Collaboration Between School Libraries and Public Libraries?
Posted by Molly Gibney:
I am curious to know what kind of collaboration is happening between school libraries and public libraries in the state of Colorado. Is the vast majority of collaboration related to encouraging summer reading programs and providing information on how to obtain a public library card? Or, do we have some partners out there that are doing more in-depth collaboration? If so, what does this collaboration look like? As school librarians, we use the word “collaboration” to cover a gamut of activities… so, how does it relate to working with public libraries?
February 10, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Good Question Molly,
I think that although collaboration between school and public librarians is critical, it may not be happening often enough due to time constraints and/or different schedules However, I think that there may be a simple way to resolve this problem. CASL is sponsoring several Meet and Greet sessions around the state, in order to bring all librarians together. These gatherings will be a great way to meet your neighborhood public librarian, other school librarians, and hopefully academic librarians. Think of these Meet and Greets as a social hour to network and have some fun. I encourage everyone to check out our Meet and Greet page on this site to see when you how you can be part of building our library community.
February 20, 2008 at 10:57 am
Molly and Susan,
CAL now has an official “Library Partnership Interest Group” chaired by Barb Hudson, Security Public Library, Phone: 719/319-3190, Email: hudsonb@wsd3.k12.co.us. Some of the members in attendance at the September 2007 meeting were: : Gwen Giddens, CASL President; Shelley Walchak, CLiC; Glenda Hawkinson, ; Vicki Fox, PPLD; Debbie Martin, D11; Lorena Mitchell, Elbert County Library District; Linda Shaw, Arapahoe Library District; Barb Hudson; Nancy White, D20; Michaela Hansen, CSL; Sandi Erickson, Jefferson County Libraries; Janine Reid, Weld Library District.
Hopefully, this Interest Group will help identify school and public libraries that are working together and they will collect data on programs and best practices. We’ll need to keep an eye on this new group.