Outreach and Partnerships
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National Partnerships and Collaborations
Scholastic Books
Scholastic was very eager to partner with CSLP, however, this was not an easy partnership to establish a benefit for CSLP member
libraries. After much back and forth, it was decided that there would be a raffle for member libraries to enter. Four winners were selected to be “stops” on Scholastic’s Summer Road tour. The Summer Road tour was a large Scholastic bus that visited different libraries, camps, and other educational entities with activities for all ages, appearances by popular book characters, and giveaways for participants. It provided an easy, no cost program for libraries. It just so happened that the Henderson County Library was one of the raffle winners so I was able to see firsthand how this program was beneficial to our member libraries.
Cooperative Children’s Book Center- University of Wisconsin- Madison, School of Education
A partnership to have CSLP artwork evaluated for cultural appropriateness, and diversity. This was a positive result to develop a partnership as a result of concerns regarding the 2020 summer reading artwork.
CSLP Summer Reading Champion
During the winter of 2015, Kate DiCamillo’s publicist approached CSLP about promoting summer reading...for free! This was an amazing offer and so the CSLP Summer ReadingChampion was born. I was instrumental in arranging for Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, NASA astronauts, and national storyteller/author Carmen-Agra Deedy to serve fill the role. The Champion offers promotion through videos, pictures, events, and promotional material including booklists of their favorite books. This is an opportunity that benefits both parties. While developing the partnership with Carmen-Agra Deedy, her excitement about wearing a CSLP summer reading t-shirt rivaled that of a sports fan!
Space Science Institute
The “space” theme was selected for the 2019 program to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. In June 2017, I began discussing
partnership opportunities with the Space Science Institute (SSI), a division of NASA. At the time, they were providing solar eclipse kits for public libraries across the country to engage communities in viewing this celestial event. A large amount of NASA funding goes into
educating all ages and walks of life about the science of space. With the popularity of STEM activities in schools, SSI embarked on an initiative to create a searchable database of activities to be used in schools, libraries, camps and other educational entities. These were the components of our partnership:
1) Liaisons from the Space Science Institute served on several of our committees to offer
expertise as the program manual for the 2019 program year was created
2) CSLP librarians thoroughly evaluated the SSI’s online STEM programming resource,
StarNet. Feedback was provided on searching features, program adaptability for public libraries, in addition to offering suggestions on how to make the resource more marketable to librarians
3) SSI provided hands-on training on activities found in their database at the CSLP 2018 annual meeting. State representatives received this free training for it to be utilized it in their state-wide summer reading workshops.
4) Promotional materials, including bookmarks and posters, were distributed at
national library conferences and included with the 2019 program manual
5) To further NASA’s education initiative, SSI offered a grant for ten states to receive free training on space related STEM activities in addition to the many other resources offered by NASA. The grant was administered through CSLP. While this was offered as part of a partnership with CSLP, states were encouraged to invite other educators in their community to participate in the training. (The training was similar to what was provided at the 2018 CSLP annual meeting.)
6) One of our Space Science Institute liaisons, the CSLP Organizational Coordinator and I presented a standing room only, double session at the 2018 Association for Small and Rural Libraries conference. Details about the partnership, grants, and resources in addition to hands-on activities were shared.
7) The Director of the Space Science Institute helped to established several astronauts as CSLP Summer Reading Champions
8) The Space Science Institute continues to be an invaluable partner to CSLP.
Colleagues from the SSI continue to serve on CSLP committees to offer their expertise and CSLP continues to promote their resources relevant to our programs.
Conference attendee participating in a coding activity
Conference attendees participating in a safe landing activity
CSLP Executive Director, Luke Kralik, testing out soft landing devices
Conference attendees checking out the properties of a
"new planet"
County-wide Partnerships
Dia de los Muertos with the Gaston County Museum
The Museum hosted its first annual program celebrating the Mexican culture of the Gaston County Community. The library was involved with the planning of the event and also on hand the day of the event to promote resources, share information and promote our services (focusing on a learning a new language!) The second annual event was held virtually.
Read & Draw with the Gaston County Museum
Read & Draw with the Gaston County Museum
This was a collaborative program where I read a story while the Museum’s Education Manager, Alex Brooks, drew along to the story. An activity packet was also included with each week’s video that included literacy activities and original coloring pages. This program was used in place of
in-person outreach for many of the schools.
Check it out through the Museum at Home site!
Books in Barbershops with the
Gaston County Early Literacy Collaborative
Books in Barbershops with the
Gaston County Early Literacy Collaborative
A partnership with the Gaston County Public Library and the Friends of the Gaston County Public Library. The Friends provided funding to place baskets of books in barbershops and salons in seven Gastonia locations. With 65% of children entering the third grade below the target reading level, the Gaston County Early Literacy Collaborative has sought new ways to respond to the lack of attainable early literacy skills. This program was set to be expanded to local laundromats in the fall of 2020, however, it was put on hold due to Covid.
Drive-In Bingo with
Gaston County Parks & Recreation
Drive-In Bingo with
Gaston County Parks & Recreation
Gaston County Parks & Recreation reched out to the library to see if it might be possible for us to donate prizes for kids that included books. This was a great opportunity for us to utilize our summer reading prizes in a different way, promote the library and develop a partnership.
I also served a "mystery" caller at the monthly Drive-In Bingo nights during the summer of 2020.
Town Partnerships and Collaborations
Festival of Giving at the
Matawan-Aberdeen Public Library
Festival of Giving at the
Matawan-Aberdeen Public Library
The Festival of Giving was a month long program where the library provided opportunities for patrons to give back to the community. This program was done in partnership with the Friends of the Library, the Matawan Food Pantry, the Monmouth County Department of Social Services and the Stop n’ Shop of Aberdeen (grocery store). The Youth Services Department had a mitten tree every year where patrons could donate scarves, mittens, gloves and other warm items needed during the winter months. For every child through the age of third graders, the Friends donated an item for every child that attended a library program. For every tween that attended the annual tween holiday gift making program, tweens could make one scarf to give as a gift, and another to donate to the mitten tree. Teens needing volunteer hours, volunteered time on a Saturday morning to put together soup mix and cookie mix in mason jars. These jars were donated to our local food pantry to be included in food baskets given to families in need. Members of the library’s Knitting Club also knit blankets, scarves, hates and mittens that were included with the mitten tree donations. These donations were then given to the Monmouth County (NJ) Department of Social Services to use in their outreach.
North Gaston High School Art Show
at the Dallas Branch Library
North Gaston High School Art Show
at the Dallas Branch Library
This event was been held annually since November 2016. Students’ art remained on display in the Dallas Branch through January allowing family visiting during the holidays to see the art.
Trivia at the Ole Dallas Brewery
Trivia at the Ole Dallas Brewery
In 2019, the Dallas Library developed plans for a monthly trivia program to be held at the Ole Dallas Brewery (ODB). The library would provide the trivia program, while the brewery provided the prizes. Customer base a the ODB was mostly non-library users so this was a fantastic outrech opportunity! In addition to trivia, library staff also shared information about resources, electronic and community-wide. However, this program was short-lived, being put on hold when the pandemic hit in the Spring of 2020.
Children's Placemats at Sammy's Neighborhood Pub
Children's Placemats at Sammy's Neighborhood Pub
Sammy's Neighborhood Pub was opening a second location in the Gaston County (NC) area and approached the Gaston County Museum to design activity placemats for children. The museum agreed with the stipulation that the Dallas Branch Library be included in the project. The placemats were designed around six historical events/locations in the county and featured coloring on one side and literacy activites (jokes, word scrambles, and tidbits) on the other side.
Dallas Christian Ministry Monthly Outreach
Dallas Christian Ministry Monthly Outreach
A staff member would visit the location monthly to promote library services- specifically computers/resume help/ job application help.
***During the pandemic, I created monthly information bags to hand out to patrons in drive-thru line. Bags included voter registration information, census information, an advanced reader’s copy of a book, take home crafts and summer reading logs/information packets.
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