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First PLA, Day 2
March 27, 2008 10:27 PM | Professional Organizations, Good ideasMichael Scott, Assistant Director
Day 2 was full of good programs and I felt I picked a good variety of programs to attend. By far the program of the day that inspired me the most (or was at least the only program where I made notes of the ideas I had on the topic!) was a table talk entitled Reach Out and Touch Someone: Public and School Libraries Collaborate for Student Success. Washington state received an IMLS grant to create partnerships between public and school libraries to assist in improving student learning. The project was called the Connecting Learners to Libraries (CLL). The specific objectives of the CLL initiative were:
- Increase awareness of information literacy
- Inform public and school librarians about academic standards
- Improve professional awarness of programs and services provided by different types of libraries
- Provide funding for collaborative projects that improve students' information literacy skills.
The discussion was very lively as there were nearly 25 participants. Where most seemed to have success (both in Washington and other parts of the U.S.) were in training school staff and students about the databases that the public library could provide. Other tips included starting with an individual or personal contact but be sure to connect as soon as possible with the larger organization. As the faciliator stated, "people leave organizations but the work needs to continue."
I think what inspired me the most about this project was how much of a "no-brainer" it seemed to me. Libraries have always worked together, especially in the SELCO region. While public and school libraries may have different missions, they still have at least two things in common:
- They both have patrons that need access to the best information to fufill an information need.
- They both share a group of patrons.
I know that programs like "No Child Left Behind" or standardize testing have placed a larger burden on schools to get students to perform at a higher level (or risk some sort of penalty.) It just seems that there is potential somewhere in all of this for the public libraries and school libraries to work together, drawing on each other strengths, to help in educating the students in their communities to be able to function in the 21st century world. Maybe it does take a village to raise a child.
