to be the keys to success. The authors hope the experience can serve as a motivator and template for public libraries everywhere wanting to further establish themselves as information resources with community partnership assistance.

Waking Up the Neighborhood

With competition for customers, funding, and success at a premium these days, libraries must find ways to throw in their lot with neighboring organizations and businesses in order to best serve their shared constituencies. This chapter examines success stories born from collaborations showing that all libraries can share in this type of success—no matter how big or little their community may be—and partner with local companies, businesses, social, and non-profits groups in ways that are not only cost-effective, but can also result in innovative revenue streams for all parties involved.

Cross – Generational Learning Case Study

“No public library, however large and well funded, can meet all the needs of its customers on its own” (2010, IFLA, p. 28). With fewer staff resources, collaborations and partnerships have become even more important in today’s economic environment to help deliver a quality service to library customers. The working partnership established between Malahide Library and the local post-primary school delivers mutual benefits to both. It has enabled the library to meet its customers’ needs through sources of volunteers who assist in the delivery of technology-based classes within the library. The cross-generational approach of the partnership has enabled the students to fulfill their school requirements of engaging in social responsibility and developing life skills. The partnership has assisted in enhancing the role of the library within the community and fostering good relationships with its future customers.

Neighborhood Resource Center

The Library Partnership is a jointly operated facility that offers area residents full public library services and access to approximately thirty (30) social service agencies. The collaboration provides a unique environment for clients to receive counseling and advice from social service agencies and the resources, assistance, and services to address their needs from the public library all in one location . Clients are often referred to the library for a variety of eGovernment and other services. The presence of a public library allows potential and scheduled clients to come to the facility without the stigma often attached to entering a social service assistance center.

Lights, Camera, Library

Providing public library services to a resort community whose members range from service industry workers to Hollywood moguls positions Wilkinson Public Library in Telluride, CO, as an institution bridging economic disparities. Community partnerships form the foundation for free library-based film series hosted by international festivals, including the acclaimed Telluride Film Festival and eclectic Mountainfilm. Both festivals enjoy a long history in this remote western ski town, and as a result of their national success, risk being disconnected from the average local. Through year-long partnerships with the public library, both festivals are strengthening ties with their home base. In turn, the library is fulfilling its role as the great equalizer and enhancing its facility through the benevolence of the festival organizations.