Public Library Collaboration

• Reach Out - Find your contacts

• Show Up - Plan a Visit to meet in person

• Co-Publicize programs

• Create recommended reading lists together (LBUSD)

• Family Literacy Nights (Downey USD)

• Back to School Night in September

• Kindergarten Gear Up Programs (CLA)

• Library Card Sign-Up Month in September (AASL)

• Be a speaker at a Teacher In-Service Day

• Invite School Librarians to trainings at your site

• Host a Book Repair Workshop

• Promote the California State Digital Library Databases (COMPASS)

• Contests:

  • Bookmarks

  • Bookface Challenge

  • Library Card Designs

• Make library card applications available during school Library Orientations

• Booktalks

• "As Seen at the Scholastic Book Fair" Displays

• Newsletters - Co-Produce or Share Content

• Plan a Mini-Conference Together (LBUSD)

• Plan an Author Event Together (LBUSD)

• Invite schools to host a table at your Zine Fest (Oakland Unified School District)

• Display Creative Writing Projects at your library

• Invite teens to do a read-aloud at your library

• Field trip visits (Los Angeles Unified)

• Bring a STEM activity to a Science Class

• Display Science Fair winners at your library

• Display Student Projects at your library

• One City Read Programs

• Share Library Collections with SORA by Overdrive (LBUSD - Coming Soon!)

• Present your  Summer Library Programs in May (LBUSD)  

• Return each other's books! See if the district delivery system can make a stop on their route.

• Teacher Library cards that have higher check-out limits and no fines

• One Card for students using their school ID

• Volunteer opportunities for schools that have community service requirements

• Write a Grant Together

• Host a Newbery Challenge or Mock Newbery Book Club

• Host a Book Distribution Event Through First Book

10 Reasons The Librarian Is Your Best Friend

1. Planning instruction? Degreed librarians are trained in instructional design. Librarians can link process and content skills across the curriculum and help you identify resources in all media formats.

2. Do you want to improve critical thinking skills? Information literacy skills transfer to analyzing reading and writing. Librarians instruct and support students as they define problems, frame good questions, search for and evaluate information for quality, authority, and relevance.

3. Not sure that your students get a full picture of the best resources available? Then work with your librarian so that information skills are taught in context and when needed.

4. Lonely? Double-team your students. Get out of your classroom and collaborate. The librarian will teach with you. While you present the content you know so well, the librarian will deliver teach skills as information seeking, evaluation, note taking, analysis, synthesis, and communication.

5. Taking a graduate course? Librarians can help you get the materials you need. We can lead you to specific online educational journal databases and professional portals.

6. Concerned about achievement? Current research shows that libraries are keys to learning. Study after study has revealed that libraries are dynamic agents of learning and demonstrated the library’s role “as an agent for individualized learning, knowledge construction, and academic achievement.”

7. Want to stay out of jail? Librarians are knowledgeable about copyright law. They can help you understand when you can and cannot show a video in class, or when you can use music in a presentation.

8. Concerned about cut-and-paste plagiarism and ethical use of information? Your librarian will help you teach age-appropriate note taking and documentation skills.

9. Want help integrating educational technology into your program to engage students and meet curricular and technology standards? Librarians can help you select software, databases, and online resources to meet your curricular needs. We are experts in presentation and productivity software.

10. Tired of leading alone? Librarians are leaders in the areas of information literacy, technology, reading, and instruction, and are available to help present materials and strategies to faculty. We are happy to develop technology integration in-services, demonstrate research strategies and resources, and how to create environments promoting academic integrity. We will gladly share what research tells us about best practice in instruction.

Not only do librarians help learners learn, they help teachers teach.

From Athens-Limestone Public Library

Find your Public Library:

• Complete List of California Public Libraries

Resources:

• Public and School Library Collaborations: 5 Steps You Can Take Today from Demco

• Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit from ALSC/AASL/YALSA

• School and Public Library Collaboration from Knowledge Quest (pdf download)

• What can public libraries do to support school libraries? from Novelist

• Tiny Tips for Library Fun: Part 1 - Starting a Fire - School/Library Partnerships 

• Webinar from WebJunction

• Squires, Tasha. Library Partnerships : Making Connections Between School and Public Libraries, Information Today, Inc., 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://www.proquest.com/legacydocview/EBC/3316130?accountid=178596.